Debt to the Devil

THE FLOORBOARD ECHOES

Marcus’s POV

​The paperwork from the dock incident was scattered across my desk, but I could not focus on the text because the sheer precision of the hit on Richard kept bothering me, I stood by the large windows of my study while waiting for my lead enforcers to report back. The door opened after a few minutes, and Dominic stepped into the room with a tense look on his face, his posture completely rigid as he stopped a few feet away from my desk.

​"We checked the security system logs for the eastern gate from last night, Don, there is no record of any breach or error during the time Cecelia left the property," Dominic said, adjusting his collar while keeping his eyes fixed on the floor.

​"That is exactly what is bothering me, Dominic, because she is a young girl who knows absolutely nothing about our security layout, yet she walked right past the perimeter sensors without a single alarm going off," I said, my voice dropping to a low rumble as I walked over to him, my jaw tightening because the implications were becoming too dangerous to ignore.

"The gate system did not fail, which means someone with master clearance actively disabled those specific tracking sensors for her, or they gave her the exact bypass codes to use."

​"Are you saying someone inside the house helped her escape, boss, because only you, River, and the top security team have access to those network codes?" Dominic asked, his voice full of concern as he looked up at me.

​"I am saying that we have a massive problem, and I want you to personally check every single log entry from last night to see whose digital signature was used to access the mainframe," I commanded, waving my hand to dismiss him because the frustration in my chest was growing too thick to handle, and I needed to deal with the source of this mess directly.

​I left the study and walked up the grand staircase toward the eastern wing, my boots making no sound against the heavy carpets as I approached Cecelia’s room, and the two guards outside immediately stood straight when they saw me coming. I unlocked the door myself and stepped inside, finding her sitting cross-legged on her bed, her posture immediately becoming defensive the second she saw me enter the space.

​"You have no right to keep me locked up in this room like a criminal, Marcus, especially when I did not do anything wrong except try to find the man who ruined my life," Cecelia said, her voice shaking slightly but her eyes remained remarkably stubborn as she glared at me.

​"You walked into an active gang territory with a loaded gun, Cecelia, and the man you went to see was shot dead right in front of your face, so do not tell me you did nothing wrong when your little stunt almost started a war," I said, walking closer to the bed while observing how her breathing hitched, her scent changing into that strange, sharp wolf musk that always confused my senses lately. "I want to know who gave you that passkey, and I want to know exactly what Richard told you before that shooter took him out, because you are going to stay in this room forever if you keep lying to me."

​"I already told you everything in the car, Marcus, because I found the pass on your desk, and Richard did not have time to say anything important before he was killed," she insisted, pulling the sheets tighter around herself while shifting her gaze away from mine, which only made my frustration boil over because her heartbeat was racing so fast it filled the room.

​"You are a terrible liar, Cecelia, because your heart is practically pounding through your ribs right now, and I can tell you are holding back the most important part of the story," I said, leaning down so my face was close to hers, wanting to break through that thick wall of defiance she always put up around me. "You look exactly like someone I used to know, someone who also thought she could play dangerous games with me and handle things on her own, but she ended up dead because she did not listen to my warnings, and I will not let that happen to you."

​"I am not whoever that woman was, Marcus, and I am not your property to control or hide away from the world whenever you get angry," she shouted back, her fingers clenching into the fabric of the mattress while she stood her ground against my glare.

​"You are under my roof, which means you live by my rules, and since you refuse to tell me the truth about who is helping you destroy my organization from the inside, you will remain right here under maximum surveillance," I said, straightening up while walking toward the door because the urge to shift and let my wolf take over was becoming too hard to restrain in her presence.

​I stepped back into the hallway and slammed the door shut, locking it firmly before turning to the two enforcers who were waiting for my orders. "I want four men on this corridor starting immediately, and nobody goes into that room except Mary for the meals, and you check her pockets every single time she leaves this wing."

​The guards nodded quickly, and I walked down the long corridor back toward my study, my own heart beating violently against my chest from the intense confrontation, completely unaware that inside the locked room, Cecelia’s ears were still pressed against the bottom of the door, tracking the exact rhythm of my elevated pulse as it faded down the stairs.