Chapter 8: The Man in the Dark
623 Words
Maya couldn’t move.
Adrian’s hand was still wrapped around hers, firm and protective.
Somewhere in the darkness, the stranger laughed again.
“Still protecting everyone except yourself, Adrian?”
Adrian’s voice was cold.
“Show yourself.”
A faint click echoed through the room.
The lights flickered once.
Twice.
Then came on.
Maya gasped.
A man stood beside the filing cabinet.
He was older than Adrian, perhaps in his late fifties, with silver hair and a face marked by years of anger. He wore an expensive charcoal suit and held a small gun loosely at his side.
Adrian stepped in front of Maya.
“You.”
The man’s smile widened.
“Hello, Adrian.”
Maya looked between them.
“You know him?”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“His name is Victor Blackwell.”
Victor chuckled.
“That’s not how your father used to introduce me.”
Maya’s eyes widened.
“You’re his business partner.”
Victor looked at her.
“Your father told you about me?”
“No.”
“Of course he didn’t.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“What do you want?”
Victor glanced toward the envelope on the desk.
“The same thing I’ve wanted for fifteen years.”
“The evidence.”
Victor smiled.
“Exactly.”
Maya stared at the envelope.
“What evidence?”
Victor looked directly at her.
“Proof that your father betrayed Adrian’s family.”
Maya shook her head.
“My father would never—”
“Never?” Victor interrupted. “You didn’t know your father as well as you think.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“Don’t listen to him.”
Victor laughed.
“Still the hero.”
Then his gaze returned to Maya.
“Ask Adrian what happened the night his father disappeared.”
Maya turned toward Adrian.
“Adrian?”
He said nothing.
Her voice became quieter.
“What happened?”
Adrian looked at her.
“My father called me that night.”
“And?”
“He told me he had proof that someone inside the company had been stealing from him.”
Maya swallowed.
“Who?”
“He never said.”
“Why?”
“Because the call ended.”
Adrian’s expression darkened.
“The police found his car the next morning.”
Maya’s heart sank.
“And your father?”
“Never found.”
Victor slowly lifted the gun.
“But that’s not the whole story.”
Adrian’s eyes hardened.
“Victor.”
“You want the truth?” Victor asked. “Then open the envelope.”
Maya looked at the envelope again.
Her name was still written across it.
She slowly reached for it.
Adrian caught her wrist.
“No.”
She looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know what’s inside.”
Victor smiled.
“That’s exactly why she should open it.”
Maya pulled her hand free.
For eight years, she’d lived with questions about her father.
If the truth was inside that envelope, she needed it.
She picked it up.
Victor’s smile disappeared.
“Open it.”
Maya tore the envelope open.
Inside was a single photograph.
She pulled it out.
Her breath caught.
It showed three men standing outside the Vale headquarters fifteen years earlier.
Adrian’s father.
Victor.
And—
Maya froze.
The third man was her father.
But that wasn’t what terrified her.
It was the date written on the photograph.
Three days after her father was supposedly declared dead.
Maya looked at Adrian.
“Adrian…”
He stared at the photograph.
His face had gone completely pale.
Then Victor whispered:
“Now you understand.”
A gunshot exploded through the room.
The lights went out again.
And when they came back on—
Victor was gone.
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