Chapter 29 chapter 29
The days blurred together after Damien told me about the bounty. I stopped counting sunrises because they all looked the same through the bars he had installed on my windows. He called them security measures. I called them what they were. A cage dressed up as protection.
Guards followed me everywhere now. To the bathroom. To the kitchen. To the small patch of garden where I used to sit and pretend I could breathe. They stood three feet behind me with guns under their jackets and eyes that never blinked. When I asked Damien if this was really necessary, he looked at me like I had asked him to cut off his own hand. "You think Victor is joking?" he said. "You think I will let him take you from me?"
The way he said it made my skin crawl. Not because he cared. Because he owned. There was a difference between protecting someone you loved and locking them away so no one else could have them. I was starting to understand which one this was.
I spent most of my time in my room now. The walls felt closer every day. I tried reading but the words swam on the page. I tried sleeping but nightmares came in waves. Damien. Victor. Claudia bleeding out in that alley. Marcus whispering warnings I could not decode. Maria's body under a bloodstained sheet. The images cycled through my mind until I wanted to scream just to hear something different.
One afternoon, a knock came at my door. Soft. Hesitant. Not the sharp commanding knock of Damien or the heavy knock of the guards. I opened it to find a young woman standing there with fresh towels in her arms. She looked maybe twenty, with dark hair pulled back tight and nervous eyes that flicked down the hallway before meeting mine.
"I am Elena," she said quietly. "I am here to replace Maria."
The mention of Maria's name hit me like a slap. I stepped back and let her in. She moved quickly, setting the towels on the dresser and smoothing the bedspread even though it was already smooth. Her hands shook slightly. I watched her in the mirror and saw the same fear I had worn when I first arrived.
"Did you know Maria?" I asked.
Elena paused, her fingers gripping the edge of the towel. "A little," she said. "She was kind to me when I started working here. She told me to keep my head down and my mouth shut." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "She said this house eats people who ask too many questions."
I turned to face her. "Then why are you still here?"
She looked at me with something close to pity. "Because leaving is worse," she said. "At least here, you know what is coming for you."
The words settled heavily in my chest. Elena finished her work in silence and moved toward the door. But before she left, she stopped and glanced back at me. "Miss Lisa," she said quietly. "Be careful. Mister Damien is not the man he pretends to be."
I frowned. "What do you mean?"
She hesitated, her hand on the doorknob. "He has done this before," she said. "Brought someone close. Made them feel safe. Made them believe they mattered." Her eyes met mine, and I saw truth in them. "And when they were no longer useful, he let them go. One way or another."
Before I could ask what she meant, she slipped out and closed the door behind her. I stood there staring at the space where she had been and felt something cold settle in my stomach. Damien's words from days ago echoed in my mind. "You matter to me." But what happened when I stopped mattering? What happened when the war ended and I was just a girl who knew too much?
That night, I could not sleep. I lay in bed staring at the ceiling and listening to the house breathe. Footsteps in the hallway. Doors opening and closing. The low murmur of voices that never came close enough to hear clearly. I thought about Claudia and the flash drive hidden under my floorboard. I thought about Marcus and the messages on his phone. I thought about Victor and the bounty he had placed on my head like I was worth something only in death.
I must have dozed off because I woke to the sound of paper sliding under my door. My eyes snapped open, and I sat up fast, heart pounding. The room was dark except for the faint glow of the security light outside my window. I threw off the blankets and crossed the room on silent feet.
A small white envelope lay on the floor. No name. No markings. Just clean white paper that looked too innocent for this house. I picked it up with trembling fingers and turned it over. The seal was plain. I tore it open and pulled out a single folded note.
The handwriting was small and careful. Printed in black ink, like someone had taken time to make sure every letter was clear.
"Leave before sunrise. The west gate will be unguarded at 4 a.m. Do not trust anyone in this house. Not even him. If you stay, you will not survive what is coming."
I read it twice. Then three times. My hands shook so hard the paper rattled. I looked at the door like whoever had slipped this note under it might still be standing there. But the hallway was silent.
I crossed to the window and looked out at the grounds. The guards were making their rounds. The lights swept across the lawn in slow arcs. Everything looked normal. Everything looked like a trap.
Who had sent this? Elena? Marcus? Someone else I had not even noticed watching me? And why now? What was coming that made leaving more dangerous than staying?
I thought about the flash drive. About the files that could destroy Damien and Victor both. If I ran, I could take it with me. I could disappear into the city and never look back. But if I ran, Damien would hunt me. He would see it as betrayal. And men like him did not forgive betrayal.
I sat on the edge of the bed with the note in my hands and tried to think. The clock on the wall ticked forward. 2:47 a.m. I had just over an hour to decide. Stay and risk whatever storm was coming. Or run and risk everything Damien would do to find me.
My chest felt tight. My throat burned. I wanted to cry, but the tears would not come. I had spent so long trying to survive in this house that I had forgotten what it felt like to have a choice. Now I had one, and it terrified me more than anything else.
I stood and walked to the loose floorboard. I lifted it carefully and pulled out the flash drive wrapped in the old sock. The small piece of plastic felt heavy in my palm. Proof. Truth. Weapons. Everything Damien feared and everything I needed to stay alive.
I looked at the clock again. 3:15 a.m. Forty-five minutes until the west gate opened. Forty-five minutes to pack what little I had and disappear before anyone noticed I was gone.
But as I stood there holding the flash drive and staring at the note, I heard footsteps in the hallway. Slow. Deliberate. Coming closer.
They stopped outside my door.