Chapter 59 Stay Out Of The Shadows

Chapter 59 Stay Out Of The Shadows
Caspian sat in his father’s room, elbows on his knees, his hands tangled in his hair as he stared at the glow of the laptop screen. The document in front of him hadn’t changed in two hours, a cold reminder of their failure.

His mother paced behind him, as she ranted on.

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing,” Mrs. Volkov hissed. “This boy — this… Damien — where did he come from? No family records, no financial history, no school, no hospital files, no criminal records, not even a childhood trace. It’s as if he dropped from the sky.”

Mr. Volkov stood near the window, his knuckles white around a glass he hadn’t touched. “No one is clean to this extent,” he muttered. “Not even ghosts.”

“Ghost,” Caspian whispered bitterly. “That’s the problem. He’s exactly that... A fucking ghost.”

Mrs. Volkov stopped pacing, her sharp gaze cutting into her son.

“Do not let that man intimidate you.”

Caspian laughed, but there was no humor in it.

“Intimidate me? Mother, he shoved Uncle Lancaster like he was nothing. He stood against ten security men without blinking. And Elena… Elena looks at him like he’s her savior. Like he breathes for her.”
His voice tightened. “She’s slipping away from me. Damn it! If we fail this marriage alliance, all our plans will be ruined.”

His mother’s expression softened, but only slightly.

“Which is why,” she replied coldly, “we must handle this before he becomes an even bigger threat.”

Mr. Volkov finally set the glass down, still untouched, and turned to face them.

“We dug into every corner. Every database. Every connection.” He sighed heavily.
“There is nothing. The boy doesn’t have a past. I'm sure Victor wouldn't have hired anyone without investigating their past. This means... even he couldn't get any fiet on him!”

Mrs. Volkov crossed her arms. “Everyone has a past. The question is—why does he not have any dirty past?”

Caspian pushed back from his chair, frustration boiling over.

“He is not just a bodyguard. He can’t be. The way he looks at Elena, the way he intervenes, the way he isn't afraid of Uncle Victor, the way he moves… he’s trained. Professionally.” He clenched his jaw. “Dangerously. It's more like he's on a mission. But what?”

Mr. Volkov nodded slowly. “I made some calls… reached out to certain contacts. People who know how to look into the untraceable.”
He exchanged a grave look with his wife.
“They came back empty. And one of them advised us to ‘stay out of the shadows’.”

Mrs. Volkov’s face tightened. “Meaning?”

“Meaning,” Mr. Volkov said quietly, “Damien may be tied to people we don’t want as enemies.”

Caspian sank into his chair, his stomach turning. He couldn't let this happen!

“So what do we do now?” he demanded. “We can’t let Elena slip through our hands. She has to be part of this family. If we lose this alliance with Victor Lancaster, if we lose the marriage contract, our company will crumble. Years of work—gone. All because of that bastard.”

Mrs. Volkov approached him and placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

“Then we remove him.”

Caspian looked up sharply. “Mother...”

“Not by ourselves,” she interrupted. “We cannot fight what we cannot see. So we use what we can control.”

Mr. Volkov walked back toward the desk, adjusting his cufflinks with a slow, calculated motion.

“Elena,” he said.

Caspian stiffened, but his mother nodded.

“She is the key,” she continued. “If we cannot cut Damien directly, then we cut his influence. We make sure she has no reason to turn to him, no opportunity to be near him, no excuse to defend him.”

Caspian shifted uneasily. “How? She hates the idea of marrying me.”

Mrs. Volkov gave a thin, practiced smile, the kind that made her look as if she’d planned something she hadn’t yet revealed.

“Darling,” she said sweetly, “a woman’s heart is very delicate. And very easy to manipulate when the right buttons are pressed.”

Caspian swallowed, unsure whether he was more disturbed by Damien… or by his own mother.

He remembered Damien’s words... "You are an idiot who follows his parents' lead." Caspian immediately shoved the thought away. It made him sick in the bone.

Mr. Volkov added calmly:

“This engagement must happen. Our company is too deep in debt, too unstable to survive without the Lancaster alliance. We cannot afford Elena’s rebellion.” He turned toward Caspian. “And we certainly cannot afford her attachment to that man.”

Caspian looked away, guilt flickering in his eyes, but it didn’t last.

“She’ll marry me,” he said quietly. “One way or another. She has to.”

Mrs. Volkov smirked.
“That’s the spirit.”

Caspian hesitated, then asked...

“And Damien?”

Mr. Volkov exchanged a look with his wife, then answered calmly, which made Caspian’s blood run cold.

“He is an obstacle,” he said.
“And obstacles are meant to be removed.”

Mrs. Volkov leaned forward, whispering into Caspian’s ear with a chilling softness:

“We will destroy him in a way he doesn’t expect. Not by force. Not by confrontation.
But by taking away the one thing he refuses to lose.”

Caspian blinked. “…Elena?” More like a statement instead of a question.

His mother smiled evilly.

“Exactly.”

Caspian nodded, determination hardening his features. “Then let’s do it.”

But as he reached for his laptop to continue digging...

The power flickered... Once... Twice... Thrice.

The lights dimmed… then steadied.

Mrs. Volkov frowned. “What was that?”

Mr. Volkov checked his watch. “Probably a power surge. But that's impossible in the Lancaster mansion.”

Caspian suddenly went pale as something dawned on him.

He whispered the words under his breath, dread creeping up his spine:

“He knows we’re digging.”

Mrs. Volkov scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous. How—”

But Caspian pointed at the laptop.

The cursor was moving... On its own.

Lines of code, encrypted messages, and strange symbols began running across the screen.

Mrs. Volkov stepped back, horrified. “What is going on...?!”

Then—

Every device in the study went black at once.

The laptop. The printer. The lamps. Even Mr. Volkov’s phone. Dead and... Silent.

And then…

A single message flashed on the laptop screen.

Just one sentence.

No sender.

No source.

Just black text on a ghostly white background:

“Stay out of the shadows…
Or the shadows will swallow you.”

Caspian’s breath hitched. His mother went rigid. His father stepped back, stunned.

For the first time…

They realized Damien wasn’t just a threat.

He was a warning.

And perhaps, they had just crossed a line they shouldn't.