Chapter 42 Chapter 42
The coded message burned in my mind like fire. I sat alone in the small bedroom at the safe house and stared at my phone screen until my eyes hurt. Help. C. Those three letters could mean everything or nothing. They could be real, or they could be bait. But either way, Claudia was out there somewhere, and I was the only one who could decode what she sent.
I pulled out a pen and paper and started working through the symbols. The code was simple once I figured out the pattern. Each number corresponded to a letter, and each letter pointed to a location. My hands shook as I wrote down the address. An old factory on the east side of the city. Abandoned for years. The perfect place to hide someone.
But telling Damien felt wrong. He would use this information for his own war. He would storm in with his men and guns and turn the rescue into a battlefield. Claudia could get hurt. She could die in the crossfire. And I would never forgive myself for being the one who gave him the location.
I heard voices outside my door. Damien and Marcus were still fighting. Their words came through the walls sharp and angry.
"I need to know the truth, Marcus." Damien's voice was cold. "The flash drive has your signature on transactions I never approved. Money moved to accounts I cannot trace. Either you explain it right now, or I assume you are working for them."
"I cannot explain what I do not understand." Marcus sounded tired. Defeated. "Someone used my credentials. Someone close enough to access my accounts and forge my name. But it was not me."
"Then who was it?"
Silence. Long and heavy. Then Marcus spoke again, and his voice was barely a whisper. "There are things I cannot tell you, Damien. Secrets that are not mine to share. But I swear on everything I have ever cared about that I did not betray you."
"Secrets?" Damien laughed, but it sounded broken. "You are asking me to trust you while you hide things from me? After everything we have been through?"
"Yes." Marcus's voice got stronger. "Because some secrets protect the people we love. And if I told you everything, it would put lives at risk. Lives that matter more than my reputation or your trust."
I pressed my ear against the door. What kind of secrets could Marcus be hiding? What could be so important that he would risk Damien's fury to protect them?
"Get out." Damien's words were final. "Get out of my sight before I do something we will both regret."
Footsteps moved down the hall. A door slammed. Then silence fell over the safe house like snow. I waited a few minutes before opening my door. The hallway was empty. Dark. I could see light coming from under Damien's door at the far end, but I did not go to him. Instead, I went back to my room and looked at the address I had written down.
I could go alone. I could find Claudia and bring her back before anyone knew I was gone. It was risky, but waiting felt worse. Every minute that passed was another minute she spent in danger. Another minute closer to something terrible happening.
My mind went to Damien. The way he had held me at the cabin. The way his kiss tasted like desperation and hope mixed together. If I left now and something happened to me, he would never forgive himself. But if I stayed and did nothing, I would never forgive myself.
The choice felt impossible. Stay safe and let Claudia suffer. Or risk everything to save her.
I grabbed my jacket and checked my phone one more time. The address glowed on the screen like a beacon. The old factory was only twenty minutes away by car. I could be there and back before anyone noticed I was gone. I could save Claudia and prove to myself that I was more than just a piece in someone else's game.
The safe house was quiet as I moved through it. Damien's men were stationed outside, and I could see their shadows through the windows. But none of them were watching the back door. I slipped through it and into the night without making a sound.
The city felt different at this hour. Empty streets and broken streetlights and shadows that moved when I was not looking. I walked fast and kept my head down. Every car that passed made my heart jump. Every sound made me think someone was following me.
But I was alone. Completely alone. And for the first time since this nightmare started, that felt like power instead of weakness.
I found a taxi three blocks away. The driver looked half asleep, but he took my money and drove without asking questions. The factory appeared after fifteen minutes. Tall and dark against the night sky. Windows broken. Walls covered in graffiti. The kind of place where bad things happened and nobody heard you scream.
I paid the driver and watched him leave. The taillights disappeared around a corner, and suddenly the silence was complete. No cars. No people. Just me and the factory and the fear crawling up my spine.
The front door was chained shut, but a side entrance hung open. I pulled out my phone and turned on the flashlight. The beam cut through the darkness and showed me piles of old machinery and broken glass. The floor was concrete, and every step I took echoed too loudly.
"Claudia?" I called out softly. "Are you here?"
No answer. Just the sound of the wind moving through the empty building. I walked deeper inside, and my light swept across walls covered in rust and decay. This place felt wrong. Too quiet. Too empty.
I should have turned around. Should have run back to the safe house and told Damien everything. But I kept walking because the message had said this location, and Claudia needed help, and I was already here.
The hallway opened into a large room. My light showed me more machinery. Old conveyor belts and metal tables, and something that looked like it used to be an office. I moved toward it, and my foot kicked something on the ground.
I looked down, and my blood went cold. A phone. Claudia's phone. I recognized the pink case and the crack across the screen. She had been here. This was real.
"Looking for someone?" A voice came from behind me.
I spun around, and the light from my phone showed me a figure standing in the doorway. Not Claudia. Not Damien. Someone else. Someone I did not recognize.
"Who are you?" My voice shook.
The figure stepped closer, and I saw his face in the dim light. Young. Maybe thirty. With eyes that looked dead inside. "I am the person who sent you that message. And you walked right into my trap."