Chapter 16 A Warning in the Dark
An arm wrapped around her waist, yanking her backward into a narrow supply closet she hadn’t even noticed. The door clicked shut just as the main lab lights blazed on.
Pressed against shelves in complete darkness, a hand clamped over her mouth, silencing the scream in her throat. Through the crack under the door, she watched the security guard’s feet move around the lab. Papers rustled—the logbook lifted, flipped through, then dropped back. The guard muttered something unintelligible.
The person holding her didn’t move. Didn’t breathe loudly. Didn’t shift.
After an eternity, the lights clicked off. The door closed. Footsteps faded.
Only then did the hand release her mouth.
She spun around, her back hitting a shelf with a quiet clink. A flashlight clicked on, beam pointed upward.
Silas stared down at her, his expression caught between fury and disbelief.
“Do you have a death wish?”
Mia’s heart was still racing from the near-miss with security, but now a different kind of panic set in. She was trapped in a closet with the person she was investigating for murder. Nobody knew where she was.
“What…” she started, but his hand shot up in a cutting gesture that made her snap her mouth shut.
“Keep your voice down,” he hissed. The fury in his whisper was more effective than any shout. “Do you have any idea what you almost did? The motion sensors in this building are disabled after hours, but the cameras over that lab door? They’re live. Wired straight to campus security and the local police station. You would have been arrested for trespassing and tampering with lab records before you even made it off campus.”
They were standing so close she could feel the heat radiating from him. The closet smelled like old cleaning supplies and dust, barely big enough for one person, definitely not meant for two. Every breath made their chests almost touch.
“I wasn’t…” she tried again.
“You were photographing restricted lab records,” Silas cut in, his voice dropping even lower. It was somehow more menacing than if he’d yelled. “Without authorization. In a secure facility. That’s not just getting kicked out of school, Torres. That’s actual criminal activity.”
The way he said her last name made it sound like an insult.
Mia’s fear was rapidly transforming into anger. She shoved against his chest, creating a bare inch of space.“Then what are you doing here? Following me? Checking to make sure nobody finds out about your little chemical experiments?”
His expression darkened. “You have no idea what you’re stumbling into. This isn’t a game. This isn’t a game. This isn’t one of your little detective fantasies.”
“Then tell me!” The words came out louder than she intended in the small space. “Tell me what I’m missing! Tell me why you were researching toxicology and signing off on contaminated waste disposal right before Ethan died! Tell me…”
“I don’t owe you explanations,” Silas interrupted, his voice hard as stone. “Because you’ve already made up your mind. You decided I was guilty the second you transferred here, and nothing I say will change your mind because you need me to be the villain.”
“Because everything points to you!” Mia shot back, her hands clenching into fists. “The books, the lab records, the cufflink, that forum post about you at the lake…”
“The forum post that conveniently disappeared?” Silas’s smile was sharp and humorless. “Did you ever stop to wonder why it was deleted…You really think that happened by accident?”
The way he said it—not defensive, sent ice through her veins. Like he was confirming he’d erased it. Like he wanted her to know he had that kind of power.
“You deleted it,” she breathed. “You. Obviously you covered your tracks.”
“Did I…” He leaned closer, and she had nowhere to back up. “I don’t think I have such moderator access to the forum, Torres.” His eyes bored into hers. “But you know, a few people do have that kind of access—I’m just pointing out that digital evidence has a way of… disappearing even when it's needed.
The implication was clear. He had reach. He had resources. He could make things…and maybe people—vanish when they became inconvenient.
Mia’s pulse hammered in her throat. “Who are you protecting? One of your friends? Someone who helped you…”
“Stop.” The word was sharp as a slap. His eyes bored into hers with an intensity that made it hard to breathe. “You need to stop digging. Stop investigating. Walk away from this before you dig too deep.”
“Or what?” The challenge came out shakier than she intended.
Silas leaned closer, eliminating what little space remained between them. His voice dropped to barely more than a whisper, each word deliberate and cold. “Or you’ll find out things you can’t unfind. Learn things you can’t unlearn. And once you know, there’s no going back. That knowledge will destroy you, Torres. Piece by piece.”
It wasn’t quite a threat. Wasn’t quite a warning. It was something darker—a promise of consequences that had nothing to do with him hurting her and everything to do with her hurting herself by learning the truth.
“Is that what happened to Ethan?” she whispered. “He learned too much? So you killed…”
“You don’t know anything about what happened to Ethan.” His jaw tightened, something flickering across his expression too fast to read. “And if you’re smart, you’ll keep it that way.”
“I won’t just sit…”
“Yes, you will.” He straightened, putting a fraction more distance between them. “You can transfer back to your community college. Go home. Forget St. Augustine’s exists. Forget all of this.” His eyes held hers, cold and uncompromising. “That’s the smart choice.”
“And if I don’t?”
His smile was thin and humorless. “Then you’ll learn exactly why you should have.”
Before she could respond, he pushed the closet door open and stepped out into the dark lab without looking back. The small flashlight tumbled from his hand as he left, rolling across the floor toward her feet. He’d left it—whether intentionally or not, she couldn’t tell.
Mia stood frozen among the cleaning supplies, her heart hammering, her mind spinning. Nothing made sense. That conversation had been a masterclass in saying everything and nothing at once.
He’d admitted to nothing, explained nothing, just issued vague threats wrapped in warnings that could mean anything. He was guilty, that’s why he'd warned her…but If he was guilty, why save her from security? Why leave her with light to find her way out?
But if he was innocent… then who?
She waited five full minutes before using the flashlight to navigate back through the lab and into the empty hallway. The journey across campus felt endless. Every shadow seemed too dark. Every sound too loud.
Halfway across the quad, the feeling started. A prickling on the back of her neck. The subtle wrongness of footsteps that weren’t quite in sync with her own. She stopped abruptly under a lamppost, pretending to check her phone, eyes scanning the darkness behind her.
Nothing moved. No footsteps. No shapes in the shadows.
But the feeling didn’t leave. Someone was following her. She walked faster, nearly jogging the last hundred yards to her dorm. She fumbled with her keys, dropped them once, and finally got the door unlocked. Slammed it shut and threw the deadbolt, her back against the wood, breathing hard.