I don't know how long he held me to the wall, but it felt like an eternity. Every second stretched impossibly, each heartbeat hammering against my ribcage like it wanted to escape.
My heart was pounding so hard I was sure it would rip out of my chest.
My mind wandered uncontrollably, spinning through every possible fate, each more horrifying than the last, while his dark presence loomed over me. The air around him was heavy, dangerous, almost alive. I couldn't move. I couldn't think straight. I couldn't even breathe properly.
Then he spoke again.
"Who are you?" His voice was calmer this time, eerily smooth, yet every word carried an authority that froze me further.
I managed to answer, even though my throat felt like I had swallowed shards of glass.
"Roux." I said, shivering.
"That's a very unusual name." He tilted his head slightly, his eyes scanning me as if memorizing every detail, every tremor, every flicker of fear. It made my skin crawl and yet, I couldn't look away.
"So, Roux, what are you doing here?" His tone was firm, steady, controlled, like a predator toying with its prey.
"I…It was just a misunderstanding. I didn't mean to intrude or interrupt anything." My words came out rushed and breathless. I barely dared to breathe, afraid the wrong sound might provoke him. I could feel the sweat on my palms and the tremble in my hands.
He stared at me, unblinking, like he was trying to peer straight into my soul. Minutes or maybe it was hours passed in that silence. And then, without warning, he dropped me. The relief was almost as shocking as the terror had been. My knees weakened as I steadied myself.
He walked away.
I heard the other man speak. His presence was even more intimidating when he wasn't looking directly at me. He called himself Bray, his bodyguard, his shadow.
"What should I do with her, sir?" Bray asked, and his voice held a thrill of danger, as if he were ready to tear me apart for fun.
The first man's reply cut through the air like ice. "Let her go."
I almost choked. "Let me go?" I whispered to myself, barely daring to speak aloud, as disbelief rattled my teeth.
Bray froze, just as shocked as I was.
"Sir, are you sure you…" he began, but his words were cut off by the command.
"She has five minutes before I change my mind," he said, moving forward with deliberate calm, never looking back, never stopping, like he already knew he was untouchable.
I pressed my hands against my chest, trying to quiet the racing of my heart, then bolted. Every step felt like a gamble between life and death. In truth, it did.
I didn't stop until I reached my street. My house loomed in front of me, ordinary and safe, at least it felt that way. I bolted the door, checked the windows, triple-checked the locks, and finally collapsed to the floor, trembling and shaking, trying to convince myself I had survived.
Why had he let me go?
"Maybe he's just a nice man," I whispered, the words tasting bitter in my mouth. I was lying to myself. I knew it. He wasn't nice. Not in any human sense. But saying it out loud, even in a whisper, made me feel a fraction safer, if only for a moment.
I sat on the floor for what felt like an hour, my mind replaying every terrifying moment on a loop. Finally, I forced myself up. I had decisions to make. Should I go to work? Could I even face the world after what I'd seen?
I had just started my internship at the firm a week ago. I had worked so hard to get it, and I wasn't about to let anything, no one, take it away from me. Not even him.
I thought about reporting the incident initially. The thought of calling the police, of telling someone what I'd witnessed, flared in my mind. But the second I imagined their faces, imagined the possibility of him returning, that calm, burning stare, I shivered. "What if I report him, and he actually comes for me next time?" I whispered to myself.
No. I couldn't risk it.
I made up my mind. I would act as if nothing had happened. I would go on with my life. Continue my days as they had been before the world tilted sideways. Pretend that the shadow he cast over my life didn't exist.
I didn't know it yet, but my life had already changed. Forever.
What awaited me beyond that day was far more than I could have ever imagined. Shadows I had never seen, dangers I hadn't comprehended, and a world where survival would demand more from me than I had ever known.
And he wasn't done with me. Not by a long shot.