003: A Staff Doesn't Tremble

ELARA'S POV 

Lucian was still breathing heavily in the chair, seemingly tired and dozing, but I didn't believe it for a second. He wouldn't be that vulnerable. He was too alert, too guarded, too sharp to sleep in front of staff.

I needed to move him and get him out of her. And I had to do it quickly, before Liora’s threat turned into action or before anyone caught a whiff of whom I truly was and my intentions.

"Mr. Raye," I called out, my voice flat, interrupting the thick silence. "It's getting late. If you plan on still working, I need to adjust the light levels here, but I can't do it with you in the path of the ladder."

He sighed deeply, a sound of pure irritation. "Just do your job, Elara."

I could see the fine lines of annoyance etched on his forehead but I pushed further, "My job is to maintain the environment. If you hurt yourself on my ladder, that's poor maintenance which I'd be held accountable for. Please, sir." 

I injected just enough stubborn professionalism into my tone to make him see me as a nuisance, not a challenge. I needed him annoyed and irritated, not alert.

After a long, cold silence, he finally pushed himself up, wincing slightly as he moved. He pressed a hand to his temple, clearly battling pain. "Fine. You have five minutes to do whatever it is you said you want to do. Don't touch my files or come close to my desk."

He left the room, his movements slow and careful. My five minutes started now. I immediately sprinted into action, placing the books back into the shelf.

I didn't bother with the ladder. I moved straight to his massive desk, my heart pounding a frantic rhythm against my ribs. The mahogany surface was cold under my fingertips.

I knelt and pulled out the red and gold folder hidden beneath the ledgers. The sketch of the phoenix mask was faintly drawn but instantly recognizable. Underneath the sketch was a single, typed page, labeled "Operation: Aerie."

I tried to scan the page, reading fast, absorbing keywords: Acquisition, 1999, Voss Estate, Incineration, Clean-up.

Voss Estate. My family name. 1999. The year of the fire. Incineration.

I stumbled back a step, gripping the edges of the folder so tightly my knuckles went white. It wasn't just a resemblance. I recalled everything now and a simmering rage filled my heart.

The Raye family wasn't just connected to the masks; they were connected to the event. They hadn't just 'acquired' something; they had systematically destroyed my life and my parents life as well.

Just as I registered the horror and was trying to put the pieces of information I had just read together, I heard a sound, the heavy click of the library door being secured. Lucian had locked me in.

"That wasn't five minutes, Elara."

I spun around. He was standing by the door, his eyes wide and dark, no longer shadowed by sickness, but blazing with anger. He must have seen me moving to the desk through the crack in the door.

I felt like he knew I was going to go towards his desk either ways and I foolishly walked in the trap and blew my cover.

"What were you looking at?" he demanded, taking a predatory step toward the desk. I wished I had the power to disappear but I was only human so I attempted to hide it in one frantic movement.

I slapped the folder shut immediately, covering the title, and held it to my chest. "It was open. I was moving it away from the edge so it wouldn't fall. You asked me not to damage anything, so I was doing as I was told."

It was a weak, pathetic lie, but it was all I could come up with. As I spoke my lips quivered anxiously and my eyes kept darting left and right.

He didn't move. He just studied my face, his eyes piercing my soul, searching for the lie. "You are a very poor liar, Elara. You know that right? What did you see in there? Answer me now!"

"Nothing... I didn't mean to," I whispered faintly, wiping the beads of sweat on my forehead. His cold aura sent shivers down my spine.

"No?" He was closing the distance slowly now, walking towards the desk slowly. "You're shaking. A Staff who did not wrong, does not tremble over a file folder. What's in it, Elara?"

His voice dropped to a low, dangerous growl. He reached out and snatched the folder from my grasp. He didn't even look at the contents. He just violently tossed it onto the desk. The file dropped with a loud thud flipping open again, the bold title "Voss Estate" staring up at us both.

Lucian Raye looked at the title on the folder. Then, slowly, he looked back at me as if piecing two and two together. His face grew dark completely devoid of emotion, a mask colder than any phoenix.

"Voss," he repeated, the name sounding foreign and sharp as it rolled off his tongue. He stepped closer until the only thing between us was the massive mahogany desk. "I remember the staff briefing. Your last name is Voss."

My throat was too tight to speak and my legs wobbled. I just stared at him, my life flashing between the fire, Cedric's comforting lies to me all these years, and this cold, dangerous man. My palms sweated and you I rubbed them against each other to try and mask my anxiety.

He didn't need to ask. He already knew. The fear in my eyes must have confessed everything and given me away.

He leaned across the desk, his dark, intense eyes fixed intently on mine. "Tell me, Elara. Why is the death of your family in the files of mine?" 

He approached me taking calculated strides, "Who the hell are you? and what are you doing in Raye's estate?"