Chapter Six: The Remnants of the Past

Darkness swallowed everything.

I couldn’t feel my hands. I couldn’t breathe.

Though I was completely unconscious, drifting in a heavy void, I could still hear distant sounds.

The sharp, suffocating scent of chemicals still burned through my lungs. My body felt completely weightless, being dragged somewhere cold and wet as rain hammered violently against metals nearby.

“The package is secure.”

“Let Move faster.”

“Do you think Vane already knows?”

A rough, humorless laugh answered. “By the time he figures it out, we’ll already be long gone.”

My thoughts scattered violently. I tried to fight the heavy darkness pulling me under, but every attempt only made my head spin harder.

Then suddenly, pain exploded through my shoulder as my body slammed against something hard. A car seat.

My eyelids fluttered weakly. The world was a blurry, dim smear of gray and amber light, but as my vision slowly opened, I saw black tactical clothing, rain-streaked windows, and a masked driver.

Another man sat right beside me, with a heavy, iron revolver resting against his thigh. The man had a deeply scarred jawline. He had discarded his server's vest from the ballroom, but those hollow, dead eyes were unmistakable.

Panic surged instantly through my veins, hot and frantic. I forced my fingers to move. Very Slowly. Very Carefully.

The scarred man cursed under his breath, noticing my slight movement. “Boss, She’s waking up already.”

“Hit her again.” The man at the driver ordered coldly.

Fear crashed through me so violently that survival instinct took over before logic could. I twisted sharply away just as the man reached for me, his fingers brushing roughly against my arm instead of my face.

“Hold her still!” he yelled.

I lashed out blindly, my bare heel connecting hard against his knee. A curse exploded inside the vehicle as the car swerved violently.

“Dammit!”

My shoulder slammed against the door painfully, but through the haze clouding my vision, I noticed a tiny saving grace.

The door wasn’t fully locked. Hope hit me so fast. It left me breathless. Without pausing to think, I grabbed the handle and shoved with everything I had left.

As the door opened, a cold winter air burst violently into the car as the door flew open.

“What the hell?!”

The vehicle slowed around a dark alley bend. I barely had one second to think before I threw myself out into the pouring rain.

The impact shattered through my body instantly. Pain ripped across my arms and knees as I hit the wet pavement hard enough to knock the air completely from my lungs.

My vision spun violently while freezing rain soaked through my black satin dress within seconds.

Behind me, tires screeched against the pavement. “Get her!”

I forced myself up despite the agony screaming through my legs, and I ran.

My heels were entirely useless; I kicked them off instantly, stumbling barefoot through the dark, maze-like alleyway while rain blurred my vision. Every breath burned. My heartbeat thundered louder than the storm.

Footsteps pounded heavily behind me. They were gaining, already getting close to me.

I turned sharply around a brick corner. At the side, there was a small house opening, its door slightly ajar. I ran in immediately, shutting the heavy door behind me and slipping against the wet concrete before crashing straight into a solid, unyielding chest.

I gasped in terror, struggling wildly, my mind screaming in pure, desperate panic until a deep, familiar voice cut through the storm.

“Vienne.”

Silas.

Thank God I meet him here. I didn’t care about the rules of the contract. My hands flew to his chest, gripping the wet fabric of his shirt. His hands tightened around my trembling body as his dark eyes scanned my face rapidly, checking for injuries.

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

Rain soaked through his white dress shirt, his chest rising and falling heavily like he’d been tearing the city apart searching for me.

Without hesitation, he pulled off his heavy black coat and wrapped it securely around my shivering shoulders before dragging me firmly against his broad chest, locking me in a protective grip that shielded me from the storm.

“You’re safe,” he murmured.

But behind the closed door, the kidnappers appeared at the mouth of the alley, raising their voice.

“Open this door now”! one of them roared. I bet they assumed I was the only one who was inside.

Everything happened at once. Silas shoved me sharply behind his massive frame, shielding me completely from anything that was coming any time soon.

Gunfire exploded through the rain, bullets piercing the metal door of the house and showering us in sparks.

I screamed instinctively, covering my ears pressing myself into the corner.

We were trapped inside the cavernous, dimly lit room of the house. The sharp scent of rust, damp concrete, and old dust hung heavy in the air.

Before Silas could move me out of that place, the door was kicked open. The scarred man burst in, his face contorted in desperation. Just one of them.

He didn't fire at Silas. Instead, with lightning speed, he lunged sideways, grabbing a fistful of my wet hair and pulling my head back, pressing the cold, heavy barrel of his revolver firmly against my temple.

And Silas; didn’t even flinch.

I gasped, tears of pain pricking my eyes as the steel dug into my skin.

“Keep back, Vane!" the kidnapper shouted, his voice cracking with panic. "One more step and I paint this wall with her!"

Silas went completely still. Every single muscle in his massive frame locked tight, his dark eyes burning with a terrifying rage that made the air in the room instantly turn freezing cold. He didn't have a weapon in his hands. His bare fists were clenched, his knuckles split and bleeding from whoever he had fought to get to me.

You think you can walk out of here alive if you pull that trigger?" Silas asked quietly. The sheer calmness in his voice was scarier than his rage.

“I don't care about getting out!" the man yelled, his grip tightening on my hair. “If we can't have the Caelthorne files, no one can!"

I looked at Silas, my breath hitching in my throat. I expected to see his cold, calculative mask. But as our eyes locked across the dim space, I saw something else.

Fear.

Silas Vane; the untouchable billionaire, the man who had bought my life—was terrified.

“Vienne," Silas said softly, his dark eyes holding mine hostage. "Trust me."

Before I could even think about what that meant, Silas made his move. His hand flew to his pocket. A flash of silver caught the light as Silas hurled something across the room with terrifying, lethal accuracy. It was the heavy, silver geometric triangle medallion from his estate.

The heavy piece of metal struck the kidnapper squarely in the eye socket with a sickening crack. The man shrieked in agony, his grip releasing from my hair as his head snapped back.

BANG.

The revolver discharged blindly into the ceiling, showering us in plaster. In that split second of chaos, Silas closed the distance like a shadow, tackling the scarred man into the darkness of the far wall. The sound of brutal silence echoed through the room until the man went completely motionless.

Through that utter chaos, the intense pain and the leftover chloroform finally dragged me to the ground before I could fight it. My vision went black.

When my eyes fluttered back open, Silas was walking back into the dim light, his breathing heavy and ragged. The space around us looked like an abandoned warehouse storage room. He dropped to his knees in front of me, his large, bleeding hands immediately holding my face to confirm if I was okay.

The moment he came close to me, I looked up with my sleepy dried eyes and grabbed the torn fabric of his shirt. I was shaking uncontrollably, the trauma breaking through my skin. I was too weak, too completely exhausted to even form a sentence.

“You're okay," Silas murmured, his voice surprisingly rough, almost breathless as his large hands cupped my face, forcing me to look at him. His thumbs gently wiped the rain and dust from my cheeks.

“I've got you, Little Bird. You're safe."

I leaned into his touch, my head dropping heavily against his broad shoulder, my fingers weakly curling into his wet shirt. I couldn't fight the exhaustion anymore.

Outside, the roar of Vane security vehicles finally arrived. Elias strode into the shattered warehouse, his usually calm, flirting expression completely gone, replaced by something grim.

“Silas,” Elias said sharply, his gray eyes cutting toward my limp form before returning to his cousin.

“The rest of the perimeter is secure. But the man you took down? He has an encrypted digital file on him. Orders from a faceless routing number labeled “The Overseer.”

They weren't ordered to kill her, Silas. They were ordered to bring her back alive.”

Silas went entirely still against me, his grip tightening around my waist. “Why?”

Because according to the encrypted files... “Vienne isn’t the remnant of the past, she is the key to the vault.” Someone high up in the circle is playing a very long game.”

Before Silas could even respond, a low, mechanical click echoed from the earpiece Elias was holding. A static-laced voice broke through the line, loud enough for all of us to hear in the quiet room:

“Sir, we have a major problem. The brake lines on your primary vehicle have been cut. Security is compromised. We need to move now.”

Silas didn't look back at the chaos. He tucked me securely against his chest, scooping my weak, shivering body up into his arms effortlessly, and strode out of the warehouse into the dark rain.

“Get the backup car," he commanded Elias, his voice dropping into a deadly, absolute promise of violence.

"We're going home."