Chapter Twelve: The Ghost in the Kitchen

The silence inside Lena’s apartment felt unnatural.

On the small kitchen counter, the outdated television continued flickering with breaking news banners and shaky helicopter footage of the destroyed Vane estate. The anchor’s voice kept talking about investigators, missing bodies, and emergency response teams, but nobody inside the apartment was truly listening anymore.

No survivor? That word remain in my chest burning through me like fire.

I couldn’t take my eyes off Silas. Not out of admiration but watching his reactions.

He stood motionless beside the counter, his massive frame almost swallowing the tiny apartment whole. The plain black t-shirt he wore, made him look less like a tech tycoon and more like a dangerous ghost. The bandage across his temple was stained dark with blood, but he barely seemed to notice. His dark, possessive eyes remained fixed on the television screen with a cold, unreadable focus.

The world thought he was dead.

Lena looked between the television and Silas with visible panic. Her hands were trembling so badly she had to grip the edge of the counter just to steady herself.

“Dead…” she whispered weakly. “They’re saying everyone inside the estate died”.

Then slowly… very slowly… she turned toward me.

“Vienne… what exactly did you get yourself into?” “What if they find you guys?”

Before I could answer, Silas finally spoke. “They won’t find us here.”

Elias sighed heavily from beside the window, his laptop squeezed under his arm. “We need to shut the news off.”

I froze in shock. I wasn’t even aware he was there until he spoke.

“No.” Silas’s voice came low and sharp.

“Leave it.” Victor thinks he won. Let him.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “Are you insane?” I snapped, standing abruptly from the sofa despite the sharp pain shooting through my bandaged feet. “Your house exploded. Your security team is gone. The entire country thinks you’re dead, Silas!”

He didn’t react to my yelling.

Lena blinked rapidly, looking completely out of her depth. “Okay, somebody needs to explain something right now because I genuinely feel like I’m inside a N*****x documentary.”

Despite everything, the corner of Elias’s mouth twitched briefly.

The reporter on the television continued speaking. “Authorities suspect the explosion originated beneath the southern foundation of the estate. Investigators are currently searching for any remains…”.

Silas muted the TV. Instant silence swallowed the apartment again. Then finally, he looked at me.

“You need to stay here for a few days.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “Here?”

“Yes.”

“In Lena’s apartment?”

“It’s the safest option.”

Lena looked personally offended. “Wow. You say that like my apartment is a sewer. I'm a creative writing student, Mr. Vane, I don't exactly keep a guest safe in my closet!”

Silas ignored her completely, which somehow annoyed me more. He stepped closer, his shadow completely enveloping me in the tiny kitchenette.

“The contract still stands, Little Bird. Remember… total compliance. And as long as you’re breathing, Victor Laurent hasn’t won anything.”

“Oh my God,” I hissed, shoving both palms against his chest before he could get any closer. Heat radiated through the thin black shirt stretched over his body. “Stop talking about the contract like it’s romantic. You practically dragged me into a nightmare.”

His expression didn’t change. “I kept you alive.”

“You manipulated me.”

“I protected you.”

“You erased my memories!”

Something dark flickered behind his eyes then. Not anger. Pain. Real pain. The realization hit me so unexpectedly that it almost stopped my next breath. Silas Vane actually looked hurt.

“You think I wanted that?” he asked quietly.

The room fell completely still. Even Elias looked away awkwardly, his fingers tightening against the edge of his laptop.

Silas stepped closer slowly, his voice rougher now, the sheer size of him completely dominating the small room.

“When they pulled you out of the water that night, you were barely breathing. You wouldn’t stop screaming.” His jaw tightened hard. “You were six years old and covered in your parents’ blood.”

A sharp ache exploded behind my eyes. Fragments of rain, glass, and screaming blurred together.

“Stop.”

Silas immediately stopped talking. The gentleness of it unsettled me more than shouting would have.

Lena looked completely lost now. “Okay…” she said carefully. “Either I’m hallucinating or this family needs several therapists.”

Elias scoffed quietly under his breath.

Small update,” Elias muttered dryly, already typing across the keyboard. “Victor froze the Vane accounts less than twenty minutes after the explosion hit the news. We can’t even buy food or medical supplies”. Offshore channels are still hidden, but if I touch them now, he’ll trace us.”

Lena blinked slowly.

“So… you’re broke?”

For the first time since meeting him, Elias actually looked offended. “We are temporarily inconvenienced.”

I almost laughed despite everything. Almost. The two of them were acting like a pair of stubborn twins.

Elias sighed, looking at Lena. “It’s not like we are begging you but how much do you have?”

Lena nervously rubbed her arms. “I only have like fifty dollars until probably Friday.”

Probably. Meaning she wasn’t even entirely sure yet.

A strange silence followed that statement as the grim reality settled heavily inside the room.

Silas Vane — the man who once bought entire companies overnight — was now hiding inside a tiny apartment surviving on Lena’s grocery money.

But the heavy silence didn’t last long.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

Every single person froze. The violent pounding rattled Lena’s apartment door hard enough to shake the cheap picture frames hanging beside it.

Silas moved first.

One second he was beside me, and the next, he had already drawn a matte-black handgun from the back of his waistband. His long, scarred fingers gripped the weapon with terrifying, lethal instinct as he shoved me firmly behind his massive frame, shielding my body completely with his own.

Lena’s eyes widened in horror. “OH MY GOD.”

Lena!” a male voice shouted from outside. “Open the door. Housing inspection.”

Nobody moved. Nobody dared to make a sound. Lena looked terrified. “There are no inspections today,” she whispered shakily.

The doorknob rattled aggressively.

“Miss Brice,” the voice called again, calmer this time. “We know you’re inside. Your aunt is outside. Do not keep us waiting.”

She frowned, completely bewildered. “Huh? My aunt?”

Right then, Lena's phone vibrated loudly across the kitchen counter, making everyone jump. Lena looked down at the glowing screen, her face draining of color instantly. I caught the contact name flashing across the display: AUNT MARISSA.

The pounding on the apartment door stopped completely. Then a new voice spoke from the hallway outside.

“Lena” Aunt Marissa called through the wood. “Open the door now, sweetie”.

“Why is she here”? Lena asked looking at me in sheer panic.

“I have no idea,” I answered.

Outside, the tone shifted, growing cold and sharp. “Lena, I don’t repeat myself. Open this door.”

Silas slowly lowered the safety of the handgun with a quiet, lethal click. The sound alone made Lena visibly panic.

“Oh my God,” she whispered, staring at the weapon. “Please tell me nobody is about to die in my apartment.”

“Stay behind me,” Silas said calmly. The command wasn’t directed at Lena but she still followed suit, shrinking back.

Elias moved silently toward the side of the window, carefully pulling back the cheap curtain just enough to glance outside.

“What do you see?” I whispered.

“Black SUV,” Elias murmured. “Two men near the stairwell. One driver still inside the vehicle.”

Lena looked seconds away from fainting. “My neighbors are going to think I joined the mafia.”

“Quiet,” Silas snapped.

Another knock echoed through the apartment door this time slower.

“Vienne,” Aunt Marissa’s voice called from the hallway again, smoother now. “I know you’re in there.”

Every muscle in my body locked instantly. Silas’s jaw hardened and Elias looked back at us sharply. “How the hell did she track us?”

“I told you,” Silas said coldly without taking his eyes off the door. “Your aunt has never been as harmless as she pretends.”

Lena swallowed nervously. “Okay, I officially hate everybody in your family.”

Despite the fear squeezing my chest, I almost laughed then my stomach growled. Damn it, I was hungry.

Suddenly, my own phone buzzed inside the pocket of the oversized sweatshirt. I froze. Slowly, I pulled it out to see an UNKNOWN NUMBER.

A text message appeared across the screen.

DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR. MARISSA DID NOT COME ALONE.

My breath caught violently. Before I could even react, another message appeared.

LOOK THROUGH THE PEEPHOLE.

Silas noticed my expression immediately. “What is it?”

I couldn’t answer. My legs carried me toward the door before my brain could stop me.

“Vienne,” Silas warned sharply.

Ignoring him, I leaned carefully toward the peephole. At first, all I saw was Aunt Marissa standing calmly in the dim apartment hallway wearing a long cream coat, her elegant posture perfectly composed despite the tension.

Then, a man stepped slightly into view behind her. He was Tall with broad shoulders, wearing a dark coat.

And when he slowly lifted his face toward the peephole, my blood turned to ice.

I knew him. And the last time I saw him, he was standing beside my parents’ shattered car holding a silver chain on the night they died.