All Chapters of The CEO'S secretary : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

CHLOE'S POV The shed smelled of damp earth and wood rot, but what caught my throat wasn’t the decayed smell,it was the laugh that came after my doubles. That low, gentle voice that could have been Elias’s if I didn’t already know he was supposed to be at home. My skin itched as I moved further inside, goosebumps covered my whole body, the beam of my flashlight cut across the walls lined with photographs. Dozens of them. My breath fastened as I stared at the photos. Most were of me, unposed photos I couldn’t remember being taken. Some were clearly from recent weeks: me in the office, stepping into the train, standing in the lobby. Others were… wrong. Elias and I were sitting close together in what looked like a café we’d never been to. Elias’s hand resting on mine as if we’d shared something in secret. Fabricated. But so close to reality. The laugh came again, this time nearer, pulling my gaze toward the far corner. And there he was. Elias or someone who wore his face. I was sh

CHLOE'S POV And before I could blink, she was moving…fast, too fast…closing the space between us. Elias shoved me back, spinning just in time to block her with the full weight of his body. The sound of impact cracked through the shed, his grunt mixing with her laugh as they collided.I stumbled, nearly falling into the wall of photographs. Images of me scattered on the ground, the corners crumpling under my boots. Dozens of pictures of me. Dozens of versions I didn’t recognize.My double’s hand slid across Elias’s chest, too close to mine. She wasn’t trying to hurt him…she was playing games with him. Taunting us. Her lips curved inches from his jaw as she whispered, “You can’t keep her from me.”I couldn’t stand it.“Stop it!” I shouted, the sound tearing out of me before I could think.Her gaze snapped to mine, triumphant. “See? She feels it. The pull. The hunger for the truth.”“No,” Elias growled, slamming her back against the wall with a force that rattled the boards. His body tr

CHLOE'S POV The flashlight sputtered once,twice….And went out.It was dark again.Her laugh filled the silence, closer than breath.The dark swallowed everything.The sputtering beam from Gavin’s phone died, and the black slammed back into place, thick and suffocating.“Elias…” My voice cracked, swallowed by the walls.“I’ve got you,” he wrapped his hand around mine. The raw anger in his tone should have steadied me. Instead, it made my chest tighten. Because beneath the rage, I heard something else. Fear.A sound shifted in the dark. Not Gavin. Not Elias. Her.“Don’t worry,” she cooed, her voice curling around us, the mirror of mine. “I don’t need the light to find you. I am you.”Something brushed my arm. Too soft. Too real.I flinched back, colliding with Elias’s chest. His arm clamped around me instantly, pulling me flush against him. “Stay still.” His whisper burned hot against my ear.“But Gavin….”“I’ll protect him. But you first.”My breath shuddered. His grip, his heat, his

ELIAS’S POVHer laugh came again, low and splintering, circling the dark shed.Chloe’s fingers dug into me, her body trembling against my back. Every quiver of her frame drove my fury deeper into bone. I’d kill this thing, whatever it was, even if I had to tear my own hands apart to do it.“Elias…” she whispered, small, breaking.I covered her hands with mine, steady, and strong. “I’m not letting her near you.”A hiss curled from the dark. “You can’t protect her forever. Not from you.”My jaw snapped tight. The truth in her voice wasn’t hers…it was mine. Every regret, every silence, thrown back at me like a knife. And still I couldn’t let it cut.Then Gavin’s voice cut sharp, raw, from the shadows. “She’s feeding on the cracks. That’s how Isabelle built her…off memory, weakness, want. Don’t give her more to use.”Blood slicked his words; he was barely upright, but still fighting.“She’s not real,” I growled back at the dark, more for Chloe than myself. “She’s a parasite. And I’ll end

ELIAS' POV The light cut a sharp-thin line across the floor, hope spilling from the office door. But before Chloe could reach it, her double was on her.The impact made her cry out, the shadow of her body pinning Chloe against the wall. Same face. Same hair. The same trembling mouth twisted into something cruel.The moment her body launched from the dark, instinct pulled me forward faster than thought. My grip on Chloe tore free as I twisted, slamming into the shadow wearing her face.The impact rattled through bone, wood cracking beneath us as I drove her back. But she was stronger than she should’ve been…far stronger. Her arms lashed out, her nails catching my shoulder, dragging heat and pain down my skin.Behind me, Chloe screamed my name. It ripped through me sharper than claws ever could.“Run!” I barked, shoving at the double’s weight.But Chloe didn’t move. I heard the frantic scrape of her hands against the wall, refusing to leave.Her voice cut like glass. “I won’t leave you