All Chapters of ECHOES OF THE PAST : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

We didn't fall.We should have. Three stories is enough to kill, enough to break every bone in a human body and enough to end this second chance at life before I'd barely started using it.But Damian moved like physics was just a suggestion, like gravity was something that happened to other people.He swung us both over the railing in one smooth, powerful motion. For one terrible, eternal second we were just falling through cold night air. Weightless and helpless, my stomach lurched up into my throat and my heart stopped beating entirely. I couldn't even scream neither could I breathe.The ground rushed up to meet us. This was it, this was how it ended. I escaped assassination only to die in a fall, how pathetic. How...Then his free hand caught the balcony railing below one handed supporting both our combined weights like it was nothing and as if we were made of feathers instead of flesh and bone.The hard and violent impact jolted through both of us. My teeth clacked together an

His silver mask was gone and his hair a mess while he sweats profusely on his forehead.He keeps looking around, scanning faces and searching.A click - In his mind.Where is she? Where did Aria go? Did she see me with Marcus? Does she know? She has to know something. I need to find her before the police do. I need to control this situation. I need to..."He's looking for you," Damian said quietly reading my expression. "Probably has been since everything started."I watch Evan stand and tries to move toward another section of the ballroom. A police officer immediately blocked him, gestures for him to sit back down. Evan complied but his eyes kept scanning in search of me. Kee searching. Keep looking for me in a crowd where I didn't exist. I said. Emma and David were in another section. She's still crying and clinging to David like a lifeline. Her peacock mask long gone, mascara streaking her face in black rivers making look horrible. David's arms were around her with his face wa

I was about to respond when the entire building shook violently, a massive explosion that rattled the windows and sent papers flying. The lights cut out instantly, plunging us into darkness before emergency lighting kicked in with an eerie red glow and smoke began seeping under the door like ghostly fingers reaching for us.Everyone jumped to their feet, confusion and alarm replacing the calculating expressions that had been there moments before.The Donovans moved with surprising coordination, Victoria already on her phone while Daniel moved toward the door as James pulled something from his jacket that looked suspiciously like a weapon."What the hell was that?" I demanded, my heart hammering against my ribs as the building's fire alarm began its shrill wailing."Stay here," Daniel ordered, his voice sharp with authority as he reached for the door handle.But I wasn't about to stay anywhere. My survival instincts, honed by ten years of betrayal and a second chance at life kicked i

His eyes glowed gold again, brighter this time and when he spoke, his voice carried a weight that seemed to come from somewhere beyond him.At that moment, Damian's eyes blazed with that brilliant golden light, everything around us changed.The world didn't just slow down, it stopped completely, frozen in a snapshot of reality that defied every law of physics I thought I understood. The emergency vehicles that had been racing past were suspended mid-motion, their sirens silent, their lights frozen mid-flash.People on the sidewalks stood like statues, caught mid-step, mid-breath, mid-word. Even the smoke rising from the Donovan building hung motionless in the air like a photograph."What did you..." I started to say but Damian was already moving, his hand gripping mine with urgent intensity."No time to explain," he said, and his voice was the only sound in this impossible stillness. "Richard's men are already at your aunt's location. We have seconds before they breach the safe hous

"Turn on the news," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "Right now."Damian grabbed a remote and the massive TV on the wall flickered to life, showing a news anchor with a breaking news banner scrolling across the bottom of the screen."Breaking news this morning," the anchor said, her expression grave. "Evan Grayson, the businessman who was reported missing after yesterday's explosion at the Donovan building has been found dead in his downtown apartment. The news anchor's voice droned on with details about the investigation, speculating about motives and mental states, painting a picture of a man driven to desperation by guilt and exposure, but I barely heard the words over the roaring in my ears as my mind rejected what my eyes were seeing."No," I said, the word coming out sharp and definitive, cutting through the stunned silence that had fallen over the room. "This is too convenient."Everyone turned to look at me, their expressions ranging from confusion to dawning understa