Vane Tech Headquarters was a monolith of glass and steel that pierced the morning sky, a physical manifestation of Silas's ego. Verina walked through the lobby, her hand once again trapped in his, feeling the weight of a thousand whispers as the employees watched their CEO bring his "surprise" bride to work.
"Stay in my office, Verina," Silas said, his voice clipped and professional as the elevator doors opened to the executive floor. "I have a board meeting that will last three hours. Do not leave, and do not touch the internal phone."
He led her into a room that felt more like a command center than an office. One wall was entirely digital, displaying flickering stock market tickers and security feeds. He pointed to a plush velvet sofa in the corner. "There are tablets there for your entertainment. Try not to get into trouble."
Without another word, he vanished through a side door, leaving her alone in the silence of his power.
Verina waited ten minutes, her heart hammering against her ribs. She didn't want entertainment, she wanted answers. Julian's words about Clara and the hit-and-run accident were a poison in her mind, and Silas's reaction the night before had only confirmed that the wound was still raw.
She stood up and walked toward his desk. It was a massive slab of black obsidian, clear of any personal items. No photos, no mementos, just a sleek computer and a single leather-bound blotter.
She began to pull at the drawers. The first three were locked electronically, but the bottom one, hidden behind a decorative panel, gave way with a soft click.
Inside was a single, dusty manila folder.
Verina pulled it out, her fingers trembling. She opened it and found a stack of old police reports from ten years ago. There were photos of a mangled silver sedan, the Vance family crest visible on the hubcaps. Her breath hitched. It was true. Her father's car had been involved.
But as she flipped to the final page, a small, polaroid photo fell out.
It wasn't a photo of the accident. It was a photo of Silas, years younger, standing in a garden with a girl who looked exactly like Verina. The girl was laughing, her hand tucked into Silas's arm. But on the back of the photo, in messy, hurried handwriting, were the words:
"He's coming for us, Silas. Don't let him find me."
The date on the photo was two days before the accident.
Verina's blood ran cold. This wasn't just a revenge story about a hit-and-run. Silas hadn't just lost a sister, he had been hiding her. And the person she was hiding from wasn't Verina's father.
"I told you not to touch anything."
The voice was a low, lethal vibration. Verina gasped, dropping the folder. The papers scattered across the obsidian desk like fallen leaves. Silas was standing in the doorway, his eyes fixed on the polaroid in her hand.
His expression wasn't angry. It was something far worse. It was the look of a man whose darkest secret had just been dragged into the light.
"Who was she hiding from, Silas?" Verina asked, her voice shaking as she held up the photo. "This wasn't an accident, was it? You used my father as a cover for something else."
Silas walked toward her, his movements slow and deliberate, like a predator cornering a wounded animal. He reached out, his hand closing over hers, crushing the polaroid between their palms.
"You should have stayed on the sofa, Verina," he whispered, his eyes burning with a dark, terrifying intensity. "Because now that you've seen that, I can never let you go. Not in a year. Not ever."
He pulled her toward him, his grip like iron, his face inches from hers. "You wanted to know the truth? The truth is that the Vances didn't just kill my sister. They stole the only thing that kept me human. And now, I'm going to make sure you pay that debt every single second for the rest of your life."
The office door clicked shut, locking automatically. Verina looked into Silas's eyes and realized that the contract was no longer a business deal. It was a life sentence.