Page 125 of Shadows of Steel

What I do know is that he succeeded this time.

The weight of that realization crashes over me. I don’t know what he wants. I don’t know what he’ll do. And that is what makes this dangerous, even more so because he is an unknown.

And I am completely at his mercy.

I inhale sharply. My pulse pounds against my skull. My eyes dart around, scanning, searching.

A door. A window. A way out.

But there’s nothing.

The walls are just cracked concrete, enclosing me like a tomb.

A sound freezes me in place.

Footsteps, descending the stairs. I swallow hard, every muscle in my body locking tight. My breath turns shallow, chest rising and falling with quiet urgency. I see his boots first, black, polished, menacing. Each step lands heavy against the worn wooden stairs, the sound reverberating through the stagnant air.

I force myself to look higher. Up thick, powerful legs. A broad frame. Shadows cling to him like a second skin, obscuring, distorting.

We lock eyes.

A jolt of shock slices through my gut.

He tilts his head, a smirk playing at the corner of his lips, too pleased, like a man who’s waited far too long for this. His voice is low and insidious. “All that fight… and yet, here you are. Right where you belong.”

My lips part, my voice a rasp of pure disbelief.

“You.”

TO BE CONTINUED…