Chapter 5 - Hidden Eyes
Vincent pulled a sharp pocket knife and effortlessly cut the thick zip ties binding Norah’s wrists.
He helped her stand up from the freezing metal chair in the damp cellar.
He apologized quietly, admitting that his paranoia had almost cost an innocent woman her life.
Norah rubbed her raw wrists and nodded, still too terrified to speak clearly.
Vincent promised that she would be under his direct, personal protection from now on.
He escorted her back upstairs and placed her in the guest suite directly connected to his own bedroom.
The proximity made her feel simultaneously incredibly safe and dangerously nervous.
Over the next two weeks, an unspoken, fragile bond slowly began to form between them.
Norah cooked simple, rustic meals that Vincent’s damaged stomach eagerly accepted.
He gradually started gaining weight, and the deadly pallor finally faded from his handsome face.
They spent late nights talking quietly in his study over plates of warm toast and hot tea.
Norah learned about the heavy, suffocating burden of leading a criminal empire he never truly wanted.
Vincent learned about her struggles to survive in the brutal city after her parents passed away.
One evening, Norah was carefully dusting the antique bookshelf in her new bedroom.
Her cleaning rag snagged on a tiny, sharp piece of black plastic wedged behind a heavy dictionary.
She pulled the heavy book aside and found a small, sophisticated camera lens staring right at her.
Her breath hitched in her throat as she realized someone had been watching her every single move.
She followed a tiny black wire running down the back of the bookshelf to the baseboard.
It connected directly to an encrypted, prepaid burner phone taped securely against the wall.
Norah carefully peeled the phone off the wall and pressed the power button.
The bright screen instantly illuminated, revealing a long string of unread text messages.
She opened the most recent message, and her blood turned completely to ice.
The text demanded to know why the new chef hadn't finished the assassination job yet.
Norah dropped the phone onto the carpet like it was burning her skin.
May you like
The screen lit up again with a new message containing a downloaded photograph.
It was a crystal clear picture of her runaway brother shaking hands with Vincent’s deadliest rival.
