Chapter 16: The Shadow Between Them

The mansion was unusually quiet that evening, the kind of silence that felt heavy with secrets rather than calm. Mara sat on the edge of her bed, her gaze fixed on the journal she had been keeping since she married Damon. Instead of sweet memories or happy moments, it was filled with her confusion about the whispers she’d heard, the strange looks on people’s faces, and the unease that seemed to follow Damon whenever certain names were mentioned.

On top of today’s entry, she wrote one word in shaky letters: Morales.

She had overheard that name again one night while walking past Damon’s office. He was talking in a low, tense voice, and she could hear a sharpness in it that made her nervous. He didn’t sound like he was begging, but there was something dangerous about the way he spoke. A crack in his usual calm demeanor.

That name had surfaced again today. Mara recalled the way Victor, Damon’s most trusted man, stiffened when a letter was delivered in a black envelope. Damon had snatched it too quickly, almost as though shielding her from its contents. She wasn’t meant to notice. But she did.

“He said they were after me the last time I signed the contract and after that day he never mentioned it and whenever something happened he wouldnt tell me or why I'm I being cage here?” she muttered.

She flipped her notebook to the page where she had sketched the mysterious chain-locked door she had stumbled upon weeks ago, deep in the west wing of the Blackwood estate. When she had asked Damon about it, he had replied sharply, “Stay away from there.” But the look in his eyes, that flash of something raw, told her it was connected.

Her pen hovered over the page, connecting arrows:

The locked door.

The name Morales.

Damon’s sudden unease.

Mara bit her lip. The pieces weren’t fitting together yet, but she could feel a pattern emerging. one she couldn’t ignore.

Later that night, she walked the halls again. The mansion was cloaked in shadows, and though her heart hammered in her chest, she let her curiosity guide her steps. Passing by the west wing, she slowed. The door was still there, chains glinting faintly under the dim light. She pressed her hand against it, the cold metal biting into her palm.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her.

“Mara.” Damon’s voice was firm, but there was something else. Fear.

She turned slowly, caught in the act. His dark eyes locked on hers, not with anger this time, but with an intensity that made her shiver.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he said, but the tension in his voice revealed his worry.

“Then tell me why,” Mara whispered, her courage surprising even herself. “Are you sure the Morales organization is after me, Damon? You said they are after me what did I do to them And what are you hiding behind this door?”

The silence between them felt heavy and loud. Damon’s jaw clenched, and his hands balled into fists at his sides. He stepped closer, closing the distance between them.

“I told you before,” he replied eventually, his tone sharp. “ They want to use you to get me, they want to use you to hurt me that's why they want to kill you and I want to protect you even at all costs. So Stay out of this, Mara. Please.”

“I don't think so… I think it's you, “ she said.

He didn't answer. As he walked away, Mara felt her determination grow stronger. If Damon wouldn’t tell her the truth, she would find it herself.

For the first time, she sensed the weight of the shadows that loomed around the name Morales.