Lost In The Darkness {Edited}

Chapter~56

Sergei Mikhailov's POV (Shadow) :

Something is wrong. I can feel it deep in my gut, a familiar unease that has never steered me wrong. In my line of work, instinct is everything—if my gut says something's off, it usually is. And right now, my gut doesn't trust this Lucas boy. Sure, on the surface, he seems genuinely worried about his family, but there's something about him that just doesn't sit right with me.

After Igor, my brother, asked me to keep an eye on him, I did what I always do—I dug deep. I ran a thorough investigation into Lucas, combing through his background, leaving no stone unturned. On paper, everything checked out. His father had been a victim of a robbery gone wrong, and Lucas had been a kid, forced to witness the whole thing. The trauma was so severe that, according to official records, he blocked out the memory entirely. The psychologists said he erased it from his mind—a classic case of dissociative amnesia.

Believable, right? A tragic story wrapped up neatly in a bow. But if there's one thing I've learned in this business, it's that when something seems too good to be true, it usually is.

My instincts kept nagging at me, telling me there was more to Lucas than what appeared on the surface. So, I did what I do best. I hacked into every surveillance system I could find, tracking his movements, especially in the places he frequented. I analyzed hours of footage, meticulously reviewing every angle, every interaction.

And then I saw it.

The footage didn't lie—it never does. What I found confirmed every suspicion gnawing at me. Lucas wasn't just some traumatized kid trying to live a quiet life. There was something far darker, far more calculated lurking beneath his carefully crafted facade.

I saw everything I needed to know.

And this isn't even the worst part. What rattles me to my core is that I never realized *this* was the guy my boss had been obsessing over. I should have seen it, should have known. It's a failure I can't afford.

There's only one thing I live for in this world—Vanessa. My life belongs to her. I would gladly die for her safety, without a second thought. Everything I do, everything I am, is aimed at protecting her life. And now, I've made a mistake—a dangerous oversight that could jeopardize my boss's life and unravel everything we've built.

Lucas isn't just some harmless boy. He's an enemy—a threat that needs to be eliminated, plain and simple. Yet, somehow, my brother pulled a favor to protect him? Protect *him*? It doesn't make sense. What is Lucas really doing? What is his endgame?

The very thought of him slipping through our fingers—of him being this close to Vanessa—fills me with a fury I can barely contain. I missed a crucial detail, and now, the stakes are higher than ever.

~*~*~*~

Vanessa's POV:

I groaned as the shrill ring of the phone tore through my head, each sound like a hammer against my skull. A migraine clawed its way through my mind with every second I spent fumbling in the dark, trying to locate the damn phone. My body screamed in protest as I shifted, the hard surface beneath me leaving my muscles stiff and numb.

Where the hell am I?

Then it hit me—the events of earlier flooded back, crashing into my thoughts like a cold wave. I had been with my daughter, Sophia. I had spent hours with her, trying to savor every moment of peace she seemed to find. A small, tired smile tugged at my lips at the memory, but it quickly faded. After a while, she had drifted off to sleep, and I had quietly slipped out of her room.

But then came the scream—sharp, terrifying, a sound that ripped me apart from the inside. My blood had turned to ice as I heard it, and I ran. God, I ran as fast as I could, my body trembling with fear, my heart pounding in my chest, ready to burst. My mind went blank with panic, my hands shaking uncontrollably as I threw the door open.