Tangled Shadows [COMPLETE]

chapter 13.

Author's pov-

After having a long session of kissing eachother, they finally broke apart, their breaths came in quick, shallow gasps, their chests rising and falling as they tried to steady themselves. His hand lingered on her cheek for a moment, thumb gently brushing against her flushed skin.

He took a step back, running a hand through his tousled hair before turning towards the closet. Rummaging through a hidden drawer, he pulled out a small velvet box, his expression softening as he looked at it.

He turned back to her, his gaze locking with hers as he opened the box to reveal a delicate pendant, a small silver charm, intricately shaped into a symbol that meant something special to him. Without a word, he stepped closer, his fingers brushing the hair away from her neck as he clasped the pendant around her. The cool metal rested against her skin, a reminder of the moment, of him.

Her lips parted, as if to say something, but before the words could come, she simply nodded, her fingers touching the pendant gently. And that's when her phone started to ring, it was her mother. Her hands started to trembling, as she recalls all the shit happened yesterday. After few seconds of looking at the phone screen she finally picked up, voice low....
"Hey" she finally speaks, her face looks tensed now "yeahh I'll be there don't hung the call sissy, and please look the door"...

Eliana looked at Kian, he was confused by her sudden change in expression. He wanted to ask but Eliana was already in a rush.... "Is everything okay?" He asked "I've to go sissy needs me..... I've to go, I'll explain this to you later" she said and left him behind dumbfounded.

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Eliana's pov-

As i rushed to the house, I feel bad to leave him like this, without telling him but sissy needed me.

I pushed open the front door, the familiar creak slicing through the unnerving silence that filled the house. Darkness pooled in every corner, thick and suffocating. I fumbled for the light switch on the wall, but the lights stayed dead. Something was wrong. My heart thudded in my chest, echoing through my ears as I took a shaky step forward,

the air cold and stale around me.

"Mom?" I called out, "sissy?" my voice barely more than a whisper, cracking under the weight of the fear clawing at my chest. No response. Just that awful, oppressive silence.

I moved deeper into the house, straining to hear something-anything-that might make sense of this gnawing unease. And then I heard it. A faint, muffled cry coming from the living room. My blood ran cold. I hurried toward the sound, my breath coming out in short, frantic bursts.

And then I saw her.

She was tied to a chair in the middle of the room, ropes biting into her wrists and ankles. Her face was battered, blood trickling from a gash on her temple, mingling with the tears streaming down her cheeks. Her eyes were wide and terrified, glimmering with a desperation that tore through me.

"Mom!" I choked out, rushing forward, my hands trembling as I reached for the ropes. But before I could touch them, she jerked back, shaking her head violently.

"No, Eliana stop," she gasped, her voice breaking with pain and fear. "They'll kill you too. You need to go take your sister and leave. Please, just go!"

Her words hit me like a slap, my mind reeling. I shook my head, trying to force the panic down. "I can't leave you, I won't-"

But before I could finish, a voice cut through the darkness, smooth and mocking, freezing the blood in my veins. A voice I knew all too well.

"Well, well, looks like the little savior couldn't stay away."

I whipped around, my stomach lurching as Magnus stepped out of the shadows, a cruel smile playing on his lips. His presence filled the room, a darkness of its own, chilling the air around us. And in that moment, every instinct screamed at me that this was a trap, one I'd walked right into "Magnus-"

"Magnus who?? Oh that sweet boy, who brings you into this trap?" He leaned casually against the wall, arms crossed, that infuriating smirk playing at the edges of his lips. I could feel the rage bubbling up inside me, but I forced myself to keep my voice steady, to not let him see how deeply his betrayal cut.

“You’ve got that look, Eliana,” he said, tilting his head as if he found the situation amusing. “Like you’ve finally put the pieces together.”

I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms. “I trusted you, Magnus. I thought you were helping me, and the entire time, you were the one tearing me down.”

He chuckled, the sound dark and mocking. “not only the one, It’s not my fault that people get manipulated so easily, and you're one of them.... You always wanted to believe that Kian was the bad guy, and I just... nudged you in the right direction.”

“I hated him because of you!” I snapped, my voice rising despite my efforts to stay composed. “You twisted everything. You made me think Kian was the one sabotaging my business, turning my clients against me, when it was you, all along!”

Magnus shrugged, unrepentant. “You needed a villain, Eliana. And Kian? He fit the role perfectly, didn’t he? Cold, distant. All I had to do was make sure you kept looking at him instead of seeing what I was doing right under your nose.”

The realization cut like a knife, and I felt my vision blur with unshed tears. “You destroyed everything I worked for... my clients, my reputation. You made me doubt Kian when he was trying to protect me.”

He rolled his eyes, his expression turning exasperated. “This isn’t about your business, Eliana. It’s about Kian. He loves you more than anything, and that makes him weak. Vulnerable. And you were the perfect tool to bring him to his knees.”

I shook my head, my voice breaking. “And I believed you. I believed every lie you fed me. You made me push Kian away. You made me think he was the one who wanted to hurt me, and all this time, it was you.”

Magnus pushed off the wall, stepping closer until his presence seemed to fill the room, cold and suffocating. “You played your part beautifully, Eliana. I have to give you credit for that. But now, Kian’s going to watch everything he loves fall apart, piece by piece. And he’ll know it was because you let me in.”

A bitter laugh escaped me, even as my chest tightened with the weight of everything I had lost. “You think you’ve won, Magnus? That this is over?”

He smiled, but there was no warmth in it. “Oh, it’s far from over, sweetheart. But watching you try to pick up the pieces... that’s going to be the real entertainment.”

I took a step back, swallowing the anger and hurt threatening to choke me. “You won’t get away with this. Kian won’t break as easily as you think.”

Magnus’s eyes flashed with something darker, something dangerous. “We’ll see, Eliana. We’ll see.”