And oblivious to the fact that a shadow was watching over me.
Why?
Why would he pay thousands of dollars for a girl he didn't know?
I open the second file.ROSS, IVY.
The first page isn't a debt record. It’s a photo.
It’s old. Grainy.
It’s me at sixteen. I’m sitting on the steps of the Met museum, sketching. I’m wearing a ragged coat and eating a pretzel. I look young. Sad.
There’s a note clipped to the photo in Silas’s sharp handwriting.
Subject shows potential. Raw talent. Unprotected. Father is a liability. Monitor.
He’s been watching me since I was sixteen.
I flip the pages. It’s a timeline of my life. Report cards. Art competition entries. A copy of my acceptance letter to Parsons. (How did he get this? I never showed anyone). Receipts for art supplies that "mysteriously" showed up at my door when I was broke. I always thought it was a shipping error.
It was him.
He bought my paints. He paid my debts. He kept the wolves away for four years.
I feel a tear slide down my cheek.
He isn't just my captor. He’s my patron. My guardian.
But why wait? Why let me struggle? Why kidnap me now?
I find a memo dated six months ago.
Status Update: Marcus Ross escalating. Debts exceeding manageable levels. Contact with Sokolov Bratva confirmed. Risk of asset loss: CRITICAL.Decision: Extraction imminent. The father cannot be trusted. The asset must be secured.
He tried to save me.
He didn't kidnap me to hurt me. He kidnapped me because my father finally made a deal Silas couldn't just pay off anonymously. The Sokolovs don't want money; they want flesh.
Silas took me to keep Nikolai from getting me.
I sit back on my heels, the papers scattering around me.
Everything shifts. The anger, the fear, the hatred... it all twists into something confusing and painful.
He’s a monster, yes. He killed people. He chained me to a bed.
But he’smymonster.
He’s been protecting me from the darkness since before I even knew the darkness existed.
You realized you need the wolf to keep the other beasts away.
He was right.
I touch the platinum anklet. It doesn't feel like a shackle anymore. It feels like a promise.
Suddenly, the lights in the office flicker.
