Chapter 7
While Victor tended to the wounded, Silas pulled Nora aside to the edge of the platform.
He turned off the flashlight to conserve battery, leaving them bathed in total, suffocating darkness.
"Tell me about Arthur," Silas requested, his voice a low rumble in the pitch black.
Nora shivered, wrapping her arms around herself to ward off the damp cold.
"He was a good man who made terrible choices to keep us fed," Nora said bitterly.
"He told me he was driving for a dangerous crew, but he never mentioned your name."
Silas leaned against the damp brick wall, his mind flashing back to a snowy bridge eight years ago.
"Arthur saved my life that night," Silas confessed, a rare vulnerability creeping into his tone.
"My rivals ambushed my car. My wife was in the passenger seat."
Silas paused, the silence in the tunnel stretching out like a tightwire about to snap.
"They killed her instantly. But Arthur drove through a hail of bullets to get me out."
Nora gasped softly, finally understanding the heavy, invisible burden this monster carried.
"Arthur bled out in the driver's seat two blocks away," Silas continued.
"Before he died, he gave me that brass key. He said it was for his daughter."
Nora’s eyes widened in the dark, the puzzle pieces finally locking together.
"You didn't recognize the key just now," Nora whispered.
"You were looking for it."
"I spent four years trying to find his family," Silas admitted.
"Arthur made me promise to protect you, but you fell off the grid perfectly."
Nora realized she had been running from the very man who had sworn an oath to save her.
Before she could speak, a loud splash echoed from down the tunnel.
May you like
The Romanov hitmen had found the grate.
They were coming.
