Chapter 8 8

After the horrific events of the previous evening, Ethan and I arrived at a secret understanding: we could no more afford to be rivals. Whatever secrets Ethan kept, whatever darkness lurked in his past, we were now allies fighting for survival. Though we clearly disagreed and had our differences, but need drove us to put our differences aside.

To find the truth about the contract that had brought us together and solve the mystery around us, we had to cooperate. The morning following the attack, we sat opposite from one another at the kitchen table. Though not the uncomfortable kind to which we had become used to, the silence between us was thick. This kind of stillness was accompanied by a mutual understanding that something had changed.

Ethan still had his usual cold demeanor, but there was something different-something softer, more vulnerable. I could see it in his eyes, flashing with uncertainty or anxiety.

"We have to find out what's actually going on," I broke the silence. I felt less than my speech suggested. "We have to go into your past and learn who these people are and why they are after us." Ethan nodded, his jaw tightening. "It won't be a easy thing to do. These people are harmful. Every clue we find will only lead us deeper into their web. They had been operating for years, building a web of lies and deceit."

Knowing the journey ahead would be perilous and turning back now wasn't possible, I let out a big sigh, uncertain of what to expect.

"We will then probe more closely. We have to, if we are to survive." I said firmly, my heart stiff.

Our unhappy marriage soon began to find some rhythm. We started with the stuff Ethan had stashed in his study. Files upon files of old contracts, financial issues, and correspondence with names I knew but clearly meant something to him. I watched Ethan's shoulders tighten and his fingers linger on specific pages as we went through the files, as though they had memories too horrible to go back over. Still, he largely controlled his emotions. He would not confess it, but I could tell he was struggling.

Every fresh discovery we made seemed to undermine his will, exposing flaws in the cool front he had kept since we first met. It was like watching one tiny fracture at a time as a dam collapsed. The first major discovery came when we came over a letter sent several years ago under Vincent Albright's name. Although the name meant nothing to me, the way Ethan's face tightened suggested that this person was absolutely important.

"Who's Vincent?" I asked, focused especially on his response. Ethan stopped then answered, his voice strained. "An old friend of business associates. We argued personally on a personal topic."

He didn't elaborate as I had hoped. His eyes were far-off, consumed in a memory he wasn't ready to share. The vague message revealed a meeting in Grey Hollow. The tone was dark, with gently disguised warnings about the fallout should specific requirements fall short. Vincent was a menace, one Ethan had tried to hide, definitely more than just an old business colleague.

"We have to learn what happened at Grey Hollow," I said, finger-tracking the letter's lines. "It might be the secret to grasp all of this."

Ethan nodded, but from his gaze I could sense anxiety. "I know this place really well. It's two or three hours away."

"That's a risk we'll have to take," I remarked, trying to look more audacious than I was."

I knew we'll be marching right into their territory. But we have no other option. I couldn't get rid of the impression that we were about to travel someplace far more dangerous than we could have dreamed as we got ready to leave. Still, I couldn't ignore the fire of will in Ethan's eyes. I saw him as someone other than the cold, calculated man I had married for the first time since we had met. He was a man dragging a great weight that was gradually killing him from inside.

The journey to Grey Hollow was drawn out and taxing. Ethan was still, staring at the road while my head spun with possibilities.

The real Vincent Albright was whom? Between him and Ethan, what had happened to cause this mess?

The site looked exactly as terrifying as the name suggested when we got there. Grey Hollow was a lonely estate surrounded by thick forests, the air heavy with ruin. Though massive, the home was crumbling with shattered windows and ivy climbing the walls. It seemed to be the kind of place where secrets were buried deeply and where those who sought them usually never came back.

We entered cautiously, the floor creaks resonating in the quiet. With dirty furnishings, cobwebs hanging from the ceiling, and a general neglect, the inside of the house was worse than the exterior. But there was another: a residual presence that caused the hair on the rear of my neck to raise. Leading the route, Ethan had a rigid posture as though he feared an attack right away. We looked around the building room by room till we came upon a floor concealed entrance in the study. Underneath it lay a tiny stairway headed toward darkness.

"Are you quite sure about this?" I asked, nearly in a whisper. Ethan said honestly, "No."

Nevertheless, we have to know. We headed into the thick darkness, the air growing colder with every stride. At the bottom we found a tiny compartment loaded with antique records and ledgers. In the middle stood a table bearing one mail address specifically for Ethan.

He opened it with shaking hands, and reading the contents made his face white. He silently passed me the letter. Vincent penned the letter using the date the day he vanished. It was a confession, detailing their degree of collaboration with a covert group-one that had been dragging strings all along.

Ethan and I had signed a contract that was merely the most recent in a long line of tweaks meant to keep us under control. A chilly dread descended over me as I came to finish reading. We were in something deeper than I had ever expected, and the more we learned, the more I understood how perilous our circumstances were.

Underneath the horror, though, I sensed another: a drive to see this through. I saw for the first time the cracks in Ethan's armor, the suffering he had been stifling for so long. And at that moment I understood we would have to rely on one another to survive. The actual conflict had hardly started, and it was uncertain if we could handle what lay ahead. But one thing was clear, though: we were all in this together and right now there was no turning back.