Alice couldn't help but think about everything Grey had told her.
So she took her chances and decided to meet with him.
The old pier was quieter than Alice expected.
She stood there wrapped in her very big and thick hoodie which warmed up her petite body.
The waves of the ocean brought on the cold breeze.
She looked at her phone: 9:47 p.m.
Grey was late.
Her heart was a confused mess of nerves. She didn't trust him — not truly. But if there was even a sliver of truth in what he'd said about David, about her being in danger, she had to know. She needed answers, and the tiny drive he'd shown her had burned in her thoughts all day.
What could be in the drive?
What did Grey have on her that made him come for her?
She couldn't help but think all through the period in which Grey was late.
Her fingers made a tight fist inside the thick long sleeves of the hoodie she had on.
Just as she was lost in thoughts, heavy footsteps echoed on the wooden planks. She turned around quickly. She had become very sensitive to anything or everything around her. Expected of course, a lot of her enemies and David's enemies were after her.
Grey.
He wasn't dressed for the night, as if the cold didn't bother him. His hands were shoved into his jacket pockets and his eyes searched hers, unreadable in the dim orange glow of the pier lights.
"You came," he said, his voice low.
"I'm not staying long," Alice said sharply. "Just give me the flash drive and I'll be gone."
Grey hesitated, then pulled it out — but once again, didn't hand it over. "Let's take a walk first."
"Why?"
"There's more I want to say. Things that don't belong in a file."
Alice sighed but nodded. She rolled her eyes and followed him down the road, their footsteps loud enough to be heard by the next person walking across as it was a very cold and silent night. They couldn't see what was ahead of them because of the fog, and for a moment, it felt like they were the only two people left alive.
"It was a lie," Grey broke the silence which was going on for a while now.
Alice, who was lost in thought, took a moment to process what she had just heard before she could respond: "What?"
"I lied about the flash drive. There's nothing on it."
She stopped walking.
"You what?" she demanded, voice low but fierce. "Why would you—"
"I needed a way to get you here," Grey cut in. "To talk. To apologize. To explain."
"You couldn't just call?"
"You wouldn't have picked up."
He wasn't wrong — but that didn't stop the fury curling in her chest. "You're unbelievable."
"I know," Grey said. "But please, hear me out."
She folded her arms tightly but didn't walk away.
"I messed up, Alice," he said. "I was angry when you left me. Bitter. I thought maybe it was a phase… you'd come back eventually. But then Chloe told me about David, and everything spiraled."
Alice's breath caught. "Chloe told you?"
Grey nodded. "She made it sound like you were sleeping your way into some rich guy's world. I got jealous. I did stupid things. But the more I watched, the more I saw something else."
"You were spying," she spat.
"Protecting," he repeated, his tone soft.
Alice turned to leave. She couldn't believe this. Another man trying to control her under the disguise of care.
"I saw what happened at the hotel," Grey said, making her freeze. "I was parked across the street."
Slowly, she turned back.
"That guy who tried to shoot you — I recognized him."
Alice's brows furrowed. "How?"
"He used to work for a man named Soren Black. A fixer. Real quiet operator. Paid to clean up corporate messes, usually with blood. I only know because... I did a summer internship in security detail a few years ago. Soren whispered. No one ever saw his face — but his men, they were scary as hell. That guy last night? One of them."
Alice's throat went dry. "Why would he come after me?"
Grey looked away. "That's the part I'm trying to figure out. Maybe it's tied to David. Or maybe… you saw something you weren't supposed to."
Alice's mind swirled.
She remembered the man's words: This is far from over. I'll definitely be back for her.
She shivered.
Grey looked at her then — really looked — and his expression softened. "You don't deserve this. Any of it. I wish I could turn things. I would never have gone on that trip on the night you had to go to the club and have that encounter with David. I wish there was something I could do."
She glanced up at him, startled by the gentleness in his voice. "You had your chance," she whispered.
"I know," he said, voice deep with regret. "But I can still care about you. Even if you hate me."
A long silence passed between them.
And then — without warning — he reached for her hand.
Alice stepped back instinctively.
Grey hesitated. "I just… I wanted to—"
"Don't," she said firmly.
He stepped back, guilt washing over his face. "I'm sorry. That was wrong."
They stood in awkward silence for a moment. The ocean wind howled around them.
Just then, they heard something.
A cough.
From deep in the fog.
They both turned.
Footsteps.
Heavy. Slow. Uneven.
Alice's heart skipped.
From the cold fog emerged a tall being with a brown, thick, long coat and a black hat, his face obscured by the shadows and the collar turned up high. He had a slight limp in his left foot but the steps towards them were deliberate.
Grey stepped forward. "Who the hell are you?"
The man didn't say a word. After coming a few steps closer, he turned his head to face Alice .
"You're Alice Parker," he said in a gravelled voice.
Alice froze. "Not again" she gave out a slight hiss. "Who are you?"
He didn't answer. Instead, he tossed something at her feet.
A sealed envelope.
She stared at it. "What's that?"
"Something you'll want to read," the man said. "But not here."
Grey stepped protectively in front of her. "Why should she trust you?"
The man tilted his head towards the left and right and then looked straight at Grey with a very cold expression. "Because if she doesn't… she'll never make it to the end of the week."
Alice felt ice creep into her bones.
The man turned and began to limp away, fading back into the fog just as he had come.
"Wait!" Alice called, rushing a few steps forward.
He didn't stop.
Only his voice echoed faintly: "Thompson & Co is built on bones. You're standing on a graveyard."
And then he was gone.
Alice stood there, trembling.
Grey bent and picked up the envelope. "What in the hell was that?"
Alice didn't answer.
She reached for the envelope and tore it open.
Inside was a single sheet of thick paper.
Typed. Precise.
Her eyes scanned it.
And stopped.
Her breath hitched.
"What is it?" Grey asked.
Alice read it out loud, her voice barely a whisper.
> "Patient: Cassandra Thompson.
Date of Death: 14 March, 2015
Cause: Cardiac arrest.
Autopsy Request: Denied.
Notation: Toxicology results inconclusive.
--Filed under 'Private Family Archive'."
Her hands shook.
Cassandra Thompson.
David's mother.
Alice looked up, her heart racing. "They covered it up," she breathed.
Grey was stunned. "Who would've sent that?"
Alice didn't know.
But the paper wasn't the only thing in the envelope.
There was also a photograph.
Old. Faded.
A woman with raven hair — young, fierce, with eyes not unlike Alice's own — standing beside a boy who couldn't have been older than six.
David.
But it wasn't him that made her breath catch.
It was the man standing behind them, hand resting protectively on Cassandra's shoulder.
A man whose eyes were circled in black ink.
The caption on the back read:
> "The real heir. The shadow behind the throne."
Alice's chest tightened.
Grey tried to speak, but she didn't hear him anymore.
There were forces at play far darker than she had imagined. Lies tangled in power. People watching from the shadows.
And someone — someone — wanted her to know.
Wanted her to choose a side.
The wind blew against the leaves of the trees causing them to break th
e silence which had caused them to be lost in thought.
Somewhere behind her, she thought she heard the echo of footsteps.
But when she turned, no one was there.
Only the crashing of waves.
And the photograph, shaking in her hand.