The moment his eyes opened, Daniella froze as he sat beside her.For some seconds, neither of them moved, just the sound of rain on the roof separated their silence.

“Couldn’t you sleep?”

She forced a small laugh. “Yeah… the thunder, is disturbing so much”

He reached over, brushed a strand of hair from her face, and kissed her forehead. His touch felt gentle, but his ring was cold against her skin.

“Try to rest,”

“You’ll need it tomorrow.”

She didn’t ask what he meant. She didn’t dare. As she nodded.

As usual, Alex had gotten himself ready and had left for his private guard work. On the kitchen counter sat a plate of toast and eggs with a small note beside it.

“Don’t skip breakfast. Be good.”

She stared at it for a long minute, feeling a strange ache in her chest. Then she dressed, grabbed her bag, and left for work.

The streets buzzed with horns and chatter, but her thoughts were loudest.

Target moving. “Use the girl if you must”.

The words from last night pulsed in her mind like a wound she couldn’t close.

At the office, she tried to focus, but her hands shook every time her phone buzzed. She was a graphic designer and also a private detective. Her world was supposed to be colors, art, light, but now everything around her felt painted in fear.

At lunch, she slipped outside, she was moving slowly on the building when she heard a sharp call.

“Daniella?”

She turned sharply.

A woman stood by the corner café, older, in her mid-thirties, sharp eyes, holding a steaming cup. Her hair was tied up, her expression was a bit serious.

It took Daniella a second to recognize her.

“Marissa?” she said softly.

Marissa used to work in the same building before moving to another department.

“Hey,” Marissa said, lowering her voice. “We need to talk.”

“About what?”

“About your boyfriend.”

The words made her stomach drop. She felt uncomfortable instantly hearing her boyfriend matter again.

“What?”

Marissa glanced around, then pulled her toward a bench near the parking lot. “I shouldn’t even be saying this. But I saw you with him last week. The tall one, dark hair, quiet smile. Alex, right?”

Daniella nodded slowly.

“You need to be careful. Two years ago, there was a case, a string of murders tied to a man who fit his exact profile. Ex-cop. Worked undercover for a syndicate that turned dirty.”

“What are you talking about?” Daniella whispered, with anger burning over her. One could barely tell as it was written over her face.

“They called it the Black Meridian operation,” Marissa said. “A covert cleanup group that handled ‘loose ends’ after police investigations. When it went bad, people vanished, journalists, witnesses, even other cops. The one leading it had a mark.”

Daniella felt a hit as she sat erect, placing her hands under her jaws. “A mark?”

Marissa nodded. “A triangle. Just like the one you keep drawing in your notebook.”

Daniella couldn't utter a word as the words sound weird to her hearing. Her fingers tightened on her bag. She had drawn it absentmindedly, over and over, since seeing it on Alex’s ring.

Marissa noticed her reaction. “Oh God. You’ve seen it, haven’t you?”

“I—maybe,” Daniella stammered. “But Alex isn’t—he wouldn’t—”

Marissa shook her head. “Don’t defend him. I lost someone to that group. My brother. He was investigating them. The night before he disappeared, he mentioned a man named Alex Rivers.”

“Rivers”?.

She had never heard Alex’s last name before. He’d always brushed it off. “Just Alex.”

“Are you sure?” Daniella asked weakly.

Marissa pulled out her phone and showed a picture, grainy, old, but clear enough. A younger Alex in uniform, standing beside a squad car. The same eyes. The same scar.

Daniella wasn't still convinced as she whispered to herself

“I'm hallucinating”?

“I don't think you are dear,” Marissa whispers as she taps her on the shoulder.

Marissa held her hand. “Listen to me. If he’s back, it’s not random. These people don’t reappear unless there’s unfinished business. You’re part of something, and you don’t even know it.”

“Part of what?”

Before Marissa could answer, a black car pulled up near the curb. Two men stepped out. All dressed tight in suits, clean-cut, sunglasses despite the cloudy sky.

Marissa’s voice fell to a whisper. “Don’t look. Just walk.”

Daniella’s pulse rose in fear. Her leg became weak at the spot.

The men started toward them.

Marissa stood firmly, pretending to fix her bag. “Go,” she mouthed. “Now.”

Daniella hesitated for half a second too long.

“Miss Daniella Cole?” one of the men called out, his tone was polite but sharp. “We need a word.”

Marissa grabbed her arm. “Run!”

They sprinted into the crowd, weaving between people, Daniella’s lungs burned in the act. She didn’t know where she was going, only that she had to get away.

They turned down an alley. Marissa stopped suddenly, pressing Daniella against a wall. “Listen. If you can’t trust him, if you even feel watched, get out. There’s a safe place, an old contact of mine. Name’s Ethan. He’ll help you.”

“Ethan?”

Marissa nodded. “He used to work with my brother. He knows about Meridian.”

Before Daniella could reply, a shout echoed from the street.

“Over there!”

Marissa pushed her. “Go!”

Daniella ran. Her heels slipped on the wet concrete. She didn’t look back until she was blocks away, breath shaking, When she finally did, Marissa was gone.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Unknown number.

She never wanted to answer, but something made her swipe.

Alex’s voice came through. Smooth, calm, wrong.

“Where are you, baby?”

“Alex?”

“I came to pick you up. You weren’t at work.”

She swallowed hard. “I—I went out to get something in a mall.”

“ It seems you’re shaking. I can hear it.”

“Alex, I—”

“Did someone talk to you?” His tone became sharp on the phone, she could perceive it. “Who was it?”

“No one.”

“Good,” he said softly. “Because I’d hate to think someone’s trying to turn you against me.”

“Come home, Daniella. We need to talk. And don’t make me come find you.”

He ended the call after his last statement

“Don't make me find you”.

She stood frozen under the rain, her phone was still against her ear, her heart was fast racing so hard that she could barely think.

Around the corner, the same black car from before cruised past, slow and deliberate around.

Daniella walked faster into a café, watching through the glass as it stopped briefly, then drove away.

Just as she bent her head to the table after she felt a vibration, another message flashed her screen.

“He knows. Don’t go home. Find Ethan before he finds you.”

An anonymous sender from an unknown source.

This time, it wasn’t Alex’s phone lighting up.

It was hers.

As she looked in the left direction in the cafés, with her coffee in her right hand. Somewhere behind her, reflected faintly in the café window, there stood a shadow watching her through the rain.

Daniella turned to get a clear view, but the reflection had vanished. But a small white paper was pinned to the block where the person who appears as a Shadow had been standing.