Buried Secrets

The warehouse smelled of rust and dust, the air thick with the remnants of forgotten stories. Elena paced the concrete floor, gripping the USB in her hand.

Adrian leaned against an old wooden crate, his arms crossed as he watched her.

"You're thinking too much," he finally said.

She shot him a glare. "Excuse me for not blindly trusting the guy who just dragged me into a gunfight."

He smirked. "You followed me."

Elena clenched her jaw and ignored him. She needed to focus.

She pulled out her phone and plugged the USB into an adapter.

Adrian pushed off the crate. "Are you sure you want to do that here?"

"Why?" she challenged. "Afraid of what I'll find?"

Adrian's expression remained unreadable, but the way his jaw tensed told her everything.

She tapped the screen, opening the files.

Rows of folders appeared—dates, transactions, security footage. But one file stood out.

AceProject.mp4

Elena's stomach twisted.

She clicked on it.

A grainy security video played on the screen. A dark room. A large wooden table. Three men sitting at it, their faces mostly obscured.

But it was the man in the center who made Elena freeze.

Adrian.

Her grip on the phone tightened.

The video played on, and one of the other men slid a document across the table.

The audio was muffled, but she caught snippets.

"…final shipment…"

"…no police interference…"

"…handled."

Then, Adrian in the video spoke.

"If she gets in the way, we remove her."

Elena's breath hitched.

The video ended.

Silence.

She turned to Adrian, her chest rising and falling rapidly. "What the hell is this?"

His face remained unreadable. "It's not what you think."

Elena laughed bitterly. "Really? Because it looks like you were making a deal with criminals."

"I was."

His honesty knocked the breath out of her.

Adrian took a slow step forward, his gaze locking onto hers. "But you don't have the full picture."

She took a step back. "Then explain. Because right now, everything points to you being exactly the kind of man I should be hunting."

Adrian exhaled, rubbing his temples. "Elena, I—"

A sharp noise outside.

Both of them snapped to attention.

Adrian pulled out his gun in a blink.

Elena followed, her instincts kicking in.

A second later, the warehouse doors slammed open.

Four men in dark clothing stormed in.

Guns raised.

Elena's heart pounded.

One of the men stepped forward, his lips curling into a smirk. "Well, well. Looks like we found our rat."

Adrian didn't flinch.

Elena tightened her grip on her gun.

She didn't know who these men were.

But right now, she had one question.

Were they after her?

Or Adrian?

Either way—

She wasn't going down without a fight.