Shadows Between Us (Stella and Sebastian) novel Chapter 74

Chapter 74

Chapter 74

A smell like rotting meat hung heavy in the air. Behind them, the moonlight cast long, twisted shadows of Stella and Sebastian across the ground.

A scream ripped through the silence of the night. It was loud and raw, echoing up from the gut of the dungeon.

The heavy iron door slammed shut behind Stella, plunging them into darkness. Almost instantly, the wall lamps flickered to life. They clicked on one by one down the hall, lighting up a dim, creepy path.

This was the scariest place on Sandridge Island. The whole area was built like a medieval dungeon. Scary carvings covered the stone walls, showing scenes that looked like they belonged in a nightmare.

Suddenly, a voice croaked out. “Help… Somebody help me… I don’t wanna die…”

A man soaked in blood clawed his way out of the shadows. His legs were dead weight, dragging behind him and leaving a long, red smear on the stone.

His eyes were caked with blood, but he saw two people standing there. “Please,” he gasped, crawling toward them. “Help me…”

When he got close enough to see, he looked up. The moment he saw who was in the wheelchair, his face twisted in pure terror. He didn’t ask for help anymore. He just started screaming.

From his wheelchair, Sebastian looked down at the guy like he was dirt. His black shirt was expensive, but it just made him look darker and colder. Right now, he didn’t look human. He looked like a monster with icy

eyes.

“Ivan Yates,” Sebastian said softly. He didn’t shout, but the name landed heavy in the air.

A young man stepped out of the dark. His face was blank. He stood respectfully before Sebastian, though his eyes flickered over to Stella. “Mr. Gray,” he said.

Sebastian glanced at him. His face didn’t change, but the silence was terrifying. “Go take your punishment.”

“Yes, sir,” Ivan replied.

Ivan had let the prisoner out on purpose to freak Stella out. He knew Sebastian had caught him red-handed, so he accepted the order without fighting it.

“You devil…” the man on the floor screamed. “Sebastian, you’re a lunatic. You sick freak!”

Ivan grabbed the guy by the back of his neck and dragged him back into the shadows. The screaming got quieter as they went deeper, but it still echoed off the walls.

Stella stared at the blood trail on the floor, seemingly deep in thought. Sebastian watched her. He looked dangerous, like a loaded gun.

“Scared yet?” Sebastian asked, his voice low and icy.

18:54 Mon, Jan 19

Chapter 74

:

Lifting her head slowly, Stella asked, “Can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead,” Sebastian replied.

“Are Ivan, John, and Jake actually related?” she asked. “Like, real brothers?”

24

It was a genuine question. ‘John and Jake look enough alike,’ she thought. ‘but where did this Ivan guy come from? If they are all related, their mom was seriously busy.

Sebastian stared at her, completely thrown off. ‘She looked so serious,’ he thought. ‘I thought she was thinking about the blood.’

“No,” he said flatly.

“I knew it,” Stella said, nodding like she’d solved a mystery. She went right back to her usual lazy vibe. “Let me guess. There are a bunch of other guys named Yates running around, too, right?”

Sebastian paused. She wasn’t wrong. “John and Jake are blood brothers,” he said. “But the rest…”

“Say no more,” she cut in, pushing the wheelchair forward again. “You were just too lazy to think up different last names.”

Sebastian actually didn’t have a good comeback for that. As they rolled deeper into the dark hallway, dirty hands shot out from the bars on both sides.

Prisoners were wailing, begging for a way out. But the second they saw Sebastian’s face, the begging died. It was replaced by screams of absolute horror.

Through all the noise, Stella didn’t even flinch. At one point, she actually yawned. The prisoners peering through the gaps came to a swift conclusion: she might look like an angel, but she was just as twisted as the man in the wheelchair.

Sebastian’s gaze never left her. Eventually, Stella sighed and stopped the chair. “Mr. Gray, is there something on my face? You keep staring.”

“Is that the only question you have?” Sebastian asked.

‘Is she really not curious?’ he thought. ‘Doesn’t she care who these people are? Doesn’t she want to know why they are rotting in here?’

“Yep,” Stella said without missing a beat.

Sebastian fell silent. Stella looked down, but the heavy shadows masked his expression. Seeing that the black blanket had slipped off his knees, she leaned over and carefully tucked it back around his legs.

Their eyes met. “Mr. Gray,” Stella said. “In my book, everything you do is right. So if these guys are locked up in here, they must deserve it.”

‘Sebastian is the good guy,’ she thought. ‘And even if he isn’t, I’m on his side. That is just how this works.

On the ride down, Sebastian had run through a million worst-case scenarios in his head. But he hadn’t

18:54 Mon, Jan 19

Chapter 74

2

counted on Stella trusting him so blindly. For the first time in years, that cold stone he called a heart actually felt a spark of warmth.

The moment was ruined by a sudden, jagged wail from the cells behind them. “Shut up,” Sebastian snapped.

His face went dark instantly. His voice was flat, but it sounded so dangerous that the wailing cut off immediately. A dead silence fell over the dungeon.

Seconds ago, the prisoners were clawing at the bars. Now, they scrambled back into the deepest shadows of their cells. They huddled in the corners, shaking in fear. To them, Sebastian was a thousand times scarier than any monster in the dark.

“They are bad people,” Sebastian said, pausing to let it sink in. “Like, really bad.”

“Yeah, I know,” Stella said softly.

“The worst kind of scum,” he added.

“I believe you,” Stella replied.

She kept wheeling him deeper into the hall. As they moved, the lights behind them flickered and died, swallowing the cells in darkness again. Safe in the shadows, the prisoners started cursing.

“To hell with him. So I smoked a couple dozen war reporters. Big deal. I hijacked some aid trucks and let a few hundred kids starve. So what?”

“Hell, all I did was sell facial recognition tech to Monterra. It’s not my fault they used it to wipe out tens of thousands of people.”

“I just sold some army secrets. That’s all…”

“Let us out… I don’t wanna die here…”

”

*****

Inside a dark cell at the end of the hall, Snowball was curled up in the corner. His creepy red eyes were locked on Grace, who was passed out on the floor and covered in cuts and bruises.

The heavy door creaked open. Snowball hissed and showed his fangs, ready to strike. But the second it recognized the visitors, it froze.

Snowball tried to force his scary mouth into a smile. The vicious python turned into a giant, harmless pet in a split second.

Stella stared. ‘Seriously?’ she thought. ‘Since when’s Snowball such a suck-up?’

“Mr. Gray,” a voice drifted from the dark.

Ivan stepped out of the shadows. His skin was sickly pale from years of living without sunlight, and his face was totally blank. He didn’t look like a guy who just got whipped twenty times.

18:54 Mon, Jan 19

Chapter 74

Snowball was busy acting cute. It rubbed its big head against Stella’s hand and tapped its tail on the floor like a dog. Ivan watched the snake fawning over her and mentally rolled his eyes.

Turning to Sebastian, Ivan got straight to the point. “Grace took money from Richard and Linda. They wanted to mess up Lucas. They needed him to fail so Ryan would look like a genius. Since Grace was hired by Mrs. Annette Gray, so…”

A dangerous shadow crossed Sebastian’s face, his expression growing even colder.

18:54 Mon, Jan 19