Chapter Twenty-Nine
Dawn
I push open the door to Luke’s campaign office, stepping into the lobby.
It’s quieter than it should be. The place isn’t deserted, but there’s no usual buzz—no ringing phones, no rapid typing from the desks, no scattered conversations.
I glance around. Some staff members are here, but no one meets my eyes.
I straighten my shoulders and walk toward one of the desks, keeping my voice steady. “Hey, is Andrea in?”
The woman behind the desk hesitates. “She’s, um—she’s unavailable right now.”
I press my fingers against the cool surface of the desk, inhaling slowly. “Okay. What about Luke?”
Another pause. A nervous glance toward the hallway. Not like she’s hiding something—like she doesn’t know what to say.
Then, carefully, “I’m sorry, Dawn. I don’t know.”
The back of my neck prickles.
She isn’t lying. She doesn’t know where he is. And that realization unnerves me more than if she had tried to cover it up.
They all know something is wrong. It’s like they can feel it—but they don’t know what happened.
I nod once, forcing a tight smile. “Alright. Thanks.”
I turn and head for the door, but I don’t leave the building. I wait until I’m out of sight, then turn down the hallway leading to Luke’s office.
The lights here are dimmer. The further I go, the more I realize—no one’s been back here today. The staff are still out front, keeping busy with whatever they’re doing to clear out the office. But this part of the building? Untouched.
When I reach Luke’s door, my pulse pounds in my ears. I listen. For anything. Hoping he may just be on the other side, but there’s nothing.
I glance over my shoulder—no one is watching.
So, I push the door open.
The second I step inside, I know he was here. His coffee cup sits on his desk, half-full, long gone cold. Notes are scattered across the surface, his chair pushed back slightly like he had just stood up and planned to return. The couch against the wall has a folded blazer draped over it. His.
There’s no sign of a struggle. No sign of anything being forced. It’s like he just walked out the door and never came back.
I swallow, my fingers curling in too tightly for a moment, before exhaling and crossing the room.
Lowering myself into his chair, I open his laptop. It blinks to life, waiting on the log in screen.
I don’t know his password, but Luke was always old-fashioned when it came to technology. If he wrote it down anywhere, it’s here.
I open the top desk drawer. Pens. Business cards. An old political button from his first campaign run.
Nothing useful.
I open another drawer. Then another.
Finally, I spot a yellow sticky note partially tucked beneath a file folder.
My breath stills as I pull it out.
Bingo.
A string of letters and numbers. I recognize his handwriting. This is it.
I sit back, fingers hovering over the keyboard, and type it in.
ACCESS DENIED.
I stare at the screen for a short moment before trying again, slower this time.
ACCESS DENIED.
Why would Luke be blocked out of his own computer?
I press my palm against my forehead, my pulse pounding.
In some weird state of shock or trance, I walk out of Luke’s office. I make it down the hall and out into the afternoon air, but my hands won’t stop shaking as I climb into my car. I slam the door shut, gripping the wheel as I take a slow, steadying breath.
Then, I pull out my phone and call Nikolai.
He picks up on the second ring. “Dawn.”
“They revoked his access or something. His log in doesn’t work.”
Silence. A slow exhale on the other end of the line. “He’s not the only one.”
My stomach twists. “What does that mean?”
I hear the faint sound of him closing a drawer, tapping on a keyboard. Like he’s been working.
Or trying to.
“I’ve been locked out of some things, too.” His voice is clipped, tense. “Internal surveillance logs, clearance reports, research files.”
I don’t speak. I can’t.
Nikolai is the heir to the entire empire of Blackthorn. And if they’re cutting him out—
I can’t begin to understand what that means. “They don’t want you seeing what’s happening either.” I swallow.
Another pause.
“No. Apparently not.”
A shiver runs down my spine. I don’t even realize I’m gripping the steering wheel so hard my knuckles have gone white.
I don’t know what to do.
I blink hard, swallowing against the tightness in my throat. My mind races through every possible action—calling someone, demanding answers, going back to Blackthorn Tower, forcing my way into their offices.
None of it will work.
I need to think. I need someone who can help me make sense of this.
I need Cassidy.
Exhaling sharply, I put my car into reverse and leave the campaign office.
. . .
A sharp knock at the door jolts me awake. I blink against the morning light filtering through the blinds, my neck aching from the angle I was curled up in on the couch.
I came straight to Cassidy’s apartment, and I must’ve eventually passed out. We stayed up until god knows when trying to find anything talking about Luke’s disappearance.
The knock comes again, firmer this time.
I push myself upright, stretching out the stiffness in my back as Cassidy moves past me, heading for the door and unlocking it.
Nikolai steps inside, his dark eyes sweeping the room. He looks at me first, then at Cassidy—who’s already dropped back down onto the floor, cross-legged in front of her coffee table, fingers flying over the keyboard of her laptop.
I rub a hand over my face, groggy. “What time is it?”
“A little past eight.” Cassidy answers, not looking up.
I groan. “God.”
Cassidy smiles, her gaze flicking to me. “I know. How’d you sleep?”
I shift, pulling my legs beneath me and rubbing a hand over the ache in my neck. “Like shit. You?”
“About the same.”
Nikolai lowers himself onto the opposite end of the couch, his posture relaxed, but his expression unreadable. He doesn’t speak.
I glance at Cassidy’s screen. “Did you find anything?”
She exhales sharply, scrolling faster. “Not a damn thing.” She tilts her screen toward me. “I’ve been going through my old contacts, searching for anything out of place. I checked every major news outlet, political analysis, even private media circles. Nothing.”
I frown, leaning forward. “There has to be something.”
Cassidy shakes her head. “No leaks. No whispers. No one’s talking.” She pauses, her fingers hovering. Then, she exhales, her shoulders dropping. “I can’t know where to look if I don’t know what I’m looking for, Dawn.”
I go still. Cassidy lifts her gaze to mine. Waiting.
From the corner of my eye, I see Nikolai shift, his jaw tightening slightly.
Her words hang in the air as my pulse pounds.
I could lie. Keep her out of it. Pretend this is just about a missing person.
But I can’t. Not anymore.
I press my lips together, my throat dry. “Okay. I’ll tell you.”
Nikolai shifts beside me, a subtle movement, but I catch it. His voice is calm but edged. “Dawn.”
I ignore him.
Cassidy straightens, fully focused now. She doesn’t speak, doesn’t push. She just waits.
I inhale slowly, and then, I tell her everything.
I start with the archives. How I used my clearance as Nikolai’s assistant to access files I was never supposed to see. How Blackthorn surveils and blackmails powerful figures—controlling them in ways that go beyond anything I imagined.
Cassidy’s face tightens. “The note… The attack.” She begins piecing things together.
I nod as I continue. I tell her about Luke’s file. My file. How I wasn’t hired because I was qualified. I was hired to be used against my brother, but that I still don’t understand how.
Her fingers twitch like she’s resisting the urge to take notes.
I don’t stop.
I tell her how I confronted Nikolai after I went back to the archives to be sure. How the company’s reach goes so much deeper than anyone realizes.
By the time I finish, my hands are clenched into fists against my lap. The apartment is dead silent.
Cassidy just stares at me.
Then, finally, she breathes out. “Jesus Christ.” Exhaling, she leans into the coffee table, rubbing a hand over her face. Processing.
Then, she looks at Nikolai. “Would Blackthorn kill Luke?”
My breath catches. I hadn’t been able to ask it myself.
I look at Nikolai, waiting—dreading.
His lips press together, jaw tightening. He rubs a hand over his jaw like he’s thinking it over before he finally speaks. “I don’t think so,” he says, voice careful. “Murder is a tricky thing to cover.”
Cassidy doesn’t blink. “So is making a man disappear.”
Nikolai leans forward, resting his forearms on his knees. “A body leaves too many problems. Too much clean up.” His voice is even, detached—but there’s a sharpness beneath it. “Blackthorn doesn’t need to kill people to make them go away for good. That is reserved for extreme cases.”
The weight of that statement settles between us.
I stare at Nikolai, heart pounding. I don’t know if I feel relief, or something worse.
Luke isn’t dead. But he’s somewhere—and someone made him disappear. And if Blackthorn is behind it? He won’t be easy to find.
I refresh the page again. Still nothing. No updates. No headlines. No one even acknowledging that Luke is gone.
Cassidy types furiously, muttering something under her breath.
I glance at Nikolai. He’s watching us both, arms crossed, unreadable. But there’s something in his expression. Something unsettled.
Cassidy exhales sharply, shaking her head. “This is just so weird. It’s like he never existed.”
I press my lips together. “That’s exactly what they want.”
Cassidy looks at me, inquisitive. “What do you mean?”
I let out a sigh. “They’re erasing him.”
Cassidy blinks. “Erasing?”
Nikolai leans forward again, running a hand through his hair. “It’s how Blackthorn deals with people who become a problem.” He explains. “They don’t just get rid of them. They make it so they never existed in the first place.”
Cassidy sits up straighter. “How?”
“Control.” I answer. “Blackthorn has its hands in everything—tech, security, government contracts, media. If you want someone gone, you don’t just remove them. You remove the idea of them.”
Cassidy’s mouth parts slightly, her expression darkening. She looks to Nikolai. Then back to me. “Dawn, are you sure we can trust him? I mean… He is Blackthorn.”
Cassidy’s words hang heavy in the air.
Silence. I feel Nikolai go still beside me. I glance at him, but his expression doesn’t change. He doesn’t lash out. Doesn’t snap.
But something in his posture shifts.
Cassidy isn’t wrong to ask. I know that. But I also know what Nikolai has done for me.
Nikolai exhales through his nose, leaning back against the couch. “I know what you think.” He says finally, his voice even. “That I’m the enemy just because I have Blackthorn in my name.”
Cassidy doesn’t miss a beat. “Are you?”
I feel his gaze flick to me for just a second before he answers. “If I were, would I be here?”
That lands.
Cassidy presses her lips together, watching him closely, but Nikolai doesn’t wait for her response.
He shakes his head, rubbing his face. “I believe in the company.” His voice is quieter now. “But that doesn’t mean I believe in everything it does.”
I swallow, my throat tight.
He’s not choosing a side. Or maybe he’s still figuring out what it all means.
I glance at Cassidy. She isn’t convinced. Not completely. But she doesn’t push.
She just exhales sharply, staring back at her laptop. “So… what do we do? How do we find someone who doesn’t exist?”
I stare at them both, jaw clenched. I don’t know if trusting Nikolai will save Luke. I don’t know if it will cost me something later.
But I do know one thing—we don’t have time to figure out the answers to those questions.
I look to Cassidy. “We try.”