Novels by Beauty Karounwi

THE MAN BEHIND THE MESSAGEThe room fell silent after the last recording stopped. No one spoke. Elliot’s jaw clenched tight. Selena held her breath. She stared at the laptop screen. It felt alive to her like something evil waiting to attack them.Elliot replayed Griffin’s last words in his mind. They haunted him. “If you are seeing this… someone close to you is not who you think they are.” The words repeated over and over, like a drumbeat in his head.Selena shifted in her chair. Her voice was soft but urgent. “Elliot… Griffin meant someone in this house. Someone right here with us.”Elliot said nothing. He stood frozen, eyes locked on the laptop. His chest felt heavy. He struggled to breathe normally.The USB drive sat on the table in front of them. It was the same one Griffin had hidden before he vanished. Maybe right before someone tried to kill him. The thought made Elliot’s stomach twist.Finally, Elliot spoke. His voice was firm. “We have to watch every single file on this. No s

THE SCARING TRUTHElliot pushed the heavy door open with his shoulder. Selena was right behind him. The warehouse felt colder than before but not because of the air. It felt cold because something bad had happened there, something recent.The guards quickly spread out. They looked into every corner and checked every dark shadow.Elliot stayed quiet. His mind kept going back to one strange line from the video on the USB drive:“You are the heir… but not the only one.”That sentence played over and over in his head like a slow, heavy drum.The phone call with Griffin was bad. He sounded defeated. Elliot wanted answers, or else he'd take revenge.Selena touched his arm to get his attention. “Elliot… look.”Something was different inside the warehouse.The table where they had left the laptop was now empty. No laptop. No USB drive. Nothing at all.Elliot stopped. His chest tightened. “Who touched it?” he asked in a low voice, almost a whisper.The guards looked confused and glanced at each

THE MAN BEHIND THE SILENT Elliot didn’t sleep a single second that night. His mind replayed the same troubling scene over and over the unread message flashing briefly on the laptop screen, the one he and Selena missed. The message felt like a trap now too cold, too still, too simple. Something was waiting in the shadows of that silence, hiding in the dark where they hadn’t looked.Beside him, Selena sat curled on the edge of the bed, knees hugged tight to her chest. Her breathing was shallow, body tense as a coiled spring. “Elliot,” she whispered, voice fragile and raw, “what if someone else has that USB stick now?”His jaw tightened, muscles bunching under the skin. “They do,” he said firmly, his voice low and heavy. “And they’re watching us. Waiting for just the right moment.”“For us?” Selena’s question was barely audible, thick with fear.Elliot’s nod was slow, deliberate. “For both of us.”Suddenly, Elliot’s phone buzzed sharply. He snatched it up. No name, no number appeared on

THE MESSAGE THEY MISSEDTHE MESSAGE THEY MISSED Elliot slammed the warehouse door shut behind them. His chest tightened, filled with a mix of anger and worry he couldn’t shake. Selena’s breath came fast and heavy as she walked beside him. They were sure they had taken everything critical from the laptop and the USB stick. They believed the danger was left behind in the shadows of the warehouse.But they didn’t know the truth was hiding right in front of them, glowing softly on the laptop screen they had forgotten to close, still running quietly.Without a sound, a small notice blinked on the screen.The words appeared clearly: “GRIFFIN WAS NOT THE TARGET. ELLIOT WAS.”Seconds passed, and another message followed:“THE USB BELONGS TO THE TRAITOR.”No one noticed. Not Elliot. Not Selena. Not even the guards were posted at the doors.But someone else read every word.Soft footsteps echoed inside the empty warehouse. At first faint. Then slow and deliberate. Each step is measured and ca

THE NIGHT SELENA SAW THE TRUTHElliot held the USB drive tight in his hand. It felt like the key to the entire war they were fighting. Selena stood nearby and watched him. She saw the anger building inside him. It was not loud or crazy. It was quiet and very dangerous.He put the USB into his pocket. Then he looked right at her with steady eyes.“We will not stop now,” he said firmly.Selena swallowed. Her throat felt dry. “I know that,” she replied softly.Elliot started to walk toward the warehouse door. But he stopped after a few steps. A feeling told him there was more to find. Maybe something Griffin had left behind. Or perhaps a trick from their enemies.He looked around the big empty space. The walls had rust spots everywhere. Old shelves leaned against them. Broken pieces of metal lay on the floor. Then his eyes stopped on one thing. It was an old locker. Dust covered it thickly. The door was open just a little bit.“Stay right behind me,” Elliot told her in a low voice.Selen

THE TRUTH GRIFFIN NEVER SAID Elliot didn’t speak for a long moment. The old warehouse door stood half-open behind them, the lights still flickering inside after the chaos they had witnessed. Selena stayed close to him, worried, waiting for him to breathe normally again.But Elliot wasn’t calm.He was angry.Silent.Focused.“Selena,” he finally said, voice deep and steady, “everything in that place… it wasn’t just torture. It was a message. Someone wanted us to walk in there and see exactly what they did to him.”Selena swallowed hard. “But why leave the place unlocked? Why leave the marks? Why leave the blood?”Elliot clenched his jaw.He already knew the answer.“Because they want me to follow the trail,” he said. “They want me to come for them.”Selena touched his hand. “Then they want a war.”He nodded slowly. “Yes. But not just any war. A personal one.”He walked back inside the warehouse. Selena followed quickly.Everything felt different now. No fear. No panic. Just purpose.E