All Chapters of Shadow of Saul: Chapter 71
- Chapter 80
104 chapters
Chapter 71. Unspoken.
The door clicked shut behind Leo and the doctor, and for the first time in what felt like days, the penthouse was quiet.Saul sat on the couch, his head still throbbing with a dull, persistent ache that pulsed behind his eyes like a second heartbeat. The blanket he had discarded earlier had slipped to the floor, and he didn't bother to pick it up. He just sat there, breathing, letting the silence wash over him.Kim was still standing near the windows. She hadn't moved since the doctor left. Her arms were crossed over her chest, her posture rigid, her eyes fixed on some distant point in the city skyline. The morning light caught the edges of her profile, softening the sharp lines of her jaw, making her look younger than she was. More vulnerable.Saul watched her for a moment. She was thinking. He could tell by the way her fingers tapped against her bicep, a restless rhythm that matched the ticking of the clock somewhere in the distance."You know….you don't have to stay anymore,"
Chapter 72. The Last Words
Saul nodded slowly. The memory was hazy, blurred at the edges by pain and panic and the fog of his collapsing consciousness. But he remembered. He remembered the phone in his hand, the blood on his fingers, the sound of her voice calling his name over and over again. He remembered the darkness closing in, and the strange, desperate need to say something before it swallowed him completely."Yeah," he said. His voice was quiet now. "I do."Kim's eyes met his. There was something in them that he couldn't read—something raw and vulnerable and terrifyingly open. She took a breath, and when she spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper."Well, you said something to me before you passed out. Something I haven't been able to stop thinking about." She paused, her gaze searching his face. "Why did you say that?"Saul stared at her for a long moment. The question hung in the air between them, heavy and charged, like the stillness before a thunderstorm. He could feel his heart beating in his ch
Chapter 73. Hidden Room.
Saul leaned forward, his curiosity piqued despite himself. He was still frustrated by the interruption, still burning to know what Kim had been about to say, but the mention of new information was enough to pull his attention away. For now. He shifted on the couch, wincing slightly as the small bout of nausea reminded him of just how close he had come to dying. He ran a hand through his disheveled hair and exhaled slowly."So, other than the financial records," Leo began, his voice shifting into a more serious register. He pushed his laptop on the edge of the coffee table again, nudging aside a half-empty glass of water that Saul had been nursing earlier "I also took a look at the key card logs from the automotive facility. The data from the device we planted is still coming in, and I found a weird pattern." He paused, letting the weight of his words settle. "There's an office in that building that isn't on the blueprint. But there's a card scanner in that part of the building,
Chapter 74. The Weight Of Recovery
Saul had been inactive in the workplace for two days.He had thought, initially, based on his recovery speed after the doctor ran a quick check-up on him when Kim and her brother were around, that he'd be up and active the next day. The specialist had given him a clean bill or as clean as could be expected for a man whose heart had stopped for thirty seconds and Saul had taken that as permission to jump back into his life with both feet. Saul had plans to make, he had files to review and he had a hidden office to investigate and financial records to trace and a company to run, even if he still felt like an imposter wearing someone else's skin.But it seemed that was not to be the case.The next morning, Saul woke to a fever that pinned him to the bed like a butterfly to a board.It came on suddenly. One moment he was sleeping peacefully, drifting through dreams he wouldn't remember, and the next he was burning alive, his skin slick with sweat, his sheets soaked through, his teeth c
Chapter 75. Change Of Scenery
He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. His legs held. Barely. The room tilted for a moment, then steadied.Good enough.He showered slowly, letting the hot water beat against his aching muscles, washing away the remnants of the fever sweat. He dressed even more slowly, choosing simple clothes.Dark trousers, a white shirt, a charcoal blazer that wasn't too stiff. No tie. He didn't have the energy to struggle with a tie today.By the time he was ready, the sun was beginning its descent toward the horizon, painting the overcast sky in shades of pale gold and gray. He called for the car, a sleek black sedan that arrived within minutes, the driver silent and efficient and settled into the back seat with a sigh that came from somewhere deep in his bones.The city passed by outside the tinted windows, the glass towers of the financial district gleaming dully in the fading light. Saul watched it without really seeing it. His mind was elsewhere, turning over the events
Chapter 76. Visitors
Leo uncrossed his arms and walked toward the desk, dropping into the chair across from Saul with the casual grace of someone who had spent years perfecting the art of looking comfortable anywhere. He stretched his legs out in front of him and crossed them at the ankles."Alright," he said. "First things first. Your health. Doctor Aris came by again yesterday to check on you. You were pretty out of it, so you probably don't remember. He said the fever was a good sign—meant your body was purging the last of the drug. But he also said you need to take it easy for at least a week. " He wagged a finger at him, sternly, “So no stress. No overexertion and no running into burning buildings or fighting kidnappers in the backs of vans."Saul rolled his eyes."I'll try to contain myself.""See that you do." Leo's expression softened slightly. "Seriously, though. I know you want to be here. I know you want to work. But your body is still recovering. If you need to go home early, just say the wo
Chapter 77. A Terrible Person.
He felt like banging his head against the wall in panic.What if she tracked me down because of me snubbing her? he thought, the words tumbling over each other in his mind. What if she's been calling and I haven't answered? What if she thinks I've been ignoring her this whole time?He hadn't meant to. He hadn't meant to forget. He meant to reach out. But with everything going on, the mission, the kidnapping, the dinner with Kim, the drug, the heart stopping, the fever, he hadn't had the chance. He hadn't had a single moment to breathe, let alone make a phone call.But she wouldn't know that. She would just know that he'd disappeared. That he'd taken her help and her clothes and her phone and then vanished without a word.‘I'm a terrible person, I'm a terrible, terrible person.’"...so anyway, I was thinking—" Leo was still talking, completely oblivious to the crisis unfolding in front of him. He stopped mid-sentence, his eyes focusing on Saul's face. "Boss? You okay? You look like
Chapter 78. The Reckoning
In a few steps they were standing in front of him now, Veronica and Kim, side by side, two women who couldn't have been more different and yet somehow radiated the exact same energy. Hostile energy. The kind that made the air in the room feel thick and charged, like the atmosphere before a thunderstorm.Saul could feel the tension crackling between them. Kim's posture was rigid, her arms crossed over her chest, her eyes flicking between Saul and Veronica with an expression that was carefully, deliberately blank. Veronica's posture was looser, more relaxed, but her eyes were sharp, sharper than Saul had ever seen them, and her smile had edges that could cut glass.“Saul." Saul winced at the woman's tone, eyes dropping to the desk in shame.He cleared his throat. "Welcome," he said, and the word came out weak, wavering, nothing like the confident authority he was supposed to project.Before he could string another sentence together, Veronica interrupted him."Why haven't you called
Chapter 79. Back To Work.
Then the mask slid back into place, as seamless as a door closing.Veronica squared herself, becoming suddenly, acutely aware of the extra bodies in the room. She drew herself up to her full height, her shoulders straightening, her chin lifting with that imperious grace that came so naturally to her. She looked at Kim, at Leo, taking them in with a single sweeping glance that seemed to catalog everything and dismiss it all in the same instant."I gave you a phone to reach me, Saul," she said quietly. "Use it. Or I'll take it as a sign that you don't want me around anymore. Which is fine."She looked around the room one more time, at the dark windows, the massive desk, the leather chairs, the siblings watching her with expressions she didn't bother to read.“I sincerely hope you're enjoying your new life." And then she stepped out.The door clicked shut behind her with a soft, final sound. The silence that followed was deafening.Saul stood frozen behind his desk, his heart pounding
Chapter 80. The Manager
"Leo, find out who the manager of the automobile main branch is," Saul said as he rummaged through his drawer to find his stylus.The siblings were sitting side by side in front of him, their postures a study in contrasts. Kim was upright and composed, her hands folded neatly in her lap, her blue dress still immaculate despite the long morning she'd already had. Leo meanwhile was sprawled in his chair like a lazy cat that had found a particularly sunny patch of carpet, one leg crossed over the other, his laptop balanced precariously on his knee. He looked like a man who'd never met a chair he couldn't turn into a couch.“Yes, I'm sending it to you now,” Leo replied, fingers already clattering over the keyboard. The sound was quick and sure, a rhythm that seemed to match his own heartbeat. Saul hardly registered it. He was too busy pulling open the shallow drawer under his desk, then the deeper one, then the one that always stuck halfway and made him jiggle it with a muttered curse.