Bound to my Enemy

Chapter 262.

Zane’s POV

The old site looks exactly how I remember it.....Abandoned.

The large warehouse building stands in darkness beneath the dim evening sky, surrounded by rusting gates and overgrown grass that’s nearly swallowing parts of the pavement already.

Nobody’s been here in years, not since everything went to hell.

Lucas steps out beside me, quietly scanning the property while the headlights from the cars behind us cut across the cracked concrete.

"This place gives serial killer vibes," he mutters.

"Comforting."

"I’m serious."

"I know."

Honestly? The place unsettles me too.

Always has, especially after that night my sister died.

I shove the thought away immediately before it can fully surface.

"We’re heading to the security room," I tell him while moving toward the side entrance. The heavy metal door groans loudly when I shove it open, dust immediately hits my nose.

The inside smells old and almost rotten, like stale air and forgotten memories. Our footsteps echo as we move deeper inside the building, everywhere I look feels frozen in time. Cobwebs stretch across corners thick enough to catch the light.

Lucas shines his phone flashlight around quietly.

"You seriously never came back here?"

"No."

"Not even once?"

I shake my head.

"Couldn’t."

Because for a long time even hearing Aria’s name felt like somebody shoving a knife into my chest. Coming back here willingly? After catching my best friend with her? And her dyin shortly after?. Impossible.

We finally reach the security room at the far end of the hallway or what used to be the security room anyway.

Now it just looks like another dead forgotten space. Dust coats every surface thickly, the monitors are ancient and half smashed.

The wiring hanging from the ceiling looks like it’s been rotting for years.

"Well," Lucas mutters while looking around. "This looks promising."

I ignore the sarcasm and move toward the main system anyway. Maybe by some miracle....Nothing.

I press buttons, try switches even attempt reconnecting some cables.

Dead, completely dead.

"Fuck."

Lucas leans against the doorway watching me.

"Anything?"

"No."

I slam the side of one monitor harder than necessary.

Still nothing...just more dust falling from the ceiling.

Perfect.

"It’s a dead end," I mutter finally.

The frustration hits hard, beecause for the first time since this whole thing started, it genuinely felt like we were close to something. And now?Nothing. Just dust and broken machines.

Lucas stays quiet for a second before speaking suddenly.

"How did you know me and Aria were here years back?"

The question catches me off guard enough that I pause and glance toward him.

"What?"

"That night," he says carefully. "How did you know we were here?"

I stare at the dead monitors briefly before answering.

"Thomas told me....well he didn’t exactly tell me directly."

Lucas frowns slightly.

"What exactly did he say?"

I rub a hand over my jaw slowly trying to remember clearly.

"He called saying he forgot some important documents here."

Lucas’s expression sharpens immediately.

"And?"

"And he’d already left for the night," I continue slowly. "So I came back to get them cause I needed them the next day."

The memory suddenly feels strange now that I’m saying it aloud, I hadn’t thought deeply about it before... Not really.

Lucas pushes off the doorway.

"The documents were actually here?"

I go still. Then slowly shake my head.

"No."

Lucas narrows his eyes.

"They were still in the car."

Silence fills the room instantly, a heavy uncomfortable silence. Because now that I’m replaying it in my head...Yeah. That was weird as hell.

Lucas studies me carefully.

"So you don’t find that odd?"

"At the time?" I shrug slightly. "Yeah maybe. But I didn’t think much of it."

Why would I have?Thomas had been around forever and I trusted him completely. Still do.

Something cold slowly settles in my stomach.

I turn sharply toward Lucas.

"Show me the picture."

He blinks once.

"What picture?"

"The person you said was a suspect?."

Lucas hesitates briefly before pulling his phone from his pocket. The bright screen lights the dusty room faintly while he unlocks it.

"I started drom the poisoning, I checked and dug into it. Someone was trying really hard to frame you for everything, so hard that it looked suspicious as hell, so I took Elaine’s advice and looked in to it, very detailedly. I gt in direct contact with the dealer, he said the person buying never came to him directly to buy it... he paid for it, then gave him a location to drop it at. So I traced the accounts involved in purchasing the poison," he explains while scrolling. "The trail eventually led to this name."

I move closer immediately.

"I tracked the name for weeks," Lucas continues. "But nobody around us recognized it. Nobody connected to you recognized it either."

He shakes his head slightly.

"So I figured maybe I hit another dead end."

Then finally he stops scrolling and turns the screen toward me.

The second I see the picture and My entire body goes cold.

"No fucking way."

Lucas’s expression changes instantly.

"You know her?"

I stare at the woman on the screen.

Older and Smiling faintly in the picture. I know that face, I know it very well.

My pulse starts pounding hard.

"It..." My voice catches briefly. "It doesn’t make sense."

Lucas steps closer immediately.

"What?"

I look back at him slowly.

"She’s dead."

Silence.

"What?"

"The woman in that picture," I say carefully. "She died years ago."

Lucas stares at me now.

"You’re sure?"

"Yes."

Because I remember the funeral and I remember him barely speaking for months afterward. I remember helping pay for hospital bills before she died.

There’s no fucking way I’m mistaken.

"Who is she?" Lucas asks quietly.

I look back at the picture again and suddenly something deep in my gut twists violently.

Because if this woman somehow connects to everything...Then this gets way worse, way too fucking close.

I swallow once before answering.

"That’s Thomas’s mother."