Page 145 of Ruthless God

I swallow hard. Who the hell is running this? I pull up the next tab.

PRIVATE RECORDINGS

My stomach churns as I click it. A list of video files loads instantly. The most recent one?

SUBJECT: GABRIEL – DATE: TWO DAYS AGO

Two days ago. Not one week. Not some distant past that makes sense.

This is now.

I click play.

The screen flickers, grainy at first, then clear. Claudius’ room. My breath catches. I’m there, sleeping in the bed. And Gabriel, he’s there too. Watching me. Standing in the shadows.

I feel sick. Because I know what happens next.

I watch as he leans in, hovering over me. As I stir. As I wake up. As I realize he’s there. The footage shows everything. Our conversation. The way he taunted me. The way I followed him to the balcony.

But then the footage changes. My stomach twists violently. Because I never knew what happened after he left. Until now. The screen flickers. The camera switches angles, tracking him.

And suddenly, I see where he went that night.

Not into the woods. Not off the island.

But somewhere else.

Somewhere inside the house.

My pulse hammers.

No.

No, no, no, no.

I don’t want to see this.

But I can’t stop watching.

The footage follows him down the hall, slipping through the shadows like a ghost.

Straight toward the kitchen, where I’m standing at the fridge.

The screen freezes and then goes blank.

And I’m left reeling. Because that’s the same night I thought I was talking to Claudius.

My fingers fly over the keyboard, looking for more clues. A hidden directory appears in single file.

UNKNOWN – RECOVERED FOOTAGE

My breath catches. I click it. The screen flickers, grainy and distorted. It’s the kitchen. The timestamp is the same night. I watch as I stand at the fridge, reaching for something. I watch as someone steps behind me. Tall. Broad-shouldered. A dark silhouette. I turn in the footage, smiling. But not in surprise. Not in fear.

I say something, but there’s no audio. The man steps forward, into the dim light. His features come into view. Dark eyes. Sharp jawline. Familiar smirk. My stomach plummets. It’s not Claudius. It was never Claudius.

It was Gabriel.

The screen flickers. Cuts to black.

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