Edge of the Dark

Chapter 148: Chapter 147: The Last Laugh

The world outside was as silent as it had been for weeks. The night sky stretched endlessly above, its vastness an intimidating expanse, while the streets below remained eerily empty, as though the pulse of the city had simply stopped. But inside Ethan's dimly lit apartment, there was an unsettling feeling of movement. Not in the physical world, no, but in the space between his thoughts—the dark corners where answers had always slipped through his fingers.

Ethan sat in the same chair where he had been for what felt like eternity. His eyes, bloodshot and tired, stared vacantly at the wall, but his mind, his fractured, exhausted mind, was alert, like a hunter lying in wait. It had been so long since he had felt like there was anything left to wait for, yet here he was, poised at the precipice of some terrible revelation. He could almost taste it, like the air before a storm—electric, charged with the weight of inevitability.

A faint noise echoed in the silence. It was the soft, almost imperceptible click of a door opening. The sound barely registered, but Ethan felt it, deep in his bones. His heart began to thrum in his chest as his gaze shifted toward the source. It came from the hall—someone was there. He knew it. He hadn't expected them to find him, not after everything. He had thought he had buried it all—his mistakes, his guilt, the shadow of his past—but somehow, the past always caught up, didn't it?

Footsteps approached, steady and purposeful. The intruder, whoever they were, moved through the apartment with the confidence of someone who knew the place intimately, and as the steps grew louder, Ethan could feel the tension tightening around his chest. His breath hitched. Was it Claire? Had she come back? Or was it someone else, someone who had been waiting for this very moment—the moment when Ethan had finally come undone?

Then the door creaked open fully, and a figure stepped into the dim light.

It wasn't Claire.

It was someone far worse.

"Hello, Ethan," the voice said, smooth and calm, as though they were casually dropping by for a cup of coffee. But there was nothing casual about the way it vibrated in the air, nothing ordinary about the chill that ran down his spine.

Ethan's heart stopped.

Standing before him, framed by the doorway like a specter from a past life, was Nathaniel Bishop.

The former police chief.

The man who had once been his mentor. The man he had trusted. The man who had vanished, leaving nothing behind but the rubble of a ruined investigation and a deep, gaping wound in Ethan's memory.

And now, here he was.

Nathaniel's face was as unblemished as it had been when Ethan last saw him. The same sharp jawline, the same cold eyes that seemed to pierce through the darkness. His expression was unreadable, as always, but there was something in the way he stood—his posture was too stiff, too controlled—that told Ethan everything he needed to know. Nathaniel wasn't here to make amends. He wasn't here to apologize.

He was here for something else.

"I didn't think you would still be around," Ethan muttered, his voice barely above a whisper. The words were choked with bitterness, with disbelief. His fists clenched, a familiar rush of anger flooding his veins. "What do you want, Nathaniel?"

Nathaniel didn't answer immediately. He simply stepped further into the room, allowing the door to swing shut behind him with a quiet click. Then, finally, he spoke. "You should have known this was coming, Ethan. You've always been one to dig too deep, haven't you? You've always believed that there was some grand, shining truth behind it all. But you never understood the game. You never understood that there's always a price for seeking the truth."

Ethan's teeth gritted together. "So this is it? You've been watching me all this time? All the while, pretending you were on my side?"

A dark chuckle escaped Nathaniel's lips. "On your side? Ethan, I've never been on anyone's side but my own. And neither have you. You think you're different, but you're just as tangled in the system as everyone else. You've always been—always will be—a pawn in someone else's game. It's time you faced that truth."

Ethan stood up slowly, his body tense, but his mind racing with a hundred thoughts. "This isn't about me," he said, his voice gaining strength, "This is about you trying to cover your tracks. Trying to bury whatever it is you've been hiding. But I won't let you."

Nathaniel's eyes gleamed with something that could only be described as amusement. "You're so naive," he said, his voice tinged with mockery. "You still think there's something to uncover. You still think you have any power in this situation. But you don't. The game is over, Ethan. The truth? It's already been buried. You've wasted your time chasing ghosts."

A cold shiver ran down Ethan's spine. "No. There's more to it. You've been orchestrating this whole thing from the beginning, haven't you? You're the one who pulled the strings. You're the one who made sure everything fell apart." n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Nathaniel's lips curled into a smile, but it wasn't a smile of warmth. It was a smile of triumph. "I pulled the strings, yes. But it wasn't just for me. It was for everyone. It was the only way to make sure the system stayed intact. And you—you were just a small part of it. You were never meant to win. That's the thing you never understood. You thought you could change everything. But all you've done is prolong the inevitable."

The words hit Ethan like a punch to the gut, and for a moment, he staggered, unable to comprehend what Nathaniel was saying. He had always known that his investigation had been dangerous, but this—this level of manipulation, this depth of betrayal—was something he hadn't prepared for. Nathaniel had been playing the long game, and Ethan had been nothing but a pawn in a much larger scheme.

"Why, Nathaniel?" Ethan asked, his voice cracking with the weight of the realization. "Why do this? Why destroy everything, including me?"

Nathaniel's smile didn't fade. "Because I had to. There's no other choice. You're too idealistic, Ethan. You always have been. You think the world can be fixed. But the truth is—there's no fixing it. Not anymore. The system is too far gone. It's too broken. People like us? We survive. We always survive. But those like you? You get consumed by it."

Ethan's mind whirled. His thoughts were incoherent, each piece of the puzzle he had been trying to put together slipping through his fingers like sand. What had he been chasing all this time? Was there truly no escape from the system? No way out?

The answer hung in the air, heavy and suffocating, and just as the last vestiges of hope faded from his chest, Nathaniel gave one final, triumphant laugh.

It was the kind of laugh that chilled the blood, the kind that echoed with a finality Ethan couldn't escape. The laugh of a man who had won, no matter the cost.

And as Ethan stood there, paralyzed by the weight of his defeat, he realized with a sinking heart that the truth—if it even existed—was not something he would ever find.

The last laugh belonged to Nathaniel Bishop.