Tailored Secrets

The key was heavier in the light.
An old brass with jagged teeth like it had been made for one specific thing and nothing else.

Whoever forged it wasn’t thinking about style.
They were thinking about survival.

I slipped it into my pocket just as the knock came.
Three raps. Same beat. Same man.

His patience remained strategic.
Only men who already know the outcome move like that.

I opened the door.
He looked exactly like a man who had just turned the city lights off and straightened his tie after.

"Mr.10. She's playing you."

I let silence answer first.

"She said the same about you."

Almost a smile. Almost.

"She does that. Leaves men chasing what she wants them to chase while she takes what she came for."

He looked down at my pocket.
Didn’t need to point.

"Do you know what she left with you?"

My hand went to the key.
His eyes were already there.

He came closer. Dropped his voice like the hallways has ears.

"That key doesn't open doors. It locks them. It was mine before it was yours."

I studied him.
Measured him the way he’d been measuring me.

"If it was yours, why was it with her?"

The smile that wasn’t quite a smile broke completely. What replaced it was worse.

"She stole it."

He leaned in. Close. Voice dropped to the kind of low that means business.

"And if you don't give it back you'll find out what it was built to keep inside."

Before I could say something,
he was already stepping back.

He left the way he always did.
Without asking permission and without leaving room to be stopped.

I shut the door. Pressed my back against it.
The key was still in my hand.
Heavier than it was five minutes ago.

The conversation had added weight to it.
But it didn’t answer the questions I never asked.

What was it keeping inside?
…And why was she so sure I was the one who needed to know?

To be continued…

Next Chapter — I’ll Find You First

We made it.

The 10Community showed up right when it was supposed to.
You lot brought me to 70 and as promised, the sixth chapter is delivered.

Since the back end of March I never anticipated this kind of love and patience. Whether we get 100 likes, reposts and comments or just one, I'm grateful.
That's on 10.

I know it's been a minute since Blackout dropped on the 21st of April. For anyone new here or still piecing the puzzle together, the full series is available below for free. Start from Chapter One. You'll understand by Chapter Six.

We are on the road to 100 subscribers. That’s when the 10Chapters group chat opens. A room dedicated solely to fast fiction lovers and the world of Mr.10. I’ve been cooking in the background and you lot are not ready.

When you finish reading, show big love. Like it. Share it. Let someone know this side of Substack exists. That’s how this grows. That’s how I keep writing with all of you at heart.

For the ones that already do. I see you.

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