The Enemy's Shadow

Chapter 1

"𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞"
________

"How about we have a deal?" Liam tries to negotiate. "Alright, go on," I say drily.

Liam had come here to show me his new idea, which wasn't interesting or profitable at all.

He had a project to buy a few small properties and plots for the poor.

I wouldn't mind doing it, but what if, in the future, they won't be able to pay for it?

They already have a messy life where they can't manage themselves, and buying a plot and paying me later after taking some damn loan wasn't something I wanted.

I had seen the drama that happened with our rivals.

They agreed on helping hundred poor people and giving them a plot, earning a profit of ten grands.

But when they had to pay the remaining money, the poor people didn't have enough money, and the bank denied giving them a loan, which made them kill themselves.

Making our rival businesses fall in the market. I didn't want the same thing here with my businesses.

This business went on from generation to generation, from my grandfather to my dad to me, and soon to my future heir.

So I denied his offer. But I don't know what got into him that he wasn't willing to drop the idea and came up with a deal.

"Well, how about you live a life of poverty for a month or so and then decide?" He says.

"You've got to be kidding me right now, me?" and acting poor for a month? I asked him, pointing at my chest.

"Yeah, because that's when you will understand what they are going through," he tries to explain to me.

"It's not my problem that they didn't educate well and get a good job," I say, picking up my phone and starting to scroll through the Instagram reels.

"Look, I'm not just your business partner but also your friend; I need the best for you, so I have a deal that I know you will accept," he says, while I still scroll down the reels.

"A hundred grandchildren, to live their lives." "To live the life of a common person," he says, which catches my attention.

"Oh?" "Alright, I'm down," I say, dropping the phone on the table.

"Let's go," he says, and he drags me by my arms. "Where?" I ask, to which he doesn't reply, and he takes me in his car, bringing me to some unknown bridge when some stalls were there.

"Don't tell me you want to buy the street food here; it's not hygienic," I say.

"No, it's something else," he says, and he walks over to an old man who has a few marbles thrown on the table while his right hand is on the purple crystal ball on the table.

"Here you are," he says, his voice breaking. which made it obvious because he was old enough.

"Ah, the man I said about earlier, he is the one," Liam says, pointing at me and pulling me close to face that old man.

"So what do you choose?" "To live the life of a normal person?" He asks and starts laughing for some reason.

"Yeah!" I say. "Very well then, is there anyone among your enemies who is a middle-income person?" He asks, his voice cracking up a lot more.

I had to make sure of what I just heard: "huh?" "Oh yeah, there is one," I say, realizing what he asked.

The only one that comes to mind right now is that one bitch. Averie Riviera.

I always had problems with her. I'm not going to lie, but she was a beautiful woman, always kind, to the point that I doubted she was actually this way.

I always bullied her in high school to get the real her out. to take her kind, sweet mask off.

But she never got her fake kindness off. So all I did was bully her until she showed her real self, which she still didn't until I ended, giving up. I couldn't handle her anymore.

"Averie Riviera," I say. "Alright, you will have one month to live her life-not fully, but her happiest and her lowest point in all you will get to live," he says. Before he continued, I cut him off.

"But why her?" I ask, annoyed. "Because she is a mystery that you have to find," he says, continuing on what he was saying.

"You will go to the past of hers; you will be around her; your spirit will see everything-her happiness, her sadness, her pain-but remember, you can't change the past, so don't try to do anything while you're in her past, or you won't be back in this world." "You will be able to see her and be beside her, but you won't be able to touch her," he says.

I will be able to feel pain. Her pain? Eh, was she ever in pain? I don't think so; she always used to be a happy little bird around the school.

And what this man was saying now didn't have any meaning. How would I go back to the past? "Time travel? Huh?" I think to myself.

"Nonsense, how will I go back to her past?" and be a spirit around her? "What about my body?" I ask.

"Your body will be here in the present, but your soul will be unlocking new mysteries of her life." "You won't be able to live her whole life; it will take too long, so you will only live her two moments in her life: the happiest ones and the lowest ones." He says it, and now I somewhat understand.

Now I am somewhat curious to know about her. She was indeed a mystery.
"Alright then, do your job," I say.

I knew he couldn't do a thing he couldn't put in the past to remove my spirit or soul, but still, I wanted his attempt to fail, and so I accepted it.

Gathering the marbles that were thrown on the table. He holds them in his palm, says something inaudible, and throws the marble on the table.

Within a minute, I felt something weird happen.A feeling that made me regret what I was doing, before I could think more, A little girl was sitting in front of me, in some strange room.

How? And where was the old man gone? Where was i and where is Liam.