Shadow of Secrets Pt. 03

*Disclaimer: All characters are 18+, no underage characters will ever be portrayed in any shape or form in this or any future stories.*

**Erik's point of view**

As the days went by, Erik found himself increasingly drawn to the idea of his mother having a lover. It was both fascinating and disturbing to him. He couldn't shake the thought of his mother being intimate with someone else, and the idea of Jax filled him with a mix of excitement and fear. He wanted to understand why his mother kept Jax around, but he also craved more information about the mysterious man.

Erik began to spend more time on the internet, searching for information about Jax. He read articles about him, watched videos, and even joined forums discussing the topic. He became obsessed with learning everything he could about Jax, his background and his relationship with his mother, Eva.

In his research, he discovered that Jax was involved in various criminal activities in the city. He also found evidence of a history of sexual violence against women. These revelations only heightened Erik's curiosity and concern about his mother's involvement with this dangerous man.

One day, while sifting through the data he had collected, Erik stumbled upon a photo of Jax in a compromising position with another woman. This discovery sent his heart racing. The image fueled his desire to know more about Jax and Eva's connection. The photo was pretty old and the criminal activities he had linked with Jax were old as well making all the information Erik had gathered circumstantial at best. Erik knew if he were to bring this information to Eva she would just waive it off as being insignificant or worse get mad at him for digging into her personal matters; yet he felt the need to keep going further.

Seeing that searching the internet and old newspapers had resulted in hardly any usefulness he decided to contact Cindy who was working in city's leading and respected news outlet. He didn't have her personal contact information though he managed to leave a message for her at her work place hoping she would reach out to him. Surely enough next day he got a call back from her asking him to meet her at a nearby park in the afternoon.

He met her that afternoon and was still wondering if it was the right choice to look into a man his mother had come to trust. But before he could talk about it with Cindy, she brought up another topic. She asked him if he was still willing to help her with the tech stuff she had mentioned to him on her last visit to his home. She handed him a box full of different sort of camera equipment and cables telling him she needed to set up a sting operation of sorts and needed the best option of tech from the bunch. She told him how important this bit was for her as she suspected some people at her work were corrupt and probably were helping out criminals escape justice.

Erik decided it's best to help her out as a favor and then ask her to help him with Jax's situation in return. He brought the box home and into his room where he started to connect each piece to his computer one by one and testing out the equipment. Just when he was about to test one of the cameras his phone chirped with a text from Eva.

It read "I'll be home a bit late and Jax will be with me tonight .... You should make yourself some dinner ... you can do that right honey?"

Wheels started turning in Erik's head as he read and reread that text.

Finally coming up with an idea he texted back "I'm going out with a bunch of friends to a party tonight mom ..... I'll eat there and probably will be back tomorrow morning so don't worry I won't be out at night .... I'll be safe I promise!"

He obviously didn't have any plans or parties to attend. He was going to place a camera in his mothers room and finally get to see what he only could hear through the shared wall between his and his mother's rooms. He jumped into action pretty quick and soon enough he had the live feeds running to his computer directly. He had managed to hide a camera in the shelf right in front of her bed and another camera was hidden in the curtain rod above her window. He was sure that they wouldn't be seen by her or Jax as both the cameras didn't have any wires running out of them and were pretty tiny in size.

He added the function on his computer to record the feeds coming from the cameras before wondering where he should go when it was time for Eva and Jax to be back home. He knew that Eva had kept Jax away for a couple of days out of embarrassment of knowing her son was in just the next room from hers. But Jax must have finally convinced her somehow as usual. If Erik wasn't around he knew there was nothing stopping his mom from letting go a bit and enjoy her time with Jax fully. Erik's mind was getting twisted with the thoughts about finally seeing Jax and his mother be intimate; he knew it was wrong for him to spy like this but he just couldn't stop himself.

When it was finally time he shut his room's door close and left the apartment; going straight to the roof of the building from where he would know when Eva was back. Sure enough after about half hour later Eva came home with Jax wrapping his arm around her waist. Erik planned on sneaking back into the apartment soon after and hide himself in his room so he would finally be able to hear and see what was happening.

But when he actually does try to get in he hears noises from within the house which makes him think Eva and Jax weren't back in her bedroom yet. Leaving him stranded out of his house Erik decides to go downstairs to the only other tenant he knew in the building and tell them he was locked out of his apartment and wanted to wait till his mom was back. He had no choice but to wait it all out; he only took comfort in the fact that atleast the camera was recording everything and he would still get to see it even if he wasn't in the apartment to hear it all himself as it happened.

TBC...