The Betrayal
1666 Words
Chapter 17
The Betrayal
Nadia stared at the message until the words blurred.
DON'T TRUST ETHAN.
Her thumb hovered over the screen.
A second message appeared.
HE'S THE ONE WHO GAVE THEM YOUR LOCATION.
Her stomach dropped.
Slowly, Nadia lifted her eyes.
Ethan was still standing at the end of the corridor.
He looked exhausted. His jacket was wet, his hair falling across his forehead, and there was a small cut near his eyebrow.
But he wasn't moving.
He was watching her.
“Nadia,” Adrian said quietly.
She didn't look at him.
“Did you give them my location?”
Ethan's expression changed.
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Nadia's eyes narrowed.
“Then why did my father say you did?”
Ethan took a step forward.
“I don't know.”
“Stop.”
He stopped.
“I've heard that before.”
“Nadia—”
“You knew about Box 47.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about Elena.”
“Yes.”
“You knew where we were going.”
“Yes.”
“And now my father says you gave them my location.”
Ethan swallowed.
“I knew they were watching you.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
Silence.
Adrian stepped between them.
“Ethan, tell us everything.”
Ethan looked at him.
“I can't.”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“Then we're done trusting you.”
Ethan shook his head.
“You shouldn't trust me.”
Nadia felt something cold settle in her chest.
“What?”
Ethan looked directly at her.
“Not completely.”
Adrian's hand tightened around Nadia's.
“That's enough.”
But Nadia pulled her hand away.
“No.”
She couldn't explain why.
Maybe because Ethan's words didn't sound like a threat.
They sounded like a warning.
“Tell me the truth,” she said.
Ethan looked toward the room behind him.
“They're coming.”
“Then talk faster.”
He took a breath.
“I didn't give them your location.”
“Then who did?”
“Someone close to you.”
Nadia froze.
“Who?”
Ethan's eyes moved toward Adrian.
Adrian immediately noticed.
“Don't look at me.”
“I didn't say it was you.”
“You didn't have to.”
Layla stepped forward.
“Can everyone stop accusing each other for one second?”
A loud bang echoed through the building.
Everyone went silent.
Ethan looked toward the corridor.
“We have maybe thirty seconds.”
“Thirty seconds for what?” Nadia asked.
“For them to reach this floor.”
Adrian looked around.
“Exit?”
“There's a service staircase.”
“Where?”
Ethan pointed.
“Behind that door.”
They ran.
Adrian reached the door first and pulled it open.
The staircase was narrow and dark.
Layla went first.
Nadia followed.
Adrian stayed behind her.
Ethan brought up the rear.
They had barely reached the second landing when voices echoed above them.
“They're downstairs!”
Nadia's heart hammered.
“Faster!”
They ran.
At the bottom was another locked door.
Adrian grabbed the handle.
Locked.
“Ethan!”
“I don't have the key.”
Nadia looked around desperately.
Then she saw it.
A small metal panel beside the door.
Three lines.
A circle.
Twelve.
The same symbol.
Her breathing changed.
“Wait.”
She stepped closer.
Adrian looked at her.
“What?”
“I've seen this before.”
She touched the circle.
Nothing happened.
She pressed twelve.
A click.
The door opened.
Everyone stared at her.
Nadia stared at her own hand.
“I didn't know I could do that.”
Ethan's voice was quiet.
“You remembered.”
“Remembered what?”
“Something from Westbridge.”
Before Nadia could answer, the door above them slammed open.
“Go!”
They rushed through.
The door led into an underground parking area.
Rainwater streamed down the concrete ramps.
A black car was parked near the exit.
Adrian stopped.
“That's mine.”
Nadia looked at him.
“You still have a car?”
“Long story.”
“Then tell it later.”
They ran toward it.
Adrian unlocked the doors.
“Get in.”
Nadia climbed into the back with Layla.
Ethan opened the passenger door.
Adrian looked at him.
“You're not driving.”
Ethan raised an eyebrow.
“I wasn't planning to.”
Adrian got behind the wheel.
The engine roared.
They shot out of the parking area.
For several minutes, nobody spoke.
Nadia stared through the window.
The city passed in streaks of light and rain.
Her phone was still in her hand.
Her father's message remained on the screen.
She finally whispered,
“My father wouldn't lie to me.”
Adrian glanced at her through the mirror.
“He might not be.”
Nadia looked up.
“What does that mean?”
“It means Ethan could have given them your location without knowing he did.”
Ethan turned around.
“That's possible.”
Nadia frowned.
“How?”
Ethan hesitated.
“The recording device.”
“What about it?”
“It has a tracker.”
Nadia's eyes widened.
“You gave me that device.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew it was tracked?”
“No.”
“Then how could—”
Ethan's expression changed.
“I didn't know.”
Adrian's hands tightened around the steering wheel.
“Someone altered it.”
Silence filled the car.
Nadia slowly looked at the device lying on the seat.
“So they were tracking us the entire time.”
Ethan nodded.
“That means…”
“They didn't need my location,” Nadia whispered.
“They already had it.”
Another silence.
Then Adrian spoke.
“Whoever sent your father's message may have been trying to warn you.”
Nadia stared at him.
“Then why didn't he just say that?”
“Maybe he couldn't.”
Her phone buzzed again.
Everyone froze.
Nadia looked down.
Another message.
This time, there was no text.
Only a photograph.
She opened it.
Her blood went cold.
It was Adrian.
Standing outside Westbridge three years ago.
Beside him was Elena.
And behind them—
Nadia's mother.
Adrian looked at the picture.
His face changed.
“I've never seen that.”
Nadia looked at him.
“You knew my mother.”
“No.”
“Then why are you in this photograph?”
“I don't know.”
Ethan leaned forward.
“Look closer.”
Nadia zoomed in.
There was something in Adrian's hand.
A small silver object.
A key.
Her key.
Nadia's heart pounded.
“You had it.”
Adrian stared at the image.
“I don't remember.”
Nadia's anger rose.
“How many things don't you remember?”
Adrian looked at her.
“I was seventeen.”
“So?”
“So three years ago, something happened to all of us.”
Ethan spoke quietly.
“They erased memories.”
Nadia turned toward him.
“Who?”
“The people behind Westbridge.”
Adrian shook his head.
“Not all of us.”
Ethan looked at him.
“What?”
Adrian's face was pale.
“I remember one thing.”
Everyone became silent.
“What?” Nadia asked.
Adrian looked directly at her.
“I remember Elena telling me to stay away from you.”
Nadia's chest tightened.
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“You don't remember?”
“No.”
“Then what do you remember?”
Adrian closed his eyes.
A few seconds passed.
Then he whispered,
“She was scared.”
Nadia stared at him.
“Of what?”
Adrian opened his eyes.
“Of your mother.”
The car went silent.
Nadia's face went blank.
“My mother?”
Adrian nodded.
“Elena told me that if anything happened to her, I should never let your mother find you.”
Nadia couldn't speak.
Ethan looked shocked.
“That wasn't in Elena's instructions.”
“Then maybe you didn't have all of them,” Adrian replied.
Ethan stared at him.
Nadia looked between them.
Something was wrong.
Something bigger than Box 47.
Bigger than Ethan.
Bigger than the people chasing them.
Her mother had been protecting her.
Elena had been protecting her.
Adrian had been told to stay away from her.
And yet somehow—
all three stories led back to Nadia.
Her phone buzzed again.
This time, the message contained only four words.
ASK ADRIAN ABOUT JULY 12.
Nadia slowly turned toward him.
Adrian saw the screen.
His face lost its color.
“You know something.”
He didn't answer.
“Adrian.”
“I remember.”
“What?”
He looked at her.
“The night Elena disappeared.”
Nadia's heart pounded.
“What happened?”
Adrian's voice dropped to a whisper.
“I was there.”
Nadia stared at him.
“You said you didn't remember.”
“I said I didn't remember everything.”
“Then tell me.”
Adrian looked toward the road.
His hands trembled slightly on the steering wheel.
“I saw Elena that night.”
Nadia held her breath.
“And I saw your mother.”
A pause.
“Then I saw someone else.”
“Who?”
Adrian looked at her.
“The person who took Elena.”
Nadia's heart stopped.
“Who was it?”
Adrian opened his mouth.
But before he could answer, the car suddenly jerked to a stop.
Everyone lurched forward.
The lights went out.
Outside, another vehicle blocked the road.
Four figures stepped into the rain.
Ethan reached for the door.
Adrian grabbed his arm.
“Don't.”
A shadow approached the driver's window.
Then a voice came through the glass.
“Nadia.”
She knew that voice.
Her blood turned cold.
It was her father.
But he wasn't alone.
And the person standing beside him was holding the same silver key Nadia had found in Box 47.
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