HEADLINES AND HEARTSTRINGS

Chapter 11: The Journal

Lena

I barely remembered the drive to the bank.

The silver key felt heavier than it should have, resting in the palm of my hand like it carried the weight of every secret Adrian had been hiding.

Marcus drove.

Adrian sat beside him.

I was in the back seat, watching the city blur past the window.

None of us spoke.

The silence wasn't uncomfortable.

It was cautious.

Like we were all waiting for something to happen.

My phone buzzed again.

I stiffened.

Unknown Number.

For the first time, I didn't answer.

Instead, I switched my phone off.

Marcus glanced at me through the rearview mirror.

"Good."

"You approve?"

"I approve of anything that makes it harder to track you."

I frowned.

"You think my phone is compromised?"

"I think we should assume everything is."

That thought settled like a stone in my stomach.

---

First National Bank looked ordinary from the outside.

Inside, it felt like a fortress.

After Adrian showed his identification, a manager personally escorted us downstairs to the safety deposit vault.

The room was cold and silent.

Rows upon rows of steel boxes lined the walls.

The manager stopped in front of Box 317.

"This one, Mr. Knight."

Adrian looked at me.

"You should open it."

"Me?"

He nodded.

"This investigation belongs to you now as much as it belongs to me."

I swallowed.

With trembling fingers, I inserted the key.

The lock clicked.

Inside was a single black leather journal.

Nothing else.

No cash.

No jewelry.

Just a notebook worn smooth with age.

The words E.B. were embossed in gold on the cover.

"Ethan," Adrian whispered.

His voice cracked.

It was the first crack I'd ever heard in his carefully controlled composure.

I lifted the journal gently.

It smelled faintly of old paper and cedarwood.

Someone had taken care of it.

---

Back at Knight Studios, we gathered around Adrian's desk.

Claire closed the blinds.

Marcus checked the office for listening devices.

Twice.

Only then did Adrian nod.

"Read it."

I opened to the first page.

Ethan's handwriting was surprisingly neat.

«January 5

Adrian finally convinced me to meet him.

Funny how two brothers need fake names just to have coffee together.

He acts like he doesn't deserve a family.

Maybe one day he'll realize he already has one.»

I looked up.

Adrian stared at the page without saying a word.

I turned another page.

Most entries were ordinary.

Movie auditions.

Jokes.

Late-night dinners.

Conversations with Adrian.

Two brothers trying to build the relationship they'd been denied.

Then I reached an entry dated three weeks before Ethan died.

The tone changed.

My heartbeat quickened.

«September 14

I saw something I wasn't supposed to see.

If anything happens to me, it wasn't an accident.»

The room froze.

I continued reading.

«I don't know who to trust anymore.

They're watching everyone.

Even Adrian.»

Marcus took a slow breath.

Claire covered her mouth.

I looked at Adrian.

His face had turned pale.

"You've never read this?"

He slowly shook his head.

"I thought the journal was lost forever."

I turned the page.

The next entry had been ripped out.

Several pages were missing.

"No..." I whispered. Great just when we're finally having a lead here.

"They took pages."

Marcus leaned closer.

"They removed them carefully."

"Whoever had this journal before us," I said, "didn't want us reading everything."

The final written page was dated the night before Ethan died.

I read aloud.

«Adrian still thinks he can fix this.

He doesn't understand.

Once they know what I found...

They'll come for both of us.»

The entry ended there.

No signature.

No goodbye.

Nothing.

I slowly closed the journal.

No one spoke.

The silence was suffocating.

Finally, I asked the question that had been haunting me for days.

"What did Ethan find?"

Adrian met my eyes.

"I don't know."

For the first time...

I believed him completely.

---

That evening, I returned to my apartment under Marcus's insistence that two security officers remain outside.

"I don't need bodyguards."

Marcus folded his arms.

"Correct."

I blinked.

"I need them."

He nodded once.

"Exactly."

Despite everything, I laughed.

"You really don't joke, do you?"

"I save my jokes for emergencies."

I smiled.

"I'll try not to get kidnapped just so I can hear one."

His expression stayed perfectly serious.

"I'd appreciate that."

I shook my head as I unlocked my apartment door.

"You're impossible."

"So I've been told."

I gave him a small smile and went inside.

---

The apartment was exactly as I'd left it after the police finished processing the break-in.

I placed Ethan's journal on my kitchen table.

Something bothered me.

The missing pages.

They couldn't have simply disappeared.

Whoever removed them had a reason.

I flipped through the journal again.

Near the center, I noticed something unusual.

The pages looked thicker.

I tilted the journal toward the light.

There.

A folded piece of paper had been tucked deep inside the spine.

My pulse quickened.

Carefully, I pulled it free.

It wasn't another diary entry.

It was a photograph.

A younger Ethan stood beside a smiling woman.

On the back, written in hurried handwriting, were five words.

Find Evelyn before they do.

"Evelyn?"

I'd never heard the name before.

Who was she?

And why had Ethan hidden her photograph inside his journal?

Before I could think further, the lights in my apartment went out.

Darkness swallowed the room.

My heart slammed against my ribs.

Outside...

The two security guards began shouting.

Then—

A gunshot echoed through the night.

Followed by another.

I dropped to the floor instinctively, clutching Ethan's journal to my chest.

Someone screamed outside my apartment.

And I realized...

The hunt for the truth had just become a fight for survival.