UNSPOKEN LOVE

2 THE SECRET INSIDE THE ENVELOPE

Anastasia couldn't move.

Her fingers tightened around the envelope.

YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT SEVEN YEARS AGO.

She read it again.

And again.

The words remained the same.

Her first thought was that it had to be a joke.

Perhaps someone had dropped it accidentally.

Perhaps it belonged to one of the guests.

Perhaps—

No.

She looked at the handwriting.

The letters were deliberate. Sharp. Almost unnervingly neat.

Whoever had written it had wanted the message to be understood.

And judging from where the envelope had fallen, it had been meant for Lucian.

Anastasia slowly turned toward the direction he had disappeared.

The crowd had swallowed him.

"Lucian..."

She whispered his name.

For the first time since she had approached him, she wasn't thinking about his money.

Something about that message bothered her.

Seven years.

Why seven?

What had happened seven years ago?

She glanced around.

Nobody seemed to have noticed the envelope.

Good.

She slipped it into her purse.

She wasn't sure why she did it.

Curiosity, perhaps.

Or maybe something else.

But she knew one thing.

She wasn't giving it back yet.

---

Meanwhile...

Lucian walked through a private corridor away from the ballroom.

His expression had completely changed.

The relaxed man who had been sitting at the table with Anastasia was gone.

His face was cold.

Focused.

A security guard opened a door for him.

Lucian stepped inside.

His father was waiting.

The room was much quieter than the ballroom.

No music.

No laughter.

No cameras.

Just a large window overlooking the city.

And an older man standing beside it.

Victor Vale.

Lucian's father.

The chairman of Vale International.

One of the most powerful businessmen in the country.

Victor didn't turn around.

"You took your time."

"I was enjoying the party."

Victor finally looked at him.

"No, you weren't."

Lucian said nothing.

His father studied him.

Then he placed a photograph on the desk.

"Look."

Lucian walked over.

The moment he saw the photograph, the amusement disappeared from his face.

It showed a building.

An old building.

Abandoned.

Burned.

The photograph looked several years old.

Lucian picked it up.

"Where did you get this?"

"It was delivered to my office this afternoon."

"By whom?"

"We don't know."

Lucian turned the photograph over.

There was writing on the back.

His eyes narrowed.

SEVEN YEARS AGO.

He looked at his father.

"What is this?"

Victor didn't answer immediately.

Instead, he asked,

"Do you remember the night of the fire?"

Lucian's fingers tightened around the photograph.

"Of course I remember."

"Do you?"

Lucian looked at him.

"Why are you asking me that?"

"Because there are things you were never told."

Silence.

Lucian stared at his father.

"What things?"

Victor walked toward the desk.

"Seven years ago, we were told that one person died in that fire."

Lucian frowned.

"We were told?"

"That's what the police report said."

"Was it wrong?"

Victor's expression darkened.

"Possibly."

Lucian stared at him.

"Possibly?"

Before Victor could continue, someone knocked on the door.

Three short knocks.

Victor immediately stopped talking.

"Come in."

The door opened.

A man in a dark suit stepped inside.

He looked nervous.

"Sir."

Victor turned.

"What happened?"

"The security team found someone near the east entrance."

"Who?"

"We don't know."

"Did you stop them?"

The man hesitated.

"They disappeared before we could."

Lucian's eyes narrowed.

"How did they get inside?"

"We're checking the cameras."

Victor's expression became colder.

"Find them."

"Yes, sir."

The man turned to leave.

"Wait."

Lucian's voice stopped him.

"Did they leave anything?"

The man hesitated.

Then reached into his pocket.

He placed a small object on the desk.

A silver pendant.

Lucian stared at it.

He knew it.

His breathing almost stopped.

"No..."

Victor immediately noticed.

"You recognize it?"

Lucian didn't answer.

He picked it up.

The pendant was old.

Small.

Its surface was scratched from years of use.

But the symbol engraved on it was unmistakable.

A tiny crescent surrounding a star.

Lucian had seen it once before.

Seven years ago.

On the night everything changed.

He closed his hand around it.

"Where did you find this?"

"Near the east gate."

Lucian looked toward the window.

Something was happening.

Something that had been buried for seven years.

And someone had just begun digging it back up.

---

Back in the ballroom...

Anastasia remained at the table.

She had almost forgotten why she came to the party in the first place.

Almost.

She looked at her purse.

The envelope was still inside.

She should leave.

That was the sensible thing to do.

But Anastasia had never been particularly good at doing the sensible thing.

She opened her purse.

Pulled out the envelope.

Her fingers traced the edge.

Then she noticed something.

There was a second layer underneath the paper.

She frowned.

Carefully, she examined it.

Something was hidden inside.

A small photograph.

Her eyes widened.

She pulled it out.

It was an old photograph of a group of people standing outside a large house.

She recognized one person immediately.

Lucian.

But he looked younger.

Much younger.

Beside him stood a woman.

She appeared to be smiling.

Anastasia stared at her.

There was something familiar about the woman.

Very familiar.

She turned the photograph over.

Written on the back were four words.

SHE NEVER LEFT.

Anastasia's heart skipped.

"What the..."

She stopped.

Someone was standing behind her.

"Interesting, isn't it?"

Anastasia spun around.

A young woman stood there.

She wore a simple black dress, nothing compared to the extravagant outfits surrounding them.

Unlike everyone else, she wasn't smiling.

Her eyes were fixed on the photograph.

Anastasia quickly hid it.

"Excuse me?"

The woman smiled faintly.

"You shouldn't have that."

Anastasia's grip tightened.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You do."

"I found it."

"That's precisely the problem."

Anastasia studied her.

"Who are you?"

The woman didn't answer.

Instead, she leaned closer.

"Stay away from Lucian."

Anastasia frowned.

"Why?"

"Because whatever you think you're getting yourself into..."

She paused.

"...you're already too close."

Anastasia's confidence returned.

"Is that supposed to scare me?"

"No."

The woman's eyes became strangely serious.

"It's supposed to save you."

Before Anastasia could respond, the woman walked away.

Anastasia watched her disappear into the crowd.

Her curiosity was now impossible to control.

She looked down at the photograph again.

The woman beside young Lucian...

Who was she?

And why did the message say she had never left?

---

Ten minutes later

Lucian returned to the ballroom.

His eyes immediately searched the room.

He found Anastasia.

She was still sitting at his table.

He walked toward her.

"You stayed."

Anastasia smiled.

"You told me to wait."

"I don't remember saying that."

"You implied it."

Lucian sat down.

His eyes studied her face.

Something was different.

She looked nervous.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"You're lying."

Anastasia laughed.

"You barely know me."

"I know when someone is hiding something."

Her smile disappeared for a fraction of a second.

Lucian noticed.

Of course he did.

He leaned back.

"Did someone speak to you?"

"No."

Another lie.

His gaze moved toward her purse.

Anastasia noticed.

She immediately placed her hand over it.

Lucian's eyes narrowed.

"What are you hiding?"

"Nothing."

"Anastasia."

She looked at him.

For a moment, neither spoke.

Then Lucian leaned forward.

"Give me your purse."

Her eyes widened.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

"Why?"

"Because something belonging to me is inside it."

Anastasia's heart began beating faster.

How did he know?

She forced a smile.

"You're mistaken."

"Am I?"

Lucian extended his hand.

"Give it to me."

She stared at him.

Then slowly smiled.

"What if I don't?"

His expression remained unreadable.

"Then I'll find out another way."

The playful atmosphere between them vanished.

Anastasia suddenly realized something.

The man sitting across from her wasn't the same man who had flirted with her minutes ago.

There was something dangerous about his silence.

Not dangerous in the way she had imagined.

Dangerous because he seemed to notice everything.

Every hesitation.

Every lie.

Every secret.

She slowly opened her purse.

Lucian watched.

Her fingers touched the envelope.

Then—

The lights went out.

The entire ballroom plunged into darkness.

People screamed.

Glasses crashed.

Someone shouted for security.

Emergency lights flickered on.

Lucian immediately stood.

"Anastasia."

"I'm here!"

He looked around.

The envelope was gone.

So was the photograph.

Someone had taken them.

Lucian's eyes hardened.

Then his phone vibrated.

He pulled it out.

One new message.

No number.

No name.

Just a photograph.

Lucian opened it.

His face went completely still.

It was a picture of him and Anastasia sitting together at the table.

Taken only moments earlier.

Underneath it was a single sentence:

SHE IS NOT THE ONE YOU SHOULD FEAR.

Lucian stared at the screen.

Then another message appeared.

LOOK BEHIND YOU.

Slowly...

Lucian turned.

At the far end of the ballroom stood a woman wearing a black mask.

She was staring directly at him.

And when their eyes met—

she smiled.

Lucian's blood ran cold.

Because he knew that smile.

He hadn't seen it in seven years.

Until tonight.

TO BE CONTINUED...