THE BRIDES DIARY

The Voice From the Dark

For one impossible second, Adrian forgot how to breathe.

The voice had come from somewhere beyond the chamber.

Soft.

Familiar.

Almost playful.

A voice he had heard every morning when Elena used to wake him before sunrise. A voice that had once filled his apartment with laughter.

A voice he had listened to through old recordings because he couldn't bear the silence after her funeral.

Elena.

Adrian slowly lifted his head.

"Elena?"

Claire stared into the darkness.

"Adrian..."

He pushed himself away from Arthur's body.

"Elena!"

His voice echoed through the chamber.

Nothing.

Then came a soft laugh again.

It wasn't loud.

It wasn't cruel.

It sounded almost like the laugh she used to give whenever he said something ridiculous.

Adrian's heart pounded.

"Where are you?"

Vivian suddenly raised her weapon.

"Nobody move!"

Her confidence had disappeared.

That frightened Adrian more than anything else.

Vivian was clearly afraid of whoever was hiding in the darkness.

Daniel noticed it too.

He moved closer to Adrian.

"Something is wrong."

"No," Adrian whispered.

"She's here."

"You heard her."

"I heard someone."

"It was Elena."

Claire looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"Maybe."

Adrian turned toward her.

"What do you mean, maybe?"

Claire swallowed.

"Because Elena was very good at disguising her voice."

Adrian's expression changed.

"You knew she could do that?"

"She taught me."

Before Adrian could ask another question, every light in the chamber suddenly came on.

The sudden brightness forced everyone to shield their eyes.

Adrian looked around.

The armed men were pointing their weapons in different directions.

Vivian was standing near the center of the room.

Daniel had his gun raised.

Claire stood behind Adrian.

But Elena was nowhere to be seen.

Then Adrian noticed something.

The railway tracks.

At the far end of the chamber, one of the old freight carts had moved.

It had been blocking a narrow doorway.

Now the doorway stood open.

A woman had been standing there.

She wore a long black coat.

Her face was hidden beneath a hood.

Adrian's heart nearly stopped.

"Elena?"

The woman slowly lifted her head.

She stepped forward.

One step.

Then another.

Adrian stared at her face.

His knees almost gave way.

It was her.

Not someone who resembled her.

Not someone wearing a disguise.

Not a memory.

Elena.

Her face was thinner than he remembered.

Her hair was shorter.

There was a faint scar near her right eyebrow.

But her eyes were the same.

Those eyes.

He could have recognized them anywhere.

Adrian whispered her name.

"Elena."

She stopped.

For a moment, neither of them moved.

Then tears appeared in her eyes.

"Hello, Adrian."

His entire world seemed to collapse.

He took a step toward her.

Then another.

Elena didn't move.

Adrian reached out.

His fingers touched her cheek.

Warm.

Real.

He pulled his hand back as if he had been burned.

"You..."

His voice broke.

"You're alive."

Elena nodded.

"I am."

A thousand emotions crashed through him at once.

Relief.

Anger.

Love.

Betrayal.

Grief.

He wanted to hold her.

He wanted to scream at her.

He wanted to ask why she had allowed him to mourn her for an entire year.

Instead, only one question escaped his lips.

"Why?"

Elena's eyes filled with tears.

"I had no choice."

"No choice?"

"You let me bury you."

"I know."

"You let me believe you were dead."

"I know."

"You watched me fall apart."

Elena lowered her head.

"I know."

Adrian's voice rose.

"Then how can you stand there and say you had no choice?"

Elena looked at him.

"Because if I had told you the truth..."

"You would have died."

The words silenced him.

She continued.

"They were watching you."

"They had people inside your company."

"Inside your house."

"Inside the police department."

"Even the doctors who examined you after the accident were connected to them."

Adrian shook his head.

"You could have trusted me."

"I did."

"Then why?"

"Because loving you was the one thing they could use against me."

Adrian stared at her.

Elena wiped a tear from her cheek.

"When they realized I was investigating the Black Circle, they followed me everywhere."

"I knew they would eventually discover that you were helping me without knowing it."

"So I had to disappear."

Adrian's voice softened.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you were safer believing I was dead."

He looked away.

"You were wrong."

"I know."

"You don't know what it did to me."

Elena closed her eyes.

"I know."

"I went to your grave."

"I know."

"Every week."

"I know."

"How?"

Her eyes opened.

"Because I was there."

Adrian froze.

"What?"

"I watched you."

His face hardened.

"You watched me at my own grief?"

"I watched from a distance."

"Sometimes I wanted to run to you."

"But every time I came close, someone followed me."

She looked toward Vivian.

"People like her."

Vivian laughed.

"Don't blame me for your weakness."

Elena turned toward her.

"I don't."

"I blame you for what you did to my family."

Vivian's expression became cold.

"You still don't understand what happened."

Elena smiled faintly.

"I understand enough."

Vivian raised her weapon.

"You should have stayed hidden."

Elena didn't move.

"You're afraid."

Vivian's eyes narrowed.

"Of you?"

"No."

Elena glanced toward Adrian.

"Of what he's about to discover."

Vivian's finger tightened around the trigger.

But before she could fire, Daniel stepped between them.

"Lower it."

Vivian laughed.

"You really think you're in control?"

"No."

Daniel's eyes remained fixed on her.

"But I don't need to be."

Suddenly, several explosions sounded deeper inside the underground complex.

The chamber shook.

Dust fell from the ceiling.

Vivian's men shouted in confusion.

"What's happening?"

"Communication is down!"

"We've lost the eastern entrance!"

Elena looked at Adrian.

"That was my team."

"Your team?"

Adrian stared at her.

"You have a team?"

"I've been fighting them for a year."

"Alone?"

"No."

She looked toward the darkness behind her.

Several people emerged.

Men and women dressed in ordinary clothes.

No uniforms.

No weapons visible.

But every one of them moved with the confidence of people who knew exactly what they were doing.

Elena turned back toward Adrian.

"I didn't survive because I was lucky."

"I survived because people believed in the same thing I did."

"What?"

"That the truth deserves to live."

A sudden voice came through Vivian's earpiece.

She listened for several seconds.

Her face changed.

Then she looked at Adrian.

"You have no idea what you've just done."

Elena stepped closer to Adrian.

"Don't listen to her."

Vivian smiled.

"You think bringing him back into your life will save you?"

"No."

Elena's expression remained calm.

"It will save him."

Vivian laughed.

"You still haven't told him the most important part."

Adrian looked between them.

"What part?"

Vivian slowly lowered her weapon.

"Ask Elena why your father was at the hospital the night she disappeared."

Adrian turned toward Elena.

Her face went completely pale.

"Elena?"

She said nothing.

"Was my father there?"

Elena's silence was answer enough.

Adrian's voice dropped.

"What was he doing?"

Elena looked directly into his eyes.

Then she whispered,

"Your father wasn't there to kill me."

She paused.

"He was there to save me."

Adrian stared at her.

Before he could respond, Elena reached into her coat and pulled out a sealed envelope.

She handed it to him.

"Everything you want to know is inside."

Adrian looked down at the envelope.

His name was written across it in Elena's handwriting.

ADRIAN WOLFE

Underneath were four words.

Open this when you remember.

He looked back at Elena.

"Remember what?"

Her eyes filled with tears.

"Who you were before they changed you."

Adrian's blood ran cold.

"What are you talking about?"

Elena took a step backward.

"I think..."

She swallowed.

"...it's time you remembered the night your mother died."