chapter 5
1481 Words
Adrian stared at me without blinking.
Rain poured through the open balcony doors behind us while the bloody message dripped slowly down the mirror.
SHE REMEMBERS NOW.
The words made my stomach twist violently.
“I hid them,” I whispered again.
Adrian stepped closer carefully. “Where, Elena?”
“I don’t know.”
Frustration flashed across his face before disappearing instantly.
“You remembered hiding the files but not where?”
“I’m trying!”
Another sharp pain hit my head.
Images flashed rapidly—
A black flash drive.
Lucas grabbing my shoulders desperately.
“Don’t trust anyone.”
Then another image.
Adrian covered in blood.
My breath caught painfully.
“You were there,” I whispered.
Adrian went still.
“The night Lucas died.”
His voice turned quiet. “Yes.”
Fear curled through me.
“What happened?”
Before he could answer, Noah suddenly appeared in the doorway behind us.
“The police found another body downstairs.”
The room went silent.
My chest tightened immediately.
“Who?”
“One of Adrian’s guards.”
Noah’s eyes shifted toward the bloody writing on the mirror.
“He was killed less than ten minutes ago.”
Adrian’s expression darkened dangerously.
“How did someone get inside this house again?”
Noah crossed his arms. “Maybe because someone on your staff is helping them.”
The accusation hung heavily in the air.
A traitor.
Inside the mansion.
Watching us.
Suddenly every servant’s nervous expression replayed inside my head.
Clara.
Vanessa.
The guards.
Who could be trusted?
A cold shiver ran down my spine.
“We need to move her somewhere safer,” Noah said.
Adrian instantly shook his head. “No.”
“Adrian—”
“She stays with me.”
Noah laughed bitterly. “That’s exactly what worries me.”
Tension exploded between them again.
I stepped back slowly, overwhelmed.
“Stop.”
Both men looked at me.
“I can’t think when you’re constantly fighting.”
Silence followed.
Then Noah sighed heavily before pulling a folded photograph from inside his coat.
“Elena… I think you should see this.”
Adrian’s expression hardened immediately. “No.”
But Noah handed it to me anyway.
The second I looked down, my entire body froze.
It was me.
Standing beside Noah outside a small café.
Smiling.
His arm wrapped around my waist.
But that wasn’t what shocked me.
It was the way I looked at him.
Comfortable.
Close.
Intimate.
My heart started pounding violently.
“What is this?”
Noah’s voice softened. “Taken three days before you disappeared.”
I looked up at him slowly.
“Were we… together?”
Adrian’s jaw clenched so hard I thought he might break something.
“No,” he said coldly.
Noah held my gaze. “Emotionally? Yes.”
The room felt like it tilted sideways.
“What?”
Adrian stepped forward instantly. “Enough.”
“She deserves the truth.”
“You think showing her that now helps?”
“She needs to know what kind of marriage this really was.”
I stared between them in confusion.
“What does that mean?”
Noah looked directly at me.
“You were trying to leave Adrian before you disappeared.”
The words hit me like ice water.
I looked toward Adrian immediately.
He didn’t deny it.
Pain flashed through my chest unexpectedly.
Why did that hurt?
“I wanted a divorce?” I whispered.
Adrian finally spoke.
“You were angry with me.”
“That’s not an answer.”
His gray eyes locked onto mine.
“You thought I betrayed you.”
Another memory flashed instantly—
Me screaming inside this mansion while throwing papers across Adrian’s office.
“You lied to me for our entire marriage!”
Then Adrian grabbing my wrist.
“I did it to protect you.”
The memory disappeared.
I pressed trembling fingers against my temple.
“You hid things from me.”
Adrian looked exhausted suddenly.
“Yes.”
Noah stepped closer carefully.
“Elena, whatever happened between you two… you came to me because you were scared.”
Scared.
The word echoed inside me.
Was I afraid of Adrian?
Or afraid of what I discovered?
Before I could ask another question, one of the security guards rushed into the room looking pale.
“Sir…”
Adrian turned sharply. “What?”
The guard swallowed nervously.
“We found another message.”
Fear crawled up my spine.
“Where?”
The guard hesitated.
“In Mr. Vale’s office.”
---
Adrian’s office sat at the end of the third-floor hallway behind massive black double doors.
The second we stepped inside, I understood why nobody entered this room lightly.
Dark wood.
Floor-to-ceiling windows.
A massive desk covered in files.
Power radiated from every corner.
But none of that mattered.
Because written across the wall behind the desk in blood were the words:
ASK HIM ABOUT JULIET.
My pulse stopped instantly.
Juliet.
The name meant nothing.
But Adrian’s reaction terrified me.
All color drained from his face.
Noah noticed immediately.
“What the hell is Juliet?”
Adrian didn’t answer.
That silence was enough.
Noah stared at him sharply. “You know exactly what that means.”
I looked between them.
“Who’s Juliet?”
Still nothing.
Anger finally burned through my fear.
“I’m tired of everyone hiding things from me!”
Adrian closed his eyes briefly.
When he looked at me again, something haunted flickered across his face.
“Juliet was your friend.”
Was.
The past tense hit hard.
“What happened to her?”
Silence.
Then Noah answered quietly.
“She disappeared.”
Ice flooded my veins.
“Like me?”
Noah nodded once.
A terrible feeling settled deep in my stomach.
“How many people disappeared around this company?”
Nobody answered immediately.
That scared me more than anything.
I walked toward Adrian’s desk slowly, trying to steady my breathing.
That’s when I noticed the framed photograph turned facedown near the lamp.
Without thinking, I picked it up.
My breath caught instantly.
It was a picture of me and another woman.
Juliet.
We looked close.
Happy.
But someone had scratched a deep line through her face.
Fear twisted violently through my chest.
“What happened to her?” I whispered again.
Adrian stared at the photo silently before answering.
“She helped you steal the files.”
Noah looked shocked.
“You never told me she was involved.”
“I didn’t know until after Elena disappeared.”
I stared down at the picture.
Another memory flashed suddenly—
Juliet crying.
“You don’t understand how dangerous this is.”
Then me answering:
“We can expose them.”
Expose who?
Pain exploded through my skull again.
I stumbled sideways.
Adrian caught me instantly before I hit the desk.
His hands tightened around my waist.
“Easy.”
The softness in his voice confused me all over again.
Why did he look at me like I mattered more than his own life?
Even now.
Even after I apparently tried leaving him.
I looked up at him slowly.
“Did you really love me?”
The question slipped out quietly.
Adrian’s expression changed instantly.
Something raw flickered through his eyes.
“Enough to ruin myself for you.”
My breath caught.
The intensity in his voice made my chest ache.
Noah looked away sharply.
Like hearing that hurt him too.
Before anyone could speak again, thunder exploded outside the mansion windows.
Then suddenly—
The office lights flickered once.
Twice.
And went dark.
A second later, every computer screen inside the office turned on by itself.
Static flashed across them.
Then one single video file appeared.
Noah cursed softly. “Someone hacked the system.”
The video started playing automatically.
My heart nearly stopped.
The footage showed a security recording from two years ago.
The night I disappeared.
The timestamp flashed across the corner of the screen.
Rain poured outside exactly like tonight.
Then the office door in the video burst open.
Me.
I stared at my own face in shock.
Past me looked terrified.
I was holding a gun.
“Oh my God…”
The video had no sound, but I could see myself screaming at Adrian.
Then Lucas appeared.
Then Noah.
All four of us arguing violently.
The footage glitched suddenly.
Then came the moment that froze the entire room.
Past me lifted the gun.
And pointed it directly at Adrian.
I stopped breathing.
Noah looked stunned.
But Adrian…
Adrian never took his eyes off me.
Then suddenly the video cut to black.
Three words appeared across the screen:
YOU FORGOT THE WORST PART.
Another sharp memory slammed into me violently—
The gun in my hand shaking.
Adrian bleeding.
Lucas shouting my name.
Then—
A gunshot.
My body gave out instantly.
Darkness swallowed everything.
- Writer
