His Obsession

Chapter 8: The First Time

Amelia stood alone in Adrian's office for a long moment after he left, phone still clutched in her hand, that text glowing on the screen like something radioactive.

‘Ask him what really happened to her the first time.’

The first time implied a second time. Which meant Victoria going missing wasn't new. Which meant this had happened before, and somehow nobody had ever mentioned it…not Ethan, not Mrs. Grey, certainly not Adrian.

She typed back with shaking hands.

‘What happened the first time? Please. I need to know if she's in danger.’

No reply came. The dots didn't even appear this time.

Amelia shoved the phone into her pocket and made herself think clearly. Adrian had told her to stay in the building, not talk to anyone. But he hadn't told her not to look for information…and there was one place she hadn't tried yet.

Victoria's office was two floors down, smaller than Adrian's but no less impressive, all soft lighting and neat shelves that spoke of someone organized in a way Adrian's chaos of files never quite managed. Amelia hovered in the doorway, telling herself she was just checking if anyone was there.

The office was empty. The desk was too clean…no coffee cup, no half-finished notes, nothing that suggested Victoria had left in a hurry that morning. It looked staged, almost. Or untouched.

"She didn't come in today."

Amelia turned to find a young man standing behind her, clearly one of Victoria's assistants, his expression tight with worry he was trying hard to hide.

"Do you know where she is?" Amelia asked.

"No one does. She missed her nine a.m., which never happens. Victoria doesn't miss meetings." He glanced down the hallway, lowering his voice. "This isn't the first time this has happened, you know. Two years ago, she disappeared for almost a week. Nobody talked about it after. Mr. Blackwood made sure of that."

Amelia's pulse jumped. "What happened? Where did she go?"

"I don't know the details. I just know security changed completely after that. Cameras everywhere. New protocols. Mr. Blackwood barely left the building for a month." The assistant hesitated, like he'd already said more than he should have. "I should get back to my desk."

He left before Amelia could ask anything else, footsteps retreating fast down the corridor, leaving her alone in Victoria's too-clean office with more questions than she'd walked in with.

Two years ago. Security changed completely. He barely left the building for a month.

Whatever had happened to Victoria before, it had frightened Adrian badly enough to rebuild the company's entire security apparatus around it. And now it was happening again…and somehow, impossibly, it seemed connected to a text message meant for Amelia.

Her phone buzzed. Not the unknown number this time…Sophie.

‘Call me. Now. It's about Dad.’

Amelia's hands trembled as she dialed, ducking into an empty stairwell for privacy.

"Sophie, what's wrong?"

"Dad left." Sophie's voice was tight, panicked in a way Amelia had rarely heard from her steady older sister. "Like, actually left. Packed a bag an hour after you called him this morning and just…drove off. Mum's frantic. He wouldn't tell her where he was going."

"Did he say anything?"

"Just that he had to fix something before it was too late. And Amelia…" Sophie's voice cracked slightly. "He told Mum to tell you to stop asking questions. That it wasn't safe anymore. What did you say to him?"

Amelia's back hit the cold stairwell wall, her knees suddenly unsteady beneath her.

"I asked him about Blackwood Enterprises," she said quietly. "That's it. That's all I asked."

"And he just left? Amelia, what is going on?"

"I don't know," Amelia admitted, and it was the truest thing she'd said all day. "I don't know, Soph, but I think it's bigger than either of us realized. Adrian's sister is missing too. Today. Right now. And someone's been texting me, telling me to ask questions, telling me not everything Adrian says is true…"

"Someone's been texting you? Amelia, that sounds like a stalker, not a source. You need to tell the police."

"I can't. Not yet. Not until I understand what's actually happening." Amelia pressed her palm against her forehead, trying to think through the panic clawing up her throat. "Soph, I need you to try Dad again. Keep trying. And if he calls, please, just…get him to tell you where he is."

"Amelia, I'm scared."

"I know. Me too." Amelia closed her eyes. "I have to go. I'll call you later, I promise."

She hung up before Sophie could argue, sliding down the stairwell wall until she was sitting on the cold concrete step, phone loose in her lap, the weight of everything pressing down on her at once.

Her father, running.

Victoria, missing.

A stranger who knew more than anyone was willing to say.

And Adrian...cold, controlled Adrian…who had hired her on purpose, for reasons he still hadn't explained, and who had looked at her an hour ago like he was afraid of what she might find.

She was still sitting there when her phone rang. Adrian's name on the screen this time, not the unknown number.

She answered immediately. "Adrian? Did you find her?"

There was a pause on the other end, breathing she could hear, tight and controlled.

"I need you to listen very carefully," Adrian said, his voice low and urgent in a way she'd never heard from him. "Someone just tried to access your personnel file remotely. From outside the building. Ten minutes ago."

Amelia's blood went cold. "What does that mean?"

"It means someone out there knows exactly who you are, and exactly why you're working for me." A pause, heavy with something he wasn't saying. "Amelia, I need you to go somewhere safe. Not your flat. Not your family's house. Somewhere no one would think to look."

"You're scaring me."

"Good." His voice cracked slightly on the word, the first real crack she'd heard from him since this whole thing started. "You should be scared. I should have told you the truth three weeks ago, and I didn't, because I thought I could protect you without you ever having to know why. I was wrong."

"Adrian, what is going on? Tell me. Right now."

There was a long silence on the line, filled only with the sound of him breathing, steadying himself for something.

"Your father isn't the only person connected to what happened to mine," he said finally. "You are too. You have been since the day you were born, Amelia. And I think whoever's after Victoria already knows that."

The stairwell seemed to tilt beneath her.

"Adrian…"

"I'm coming to get you," he said. "Don't go anywhere. Don't talk to anyone. I'll explain everything. I promise you that. Just…stay safe until I get there."

The line went dead.

Amelia sat frozen on the stairwell step, phone still pressed to her ear long after the call ended, his last words echoing louder than anything else he'd said all day.

‘You have been since the day you were born.’

Whatever this secret was, it wasn't about her father working for Adrian's family.

It was about her.