Chapter 6 : The Photograph
396 Words
Elena spent the next forty-eight hours avoiding Lucian Moretti.
Not because she feared him.
Because she feared herself.
The closer she got to him, the harder it became to remember why she had accepted the contract in the first place.
A dangerous weakness.
One she couldn't afford.
That evening, a secure message arrived from her handler.
Urgent. Meet immediately.
An abandoned apartment on the edge of the city.
Standard protocol.
Elena arrived ten minutes early.
Old habits.
The room was dark except for a single lamp illuminating a wooden table.
Her handler sat waiting.
Expression grim.
"Something changed," he said.
Elena immediately sensed trouble.
"Talk."
A photograph slid across the table.
She looked down.
And froze.
The image showed Lucian Moretti standing beside another man.
An older man.
Gray hair.
Sharp features.
A face she recognized instantly.
Her entire body went cold.
"No."
The word escaped before she could stop it.
Her handler leaned forward.
"You know him."
Elena barely heard him.
Because she was staring at a ghost.
Twenty years ago, her father had disappeared after exposing a powerful criminal network.
The investigation vanished with him.
No arrests.
No evidence.
No answers.
But the man in the photograph—
The man standing beside Lucian—
Had been present the night her father disappeared.
Elena remembered his face.
She would never forget it.
"Who is he?" she asked quietly.
"Vittorio Salazar."
The name meant nothing.
The face meant everything.
Her handler watched her carefully.
"The client specifically requested Lucian's death."
Elena looked up.
"Why?"
"We don't know."
For the first time, doubt entered her mind.
What if Lucian wasn't the real target?
What if someone wanted to erase every connection to the past?
Every witness.
Every secret.
Every surviving piece of the truth.
Her pulse thundered.
Because suddenly the mission wasn't about money.
Or revenge.
It was personal.
Very personal.
She grabbed the photograph and stood.
"Where are you going?"
Elena headed for the door.
Her expression hardening.
Her decision made.
"To get answers."
As she stepped into the rain-soaked night, she failed to notice the second photograph hidden beneath the first.
A photograph her handler quietly removed after she left.
A photograph showing Elena herself.
Standing beside Lucian Moretti.
Taken only hours earlier.
Someone was watching both of them.
And somewhere in the darkness, a new player had entered the game.
.
.
.
Enjoyy!!!
- Writer
