Episode 12: Do Not Let Him Leave
1497 Words
Rain hammered against the roof of the abandoned station.
Ariana stood frozen.
Her father's final words echoed through her mind.
If you are watching this with Leon, do not let him leave.
Leon stood several feet away.
Blood stained his shirt.
His face was pale.
But his eyes were fixed on Ariana.
“Leon,” she whispered.
He didn't move.
Daniel's voice echoed somewhere in the darkness.
“Ask him what he did.”
Ariana clenched her phone.
“What did my father mean?”
Leon looked away.
“Ariana…”
“Tell me!”
Lila stood beside Ariana, silent and tense.
Leon took a slow breath.
“I didn't betray your father.”
“But he named you.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
Daniel laughed from the darkness.
“Of course you don't.”
Leon suddenly turned toward the sound.
“Show yourself!”
No answer.
Ariana looked back at Leon.
“You knew my father was alive.”
Leon hesitated.
“No.”
The hesitation was enough.
Ariana's heart sank.
“You did.”
“I suspected.”
“That isn't the same thing.”
“I found evidence.”
“And you didn't tell me?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
Ariana laughed bitterly.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Leon looked at her.
“Because the truth puts you in danger.”
“The truth already destroyed my life!”
Silence.
Lila stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Ariana turned toward her.
Lila's eyes were fixed on Leon.
“You were there that night.”
Leon became completely still.
Ariana looked between them.
“What?”
Lila's voice shook.
“I remember you.”
Leon slowly lowered his eyes.
Ariana's stomach tightened.
“What does she mean?”
Lila walked closer.
“You weren't just another kidnapped child.”
Leon said nothing.
“You knew the people who took us.”
Ariana felt cold.
“Leon?”
“I was a child.”
“That doesn't answer the question.”
Lila's eyes filled with anger.
“You knew Daniel before we disappeared.”
“Yes,” Leon admitted.
Ariana closed her eyes.
Everything was becoming worse.
Daniel.
Leon.
Her father.
Her mother.
Everyone was connected.
Leon looked at Ariana.
“My father worked for Daniel.”
Ariana opened her eyes.
“What?”
Leon swallowed.
“He handled Daniel's private business.”
“What business?”
Leon hesitated.
“The kind that wasn't legal.”
Lila laughed without humor.
“So that's the truth.”
Leon shook his head.
“No. Not all of it.”
Ariana stared at him.
“Then tell me all of it.”
Before Leon could speak, the lights suddenly turned on.
The entire platform became bright.
Ariana covered her eyes.
Then she heard footsteps.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Daniel walked out from the darkness.
But this time—
he wasn't alone.
Two men stood behind him.
Ariana immediately moved closer to Lila.
Daniel smiled.
“Finally. A family reunion.”
Leon stepped forward.
“Let them go.”
Daniel laughed.
“You still think you're in a position to make demands?”
“Where is her mother?”
Daniel looked at Ariana.
“Safe.”
“You keep saying that,” Ariana said. “Show me.”
Daniel's smile disappeared slightly.
“You have your father's personality.”
“Good.”
For a moment, Daniel stared at her.
Then he pulled out a phone.
He pressed something on the screen.
A video appeared.
Ariana's mother.
She was sitting in a room.
Her hands were no longer tied.
But she looked exhausted.
“Mom!”
Her mother looked toward the camera.
Then Daniel turned the phone off.
“She's alive.”
Ariana stepped forward.
“What do you want?”
Daniel smiled.
“Now that's the right question.”
Leon immediately said, “Don't answer him.”
Daniel looked amused.
“You're really in no position to protect her anymore.”
Ariana looked at Daniel.
“What do you want?”
Daniel pointed toward the flash drive in her hand.
“That.”
Ariana looked down.
The flash drive.
Her father's evidence.
“No.”
Daniel's expression hardened.
“Ariana.”
“No.”
One of the men behind Daniel moved.
Leon immediately stepped between them.
Daniel sighed.
“You always ruin everything.”
Then he looked at Ariana.
“Your father was the same.”
Ariana's heart pounded.
“My father is alive.”
Daniel smiled slowly.
“Maybe.”
Ariana froze.
“What does that mean?”
“You're very close to seeing him.”
Leon suddenly shouted—
“Ariana, don't listen!”
Daniel looked toward him.
“Why not? Aren't you curious too?”
Ariana's mind raced.
Her father had survived.
Her mother had saved him.
Someone betrayed them.
And somehow Leon's name had appeared in her father's video.
Daniel was hiding something.
But Leon was too.
Lila suddenly grabbed Ariana's hand.
“Look.”
Ariana followed her gaze.
Behind Daniel—
near the railway tracks—
was an old train maintenance door.
The number painted on it was barely visible.
365.
Ariana's breath caught.
Daniel noticed where she was looking.
For the first time, his confidence disappeared.
Only for a second.
But Ariana saw it.
The door.
Something important was behind it.
Daniel stepped sideways, blocking her view.
“Give me the drive.”
Ariana tightened her grip.
“No.”
Daniel's expression became cold.
“Then your mother dies.”
Lila suddenly shouted, “He's lying!”
Daniel turned toward her.
Lila stepped forward.
“You need us alive.”
Daniel smiled.
“Do I?”
“Yes.”
Her voice was stronger now.
Ariana looked at her sister.
For the first time, Lila didn't look like Daniel's weapon.
She looked like someone who had survived him.
Lila continued.
“You've spent years looking for the same thing.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
Leon whispered, “Lila, stop.”
Ariana looked at him.
“What thing?”
Daniel's face changed.
Lila smiled bitterly.
“You don't know?”
Ariana stared at her.
“Know what?”
Lila looked toward the door marked 365.
“Our father didn't just leave letters.”
The station became silent.
Ariana's heartbeat grew louder.
“What else did he leave?”
Daniel suddenly shouted—
“Enough!”
Everyone froze.
Lila looked directly at Ariana.
“He left proof.”
Daniel moved forward.
One of his men grabbed Lila.
“Let her go!” Ariana screamed.
Leon attacked first.
Everything happened at once.
A loud crash.
A gunshot.
Ariana fell behind a bench.
Lila struggled against the man holding her.
Leon punched another man and grabbed his weapon.
Daniel disappeared toward the door marked 365.
Ariana saw him.
“Daniel!”
She ran.
Behind her, Leon shouted her name.
But Ariana didn't stop.
Daniel reached the door first.
He pulled something from his pocket.
A key.
Ariana grabbed his arm.
Daniel turned.
For the first time, they stood face-to-face.
“Tell me the truth!”
Daniel looked into her eyes.
“You really want the truth?”
“Yes!”
He smiled.
“Your father never trusted your mother.”
Ariana froze.
Daniel twisted free.
“He was right not to.”
“No.”
Daniel opened the door.
Then he whispered—
“She was the one who told me where you were.”
Ariana stopped breathing.
Daniel stepped inside.
And slammed the door shut.
BANG!
Ariana immediately grabbed the handle.
Locked.
Leon reached her seconds later.
“Ariana!”
“What did he mean?”
Leon went silent.
Ariana turned toward him.
“What did he mean?”
Leon looked at the door.
Then at Ariana.
And his silence gave her the answer.
Ariana slowly stepped back.
“No.”
Leon grabbed her shoulders.
“Listen to me.”
“My mother betrayed my father?”
“It's not that simple.”
“STOP SAYING THAT!”
Her voice echoed through the station.
Everything suddenly became quiet.
Then—
A sound came from inside the locked room.
A voice.
Weak.
Older.
Ariana froze.
Leon did too.
The voice spoke again.
“Ariana…”
Her entire body stopped.
She knew that voice.
Even after years.
Even after believing he was dead.
Tears filled her eyes.
She stepped toward the door.
“Dad?”
The voice came again.
This time clearer.
“My daughter…”
Ariana covered her mouth.
Her father was alive.
And he was behind the door.
But then her phone suddenly vibrated.
A new message appeared.
LETTER 205
Ariana looked down.
The message contained only one sentence.
THE MAN BEHIND THE DOOR IS NOT YOUR FATHER.
Ariana slowly looked up.
Leon stared at her phone.
Neither of them moved.
Inside the room, the voice called again.
“Ariana…”
But now—
she didn't know whether to open the door...
Or run.
To be continued...
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