Episode 10: The Reason He Died
2047 Words
Ariana stared at Leon.
The video had ended.
But Lila's words continued to echo inside her mind.
He's the reason Dad died.
The apartment was completely silent.
Leon slowly released Ariana's arm.
She stepped away from him.
“Ariana…”
“Don't.”
Her voice was barely a whisper.
Leon stopped.
She looked at the black screen of her phone.
Then at him.
“Is it true?”
Leon didn't answer.
Ariana felt something inside her break.
“Is it true?”
“I didn't kill your father.”
“That wasn't my question.”
Leon closed his eyes.
For several seconds, Ariana waited.
Then he said quietly—
“Yes.”
Her breath caught.
“Yes?”
“My actions were the reason he was there that night.”
Ariana backed away.
“No.”
“I told you before. Your father came back for me.”
“You said he died because he wouldn't leave you behind.”
“That is true.”
“But Lila said you're the reason he died.”
Leon looked at her.
“She isn't lying.”
Ariana's eyes filled with tears.
For the first time since meeting him, she didn't see Leon as the mysterious man who had been protecting her.
She saw him as a stranger.
A stranger connected to the worst night of her life.
“What happened?” she asked.
Leon looked toward the window.
Outside, the city lights continued shining.
People were living normal lives.
Meanwhile, Ariana's entire world was collapsing.
“That night,” Leon began, “your father came to the abandoned building to rescue us.”
“Me and Lila?”
“Yes.”
“And you.”
“Yes.”
Ariana crossed her arms.
“Why were you there?”
Leon remained silent.
“Leon.”
“I wasn't supposed to be.”
The answer confused her.
“What does that mean?”
Leon walked toward the dining table.
He placed both hands against it.
“When I was younger, I lived with Daniel for several months.”
Ariana froze.
“My uncle?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“My parents died when I was nine.”
Ariana's anger paused.
Leon had never mentioned his parents.
“Daniel knew my father,” he continued. “He offered to take care of me.”
Ariana stared at him.
“So you lived with him?”
“For a while.”
“And my father knew?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Leon looked down.
“Your father didn't trust Daniel.”
Ariana thought about the letter.
Do not trust anyone in our family.
Her father had known.
Maybe for years.
Leon continued.
“One night, I overheard Daniel talking to someone.”
“Who?”
“I didn't know.”
“What were they talking about?”
“You.”
Ariana froze.
Leon finally looked at her.
“They were talking about taking you.”
Her heartbeat became louder.
“You knew?”
“I was a child, Ariana.”
“But you heard them.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn't tell my father?”
“I tried.”
Ariana frowned.
“What?”
“I went to your father's office.”
Her father had been alive.
Everything had been normal.
Ariana imagined a younger Leon standing outside his office, terrified.
“What did you tell him?”
“Nothing.”
Her eyes narrowed.
Leon looked ashamed.
“I got scared.”
Ariana said nothing.
“I saw Daniel before I could speak to your father.”
“What happened?”
“He asked me what I was doing there.”
Leon swallowed.
“And I lied.”
Ariana slowly understood.
“He knew.”
“Yes.”
“And that's why you were taken too.”
Leon nodded.
Ariana covered her mouth.
Daniel hadn't only kidnapped Ariana and Lila.
He had taken Leon because Leon knew something.
“Your father found out later,” Leon said.
“How?”
“I left something behind.”
“What?”
“A recording.”
Ariana looked at him.
“A recording?”
Leon nodded.
“I had an old voice recorder. I used to carry it everywhere.”
“What did you record?”
“Daniel's conversation.”
Ariana felt cold.
“Did my father hear it?”
“Yes.”
Her father's investigation.
The family secrets.
The letters.
Everything had begun before the kidnapping.
“My father knew Daniel was involved.”
“He knew Daniel was hiding something.”
“But he didn't know everything.”
Leon nodded.
“Not until that night.”
Ariana looked toward her phone.
The railway station.
Her mother.
Lila.
All waiting for her.
“We need to go.”
Leon immediately shook his head.
“No.”
“My mother is tied up somewhere.”
“And they want you to come alone.”
“I'm not leaving her.”
“You might be walking into exactly the same trap your father did.”
The words stopped her.
Ariana looked at him.
For once, there was no mystery in Leon's face.
Only fear.
“You're afraid.”
“Yes.”
“Of Daniel?”
Leon hesitated.
“No.”
“Then who?”
His answer came quietly.
“Of Lila.”
Ariana frowned.
“My sister?”
“She isn't the little girl you remember.”
“She told me not to come.”
“She wants you to come.”
Ariana stared at him.
“What?”
“The message said come alone. Then she appeared in the video and told you not to come.”
Ariana understood.
“It makes me want to go even more.”
“Yes.”
Leon nodded.
“That was the point.”
Ariana's stomach tightened.
“Why would she do that?”
“Because someone taught her how to manipulate people.”
Ariana shook her head.
“You don't know her.”
“I know what Daniel turned her into.”
Anger flashed through Ariana.
“Don't talk about her like she's a weapon.”
Leon looked directly at her.
“That's exactly what she is afraid of becoming.”
Ariana became silent.
Her phone vibrated again.
A new message.
10:45 P.M.
FIFTEEN MINUTES LEFT.
Ariana looked at the time.
Her heart began racing.
“Leon.”
“We need a plan.”
“I don't have time for a plan!”
“You do if you want to survive.”
Another message appeared.
COME ALONE.
Then:
OR YOUR MOTHER WILL PAY FOR YOUR MISTAKE.
Ariana grabbed her jacket.
Leon stepped toward her.
“Wait.”
She turned.
“If you stop me, I'll go without you.”
Leon studied her face.
Then he sighed.
“Fine.”
Ariana frowned.
“You're coming?”
“No.”
She stared at him.
Leon picked up his phone.
“But you're not going alone.”
Twenty minutes later, Ariana stood outside the abandoned Saint Mary's Railway Station.
Rain fell heavily from the dark sky.
The building looked exactly like the security footage.
Old.
Broken.
Forgotten.
Her phone showed no signal.
Of course.
Ariana took a deep breath.
Leon had stayed behind.
Or at least, that was what she had agreed to.
She touched the small device hidden inside her jacket.
A tracker.
Leon had insisted.
“If anything happens, press this.”
She remembered his words.
She walked toward the entrance.
The doors were open.
A cold wind moved through the empty station.
“Mom?”
Her voice echoed.
No answer.
Ariana stepped inside.
The old waiting area was covered in dust.
Broken chairs lay across the floor.
Then she saw something.
A red envelope.
Placed carefully on a chair.
Her name was written across it.
ARIANA.
She approached slowly.
The envelope was numbered.
204.
Her hands trembled.
She opened it.
Inside was a letter.
The handwriting was unfamiliar.
Not her father's.
Not Daniel's.
Not Leon's.
She began reading.
Dear Ariana,
You have spent your entire life asking who killed your father.
Tonight, you should ask a different question.
Who saved him?
Ariana stopped.
She continued.
Your father did not die the night he rescued you.
Her breath disappeared.
The station became completely silent.
Her eyes moved quickly across the page.
He survived.
Ariana dropped the letter.
“No.”
Her father survived?
Impossible.
She remembered his funeral.
The grave.
Her mother crying.
Everything.
Her hands shook as she picked the letter up again.
There was one final line.
Go to Platform Three.
Ariana looked toward the darkness.
A broken sign pointed toward the platforms.
1 → 2 → 3
She walked.
Every instinct told her to run.
But she couldn't stop.
Not now.
She reached Platform Three.
Someone was standing near the edge.
Ariana stopped.
“Lila?”
The woman slowly turned.
It was her.
The girl from the photograph.
Older now.
Beautiful.
And completely unfamiliar.
Ariana's eyes filled with tears.
“Lila.”
Lila didn't move.
For a moment, the sisters simply stared at each other.
Ariana took a step forward.
“I've been looking for you.”
Lila laughed quietly.
“No.”
Ariana stopped.
“You've been looking for answers.”
Her words hurt because they were true.
“Where is Mom?”
Lila looked toward the darkness.
“Safe.”
“Show me.”
“You don't get to make demands.”
Ariana stared at her.
“Why are you doing this?”
Lila's face changed.
“Because you got to have a life.”
Ariana froze.
“What?”
“You went home.”
Ariana's heart broke.
“You think I wanted to leave you?”
“You don't even remember leaving.”
The words struck harder than Ariana expected.
Lila stepped closer.
“I remember everything.”
Ariana saw the anger in her sister's eyes.
And beneath it—
Pain.
Years of pain.
“I remember waiting for you,” Lila whispered.
Ariana couldn't speak.
“I remember Daniel telling me you forgot about me.”
Ariana's eyes filled with tears.
“I didn't know.”
“But I did.”
Lila's voice broke.
“I knew you were alive. I knew you had a home. A mother. A normal life.”
Ariana stepped closer.
“Lila…”
“Don't.”
She raised her hand.
“Don't pretend we're sisters.”
Ariana stopped.
“You don't know me.”
“I want to.”
Lila laughed.
“You're too late.”
Suddenly, a sound came from behind them.
Slow clapping.
Ariana turned.
Daniel walked onto the platform.
Her heart dropped.
“Beautiful,” he said.
Lila's expression became cold.
“Where's my mother?”
Daniel smiled.
“Your mother is exactly where she belongs.”
Ariana stepped toward him.
“Where is she?”
Daniel ignored her.
Instead, he looked at Lila.
“Did you tell her?”
Lila stared at him.
“Not yet.”
Ariana looked between them.
“Tell me what?”
Daniel smiled.
“The truth about your father.”
Ariana's hands curled into fists.
“You said he survived.”
Daniel nodded.
“He did.”
Her heart began pounding.
“Where is he?”
Daniel's smile widened.
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“On whether Leon reaches you before midnight.”
Ariana froze.
Leon.
Daniel looked at his watch.
“You really shouldn't have brought him into this.”
Ariana felt cold.
“What did you do?”
Daniel didn't answer.
Her hidden tracker suddenly began vibrating.
A voice came through the small device.
Leon.
His voice was broken by static.
“Ariana…”
She grabbed it.
“Leon?”
“Ariana, get out of there.”
“What happened?”
Then she heard something behind his voice.
A gunshot.
Ariana's blood turned cold.
“Leon!”
The device went silent.
Daniel smiled.
And Lila looked terrified.
For the first time, Ariana understood something important.
Lila wasn't fully on Daniel's side.
She was afraid of him too.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Now, Ariana.”
He looked toward the dark railway tracks.
“Let's go meet your father.”
Ariana stopped breathing.
Because somewhere after all these years—
her father might still be alive.
To be continued...
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