The Man I Left Behind
990 Words
Elena couldn't breathe.
For three years, she had carried Daniel's name like a secret buried beneath her heart.
She had believed he was dead.
Now Adrian was standing in front of her, holding a message that suggested otherwise.
“Who is Daniel?” Adrian asked again.
Elena looked at him.
“You know who he is.”
Adrian's expression darkened.
“No. I don't.”
“You're lying.”
“I have no reason to lie about a man I barely knew.”
Elena's fingers tightened around the folder.
“Daniel was my brother.”
Adrian went completely still.
“Your brother?”
She nodded.
“He died three years ago.”
“That's what you were told?”
Elena swallowed.
“Yes.”
Adrian stared at her for several seconds.
Then he stepped aside.
“Come into my office.”
“I don't think that's a good idea.”
“Neither do I.”
His voice was cold.
“But we clearly have a problem.”
Elena followed him.
The moment the office door closed, Adrian placed his phone on the desk.
“Tell me everything you know.”
“I don't know much.”
“Then tell me what you do know.”
Elena hesitated.
“My brother disappeared two years before my wedding. My family told me he had died in a car accident.”
“And you believed them?”
“I had no reason not to.”
Adrian leaned against his desk.
“Until the night before our wedding.”
Elena looked at him.
“Yes.”
“What happened that night?”
She remembered the photograph.
The anonymous messages.
Her father's warning.
The fear that had made her run.
“I received a photograph.”
“Of me and your father.”
“Yes.”
“What was suspicious about it?”
“Nothing at first.”
Adrian waited.
“Then I received a message telling me that if I married you, you would die.”
His expression changed.
“You believed that?”
“I didn't know what to believe.”
“And instead of asking me, you disappeared.”
“I was scared.”
“You could have trusted me.”
Elena looked down.
“I know.”
Silence filled the room.
For a moment, Adrian's anger seemed to disappear.
Then he asked quietly,
“Why didn't you come back?”
Elena looked at him.
“Because someone found me.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“What did they want?”
“They wanted me to stay away from you.”
“And you obeyed?”
“I thought I was protecting you.”
Adrian looked away.
A bitter laugh escaped him.
“You disappeared to protect me, and I spent three years believing you simply didn't love me enough to stay.”
Elena's eyes filled with tears, but she quickly looked away.
“I was wrong.”
Before Adrian could respond, his phone rang.
He answered.
“Speak.”
Marcus's voice came through the phone.
“Sir, we've got a problem.”
“What kind?”
“There was someone inside the building last night.”
Adrian straightened.
“Security?”
“They found an unauthorized access card.”
“Who does it belong to?”
There was a pause.
“We don't know.”
Adrian glanced at Elena.
Then Marcus continued.
“But there's something else.”
“What?”
“A security camera captured the person entering.”
“Send me the footage.”
“I already did.”
Adrian opened the message.
A blurry image appeared on his screen.
A man wearing a dark coat walked through a restricted corridor.
His face was hidden.
But Elena recognized something.
The way he walked.
She stepped closer.
“Wait.”
Adrian looked at her.
“What?”
“I know him.”
Adrian's expression hardened.
“Who is he?”
Elena stared at the screen.
Her voice barely came out.
“That can't be possible.”
“Who?”
She pointed at the photograph.
“That's Daniel.”
Adrian's face changed.
For three years, everyone had believed Daniel Vale was dead.
But now they had proof that someone who looked exactly like him had entered Cross International.
Adrian immediately called security.
“Lock down the building.”
Elena's heart pounded.
“Do you think he's alive?”
Adrian didn't answer immediately.
Then he looked directly at her.
“I think we have been lied to.”
A loud alarm suddenly sounded throughout the building.
Employees began rushing into the corridors.
Adrian grabbed the folder from his desk.
“What happened?”
Marcus's voice came through the intercom.
“Sir, someone has accessed the archive room.”
Adrian's expression became serious.
“What archive?”
“The old company files.”
Elena's blood ran cold.
“What files?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Files concerning the Vale family.”
Elena looked at Adrian.
Three years ago, she had run because she believed Adrian was hiding a terrible secret.
Now she was beginning to understand something far more frightening.
Maybe Adrian hadn't been the person hiding the truth.
Maybe they had both been victims.
Adrian opened the office door.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Elena—”
“I've spent three years running from this.”
She stepped beside him.
“I'm not running anymore.”
Adrian stared at her.
Then, for the first time since she had returned, something changed in his expression.
Not forgiveness.
Not yet.
But determination.
“Then stay close.”
Together, they walked toward the archive room.
Neither of them noticed the security camera above them.
Its red light blinked once.
Twice.
And somewhere else in the building, an unknown person watched them through a monitor.
A message appeared on the screen:
THEY FOUND EACH OTHER AGAIN.
A second message followed.
BEGIN PHASE TWO.
End of Episode 3.
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