The Wrong Woman
810 Words
Episode4: The Wrong Woman
The apartment door crashed open.
Armed officers flooded the room.
“Nobody move!”
The lead officer aimed his pistol directly at Nadia.
“Miss Vivian Cole… you’re under arrest.”
Nadia’s mouth fell open.
“I-I’m not Vivian Cole!”
No one lowered their weapon.
The officer stepped closer, producing a photograph from his jacket. He compared it to Nadia’s face, then nodded to his team.
“It’s her.”
“It isn’t!” Nadia shouted.
Adrian Cross raised both hands slowly.
“You’ve made a mistake.”
The officer looked at Adrian with open contempt.
“No, Mr. Cross. The mistake was letting you disappear six years ago.”
Nadia’s eyes darted between them.
“You know each other?”
Adrian didn’t answer.
⸻
The officers handcuffed Nadia.
Cold steel snapped around her wrists.
As they led her toward the door, she caught Adrian’s eye.
He gave the smallest shake of his head.
Don’t say anything.
She didn’t understand why, but she obeyed.
Halfway down the staircase, another officer approached the commander and whispered something in his ear.
The commander’s expression changed instantly.
“Take her to the van,” he ordered.
“I’ll deal with Cross myself.”
The officers split up.
Nadia was pushed outside into the rain.
Blue lights flashed across the wet pavement.
Neighbors watched from their windows.
To them, she looked exactly like a criminal.
⸻
Inside the police van, Nadia tried to steady her breathing.
She had never been arrested.
She had never even entered a police station.
An officer sat opposite her, staring without blinking.
Then he quietly slipped a folded piece of paper onto the seat beside her.
Without looking up, he whispered,
“Don’t let them know I helped.”
Before she could respond, he snatched the paper back and pretended nothing had happened.
Moments later, the van started moving.
Nadia carefully reached beneath her leg.
The folded paper was still there.
He had left it behind on purpose.
⸻
Twenty minutes later…
The convoy entered a heavily guarded government compound.
But something felt wrong.
There was no police station sign.
No public entrance.
No reporters.
The buildings had no names.
The windows were blacked out.
As Nadia stepped out of the van, she noticed the same silver emblem engraved above the main gate.
The emblem from the locker key.
The emblem worn by the officers.
Whatever this place was…
It wasn’t an ordinary police facility.
⸻
She was escorted into a stark interrogation room.
One chair.
One table.
One camera.
The officer removed her handcuffs.
“Someone will be with you shortly.”
The door locked behind him.
Minutes passed.
Then the door opened again.
An elegant woman in a navy suit entered carrying a thin black file.
She looked to be in her early fifties, poised and composed.
Without introducing herself, she sat opposite Nadia.
She opened the file.
Inside were photographs.
One showed Nadia rescuing the handbag from the river.
Another showed her opening Locker 317.
Another showed her speaking with Adrian Cross.
Nadia’s blood ran cold.
Someone had been watching her every move.
The woman finally looked up.
“You’ve had a busy forty-eight hours.”
“Who are you?”
“My name isn’t important.”
“Then why am I here?”
The woman smiled faintly.
“Because you made a decision.”
“I found a bag.”
“No.”
The woman’s voice became sharper.
“You chose to keep it.”
She slid one final photograph across the table.
It showed Vivian Cole standing beside three people.
A man.
An older woman.
And…
Adrian Cross.
“They all knew each other,” Nadia whispered.
“They still do.”
“But Vivian is dead.”
The woman leaned forward.
“That’s what everyone believes.”
⸻
Before Nadia could ask another question, the lights suddenly flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then the entire room went dark.
Alarms erupted throughout the building.
Red emergency lights flashed.
People shouted in the corridors.
The elegant woman stood abruptly.
“No…”
She rushed to the door.
Outside, chaos had broken out.
A loud explosion shook the building.
The emergency lights painted the hallway in crimson.
Then, through the smoke, a familiar voice called out:
“Nadia!”
It was Adrian.
He stood at the end of the corridor, holding a stolen security card.
“We’re out of time!”
The elegant woman reached for the alarm button.
Adrian shouted,
“If she presses that button, we’re both dead!”
Nadia had only seconds to choose.
Trust the man who had lied to her…
Or stay with the people who had arrested her.
She took one step forward.
The elegant woman’s hand hovered over the alarm.
Adrian held out his hand.
“Nadia!”
She closed her eyes…
…and made her choice.
- Writer
