The Questions We Hide
1941 Words
Someone had been watching. Someone had found her. And somewhere inside the Blackwood empire, someone already knew that Elena Carter had come back for the truth.
Elena stood motionless in the corridor, her breathing still uneven after the stranger had disappeared. The archive door remained open behind her, and the faint sound of the building's security system returning to normal did nothing to ease the tension in her chest. She could still feel the man's hand over her mouth. She could still hear his low voice telling her that she should have stayed away from the Blackwoods.
Alexander stood several feet away, staring down the empty corridor where the man had vanished.
“He couldn't have gotten far,” he said.
Elena looked at him. “You didn't catch him.”
“No.”
“Then he could already be outside.”
Alexander turned his head toward her. “Which is why you're not leaving this building alone.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“You were just attacked in a restricted area.”
“And I survived.”
His expression hardened. “That isn't something to be proud of.”
Elena folded her arms. “I'm not asking you to be proud of it.”
For a moment, they simply stared at each other. Elena could feel the distrust between them. She had no reason to trust Alexander Blackwood, and he had no reason to trust her either. They had known each other for barely a day, yet somehow her father's past had already placed them on opposite sides of a mystery neither of them fully understood.
Alexander glanced toward the archive. “What exactly were you doing in there?”
Elena hesitated.
“I asked you a question.”
“I was looking through old records.”
“Why?”
She looked at him carefully. “You already know why.”
“I want to hear you say it.”
Elena's jaw tightened. “I was looking for information about my father.”
Alexander didn't react.
“Daniel Carter,” she continued. “The man your family accused of stealing millions.”
“I know who your father was.”
“Then you know why I was there.”
“Not everything.”
His answer made her suspicious.
“What do you mean?”
Alexander walked back toward the archive. Elena followed, keeping a careful distance between them. He stopped beside the desk where the file still lay open.
“You've been investigating this for a long time,” he said.
“Seven years.”
He looked at her.
Elena hadn't intended to tell him that much. But there was no point hiding it now.
“Seven years,” Alexander repeated quietly.
“Yes.”
“Why come back now?”
“Because I found something.”
His eyes dropped to the document in her hand.
“The transfer authorization.”
Elena nodded.
Alexander reached for it, but she pulled it away before his fingers touched the page.
“Don't.”
His gaze lifted to hers.
“You don't trust me enough to let me see it?”
“You know what it says.”
“I know what it appears to say.”
“There's a difference?”
“A very big one.”
Elena studied his face. “Then explain it.”
Alexander said nothing.
“That's what I thought.”
She turned away, but his voice stopped her.
“My father's signature is genuine.”
Elena looked back at him.
“You're certain?”
“Yes.”
Her heartbeat quickened. “Then why was money transferred from a Blackwood account two days before my father was accused?”
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I don't expect you to believe anything.”
“Convenient.”
Alexander's expression remained controlled, but his eyes had changed. “You think my father authorized the transfer because he was trying to frame yours.”
“I think the timing is suspicious.”
“So do I.”
Elena went silent.
That wasn't the answer she expected.
“You think it's suspicious?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the transfer happened before the accusation became public.”
She stared at him.
“You knew about it.”
“I knew there had been questions about the transaction.”
“But you never investigated?”
“I did.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
Elena's anger rose. “And you never thought to tell me?”
“I didn't know you were alive.”
The words struck her harder than she expected.
Alexander seemed to realize how they sounded, because his expression shifted slightly.
“What happened to you after your father's death?” he asked.
“That isn't your business.”
“Maybe not.”
“Then don't ask.”
He nodded once.
For some reason, his willingness to back off unsettled her more than an argument would have.
Elena looked down at the file again.
“There was another reason I came here.”
Alexander waited.
“You mentioned it earlier.”
“The ledger.”
She nodded.
“What was in it?”
“I don't know.”
“But your father believed Daniel had it.”
“Yes.”
“And you were sent to retrieve it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Alexander's face became harder.
“My father believed Daniel had discovered something about people inside the company.”
“People inside Blackwood?”
“That's what he said.”
“Did he tell you who?”
“No.”
“Did Daniel?”
“No.”
Elena stepped closer. “You spoke to my father that night.”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Alexander looked away for a moment.
“He told me I was too late.”
Elena's breath caught.
“Too late for what?”
“To find the ledger.”
“Where was it?”
“I don't know.”
“You didn't search the house?”
“I did.”
“And you found nothing?”
“Nothing.”
Elena studied him, trying to determine whether he was lying.
“Why should I believe you?”
“You shouldn't.”
She frowned.
Alexander looked directly at her. “Not yet.”
There was something different in his voice this time. No arrogance. No attempt to control the conversation.
Just honesty.
Elena hated that it made her hesitate.
Before she could respond, a sound came from the far end of the corridor.
Both of them turned.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Then silence.
Alexander immediately moved toward the corridor.
Elena followed.
“Stay here,” he said.
“No.”
He glanced back at her. “For once, listen.”
“I've been listening to people for seven years. It hasn't gotten me very far.”
Alexander looked as though he wanted to argue, but the footsteps sounded again.
He moved forward.
Elena remained behind him, watching the corridor.
Nothing.
The footsteps had disappeared.
Alexander checked the nearest doorway, then the next. There was no one there.
When he returned, Elena noticed the tension in his shoulders.
“Nothing?”
“Nothing.”
“Then he got out.”
“Probably.”
“How?”
Alexander looked toward the security cameras.
“That,” he said, “is what I want to know.”
Elena followed his gaze.
“Were the cameras working?”
“They should have been.”
“But they weren't.”
“No.”
She looked at him. “So someone disabled them.”
Alexander didn't answer immediately.
“That means whoever entered the archive knew exactly where the blind spots were.”
“Yes.”
“And they knew I would be there.”
“We don't know that.”
“He mentioned the Blackwoods.”
Alexander's eyes narrowed.
“He could have followed you.”
“I didn't tell anyone I was coming here.”
That silenced him.
Elena suddenly understood the seriousness of what had happened.
Someone had either been watching her movements or had access to information she thought was private.
She looked back at the archive.
“I need to see the file again.”
Alexander shook his head. “Not tonight.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever came after you may still be nearby.”
“You don't know that.”
“No. I don't.”
“Then don't tell me what I can do.”
He exhaled slowly.
“You're impossible.”
“And you're arrogant.”
“I've been called worse.”
“I can imagine.”
For the first time, the corner of Alexander's mouth moved slightly.
It wasn't quite a smile.
Elena noticed it anyway.
She immediately looked away.
This man was dangerous in more ways than one.
She reminded herself why she was here.
Her father.
The accusation.
The missing money.
The ledger.
The truth.
Nothing else mattered.
“I'll come back tomorrow,” she said.
Alexander looked at her. “You shouldn't.”
“I'm going to.”
“Then don't come alone.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Are you offering to accompany me?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Elena almost smiled.
“Good.”
She turned toward the elevator.
Alexander followed, but neither of them spoke again.
When the doors opened, Elena stepped inside. Alexander remained outside.
“Good night, Mr. Blackwood.”
His eyes stayed on hers.
“Good night, Elena.”
The elevator doors closed between them.
Only then did Elena allow herself to breathe.
She didn't trust Alexander.
But she couldn't deny one thing.
He wasn't afraid of the truth.
At least, not all of it.
And that made him more complicated than she had expected.
Upstairs, Alexander returned to the archive alone.
He walked to the desk where Elena had found the transfer authorization.
Something bothered him.
He had seen that document years ago.
Not in the official files.
Somewhere else.
He searched through the remaining papers until he found an old internal report.
The date was seven years earlier.
Alexander read the first page.
Then the second.
His expression slowly changed.
The report contained a reference to the same account number Elena had discovered.
But there was something else.
A handwritten note in his father's handwriting.
Alexander stared at it.
“Find the ledger before they do.”
He read the sentence again.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
His mother's name appeared.
Alexander answered.
“Mother?”
Victoria's voice came through, calm but unusually tense.
“Where are you?”
“In the archive.”
A pause.
“Why?”
Alexander looked at the note in his hand.
“Because Daniel Carter's file was accessed tonight.”
Silence.
Then Victoria asked quietly, “By whom?”
Alexander looked toward the closed elevator doors.
“Elena Carter.”
The silence on the other end lasted several seconds.
When Victoria finally spoke, her voice had changed.
“You need to come home.”
“Why?”
“Because there are things about that girl you don't understand.”
Alexander's eyes narrowed.
“What things?”
Victoria hesitated.
Then she said the words that made him go completely still.
“Your father wasn't the only Blackwood who knew Daniel Carter was innocent.”
The call ended.
Alexander remained alone in the archive, staring at the phone.
For the first time in seven years, he wondered whether the truth his father had tried to bury was much closer to home than he had ever imagined.
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