The Man in the Reflection
1572 Words
The red light beneath the desk continued to blink.
Once.
Twice.
Then it disappeared.
Elena was still staring at Alexander when he suddenly turned toward the desk.
“What is it?” she asked.
He didn't answer.
He crossed the room, crouched beside the old wooden desk, and reached underneath it. His fingers found something hidden beneath the edge.
A small black device.
He pulled it free.
Elena's stomach tightened.
“What is that?”
Alexander examined it for a moment.
“A recorder.”
Her eyes widened.
“Someone was listening to us.”
“Yes.”
“When did they put it there?”
“I don't know.”
Elena stepped closer, staring at the device.
“They heard everything.”
“Not everything.”
She looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
Alexander pressed a button. The tiny screen remained blank.
“The recording has been erased.”
Elena's heart sank.
“Then they knew we'd find it.”
“Probably.”
She looked toward the passage Damon had disappeared through.
“Could it have been him?”
Alexander shook his head.
“If Damon wanted us to know he was listening, he wouldn't have hidden it.”
“Unless he wanted us to think that.”
Alexander looked at her.
“You trust him?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Elena folded her arms.
“I don't trust you either.”
A faint expression crossed his face.
“I noticed.”
Despite everything, the corner of her mouth almost lifted.
Almost.
Then the sound of footsteps came from the corridor.
Both of them froze.
Alexander immediately slipped the recorder into his pocket.
The footsteps approached.
Elena's breathing became shallow.
“Security?” she whispered.
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Security doesn't walk like that.”
The footsteps stopped outside the hidden room.
Alexander moved closer to Elena.
The door remained open.
Nothing happened.
Then a shadow crossed the entrance.
Elena held her breath.
A man appeared.
One of the estate security guards.
“Mr. Blackwood.”
Alexander's shoulders relaxed slightly, but his expression remained hard.
“What happened?”
“We received an alert from the east wing. Someone accessed the old archive.”
“Anyone else here?”
The guard shook his head.
“No, sir. We searched the corridor.”
Alexander glanced toward the passage.
“Did you find Damon Cross?”
The guard hesitated.
“No.”
Elena noticed.
“What?”
The guard looked at her.
“We found a vehicle leaving the estate.”
“Whose?”
“We couldn't identify the driver.”
Alexander's eyes narrowed.
“Where did it go?”
“North gate.”
“Did you get the plate?”
“Yes.”
The guard handed him a small slip of paper.
Alexander looked at it.
Something in his expression changed.
Elena noticed immediately.
“What?”
He didn't answer.
“Alexander.”
He handed her the paper.
She looked down.
The license plate meant nothing to her.
“What am I supposed to see?”
“It belongs to a vehicle registered to a Blackwood subsidiary.”
Her eyes lifted.
“Damon?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Alexander's jaw tightened.
“That is what I intend to find out.”
Elena looked back at the corridor.
Damon had disappeared.
Someone had been listening.
And now a vehicle connected to Blackwood had left the estate immediately afterward.
Too many coincidences.
She turned toward Alexander.
“You said someone inside your family was involved.”
“I said I suspected it.”
“You've known more than you've told me from the beginning.”
“So have you.”
She stiffened.
“What does that mean?”
“You returned to New York under another identity.”
Her eyes hardened.
“You knew who I was.”
“I suspected.”
“And you investigated me.”
“Yes.”
“You had no right.”
“Neither did you when you started digging through my family's private records.”
She stepped closer.
“At least I had a reason.”
“So did I.”
Their eyes locked.
For a moment, the room seemed smaller.
The anger between them was real, but something else was there too. Something neither of them wanted to name.
Alexander lowered his voice.
“I didn't know what you were looking for.”
“My father.”
“I know.”
“And now?”
“Now I know you're willing to put yourself in danger to find the truth.”
Elena looked away.
“I've been doing that for seven years.”
Alexander's expression changed.
“Seven years is a long time to carry something alone.”
She looked back at him.
“You wouldn't understand.”
“Try me.”
The words were quieter than she expected.
Elena hesitated.
“My father died believing everyone had abandoned him. The company was gone. His reputation was destroyed. People who had shaken his hand for years suddenly acted like they had never known him.”
Her voice faltered.
“And I was young enough to believe the world when it told me he had killed himself.”
Alexander said nothing.
“I don't want revenge anymore,” she continued. “I want to know what happened.”
“You will.”
She searched his face.
“How can you promise that?”
“I can't.”
He stepped closer.
“But I can promise you won't have to search alone.”
Her heart gave an unwanted beat.
She immediately stepped back.
“We're not partners.”
“No.”
“We don't trust each other.”
“No.”
“You still have secrets.”
“So do you.”
“Then don't make promises.”
Alexander's eyes remained on hers.
“Fine.”
He turned toward the doorway.
“Then consider it an arrangement.”
Elena frowned.
“What kind of arrangement?”
“You help me find out who has been accessing my father's records.”
“And you help me find out what happened to mine.”
Alexander nodded.
“Exactly.”
She studied him.
“And if we find something that hurts your family?”
His expression became cold again.
“Then we'll deal with it.”
Before Elena could respond, the security guard spoke.
“Mr. Blackwood.”
Alexander turned.
“There is one more thing.”
“What?”
“We found something else near the east wing.”
The guard reached into his jacket and removed a small envelope.
Elena stared at it.
There was no name on the front.
Only one word.
ELENA.
Her pulse quickened.
Alexander took it before she could.
“Give me that.”
Elena grabbed his wrist.
“No.”
Their eyes met.
“This has my name on it.”
“And that's exactly why you shouldn't touch it.”
“I think I should decide that.”
Alexander held her gaze for a moment before handing it over.
Elena carefully opened the envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Her fingers went cold.
It was an old picture of her father.
Daniel stood outside Carter Holdings, looking toward the camera.
But Elena recognized the location immediately.
It had been taken on the morning of his arrest.
She turned the photograph over.
There was writing on the back.
Her breath caught.
Your father wasn't alone that morning.
Below it was another line.
Ask him who left the building before the police arrived.
Elena stared at the words.
“That's impossible.”
Alexander took the photograph.
“Why?”
“Because the official report says my father was alone.”
“Official reports can be wrong.”
She looked at him.
“This was the morning he was arrested.”
Alexander studied the photograph.
“Look at the window.”
Elena leaned closer.
A reflection appeared in the glass behind Daniel.
Someone was standing inside the building.
A man.
Only part of his face was visible.
But Elena knew that face.
She had seen it before.
Her blood ran cold.
“Alexander.”
“What?”
“That man.”
She pointed to the reflection.
“I know him.”
Alexander's eyes narrowed.
“Who is he?”
Elena couldn't answer immediately.
She was staring at the photograph, remembering a face from seven years ago. A face she had seen beside her father more than once.
A face she had never thought to question.
Then she whispered the name.
“Thomas.”
Alexander looked at her.
“Thomas who?”
Elena slowly raised her eyes.
“Thomas Reed.”
Alexander's expression changed.
For the first time that night, genuine recognition crossed his face.
“You know him?”
“No.”
His voice became quieter.
“But my father did.”
The room fell silent.
Elena looked down at the photograph again.
The man in the reflection wasn't watching Daniel.
He was watching someone else.
Someone standing outside the building.
Someone Elena couldn't see.
And suddenly she understood.
The photograph hadn't been sent to tell her who was inside the building.
It had been sent to show her that someone had been watching her father from the very beginning.
Her phone vibrated.
She pulled it from her pocket.
One new message.
No number.
No name.
Only four words.
STOP ASKING ABOUT THOMAS REED.
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