Chapter 3 : Hidden Clue
1097 Words
It had been 24 hours into this sham of a marriage,not until I received an anonymous message.
“Your sister didn’t die by accident. Find the phone before they do.”
Left in shock,with my hands still shaking I deleted the message fast and looked around the kitchen and found no one. The words kept repeating in my head. Chloe’s death wasn’t an accident. Someone knew the truth and now they were telling me. The guilt and fear mixed together until I could barely think straight.
My fingers hovered over the screen of my phone, wanting to recover the deleted numbers, but what I got to know was someone out there was watching, and they knew exactly who I wasn’t.
The first morning in the house felt weird but smooth.I made coffee and answered some of my sister's texts just the way she does it.
But every action felt wrong. Grief sat in my chest. My twin was dead, and I was stealing her life. The guilt made it hard to focus.
I kept thinking about her body in the hospital, her pale look, and Dad’s desperate face begging me to do this. He had looked so old, so broken by the medical bills and the sudden loss, that I couldn't tell him no. Nor fail now. I had to be perfect or the whole thing would collapse, destroying the only family I had left and voiding the legal agreement that kept us afloat.
Sebastian came out dressed for work. Looking good as always.He moved with a certain precision that always made me feel small.
“Rest today,” he said.
“The wedding and everything with your sister… It's a lot. Elena can help with whatever you need.”
I nodded and forced a smile . “I’ll be okay.”
I knew I wouldn't but just said it anyway. He studied me for a moment, his eyes lingering on my face just a second too long.Then he left. I held myself together until the elevator doors closed.Anything I had to do, should be done today.
Elena had been watching me the whole time. Her eyes were sharp but I felt the suspicion there. She had worked for Sebastian for years, and she knew Chloe's habits better than I did. She made me feel like I was one mistake away from being exposed. One wrong word, one wrong look, and everything would fall apart.But no matter what I would not be pressured.
I waited until I was sure they were gone.As soon as the floor indicator hit the lobby, I grabbed a coat from the closet and slipped out the service entrance, avoiding the main cameras. I had to move. I took a cab to Chloe’s apartment, my heart pounding.
The anonymous text pushed me forward like a physical force. I needed answers. I couldn’t keep living this lie without knowing what really happened to my sister. The cab ride felt too long.Every stop sign felt like a delay that could cost me everything.
The apartment door opened with the key ”click”. The lock gave way but inside made me halt,It had been ransacked. Drawers were pulled out and dumped on the floor, their contents spilling.
The furniture was overturned. Papers and clothes were scattered everywhere in a chaotic mess. Someone had torn the place apart looking for something specific.
My pulse seemed to pause. They were desperate, and might come back any minute. This wasn’t a random robbery because a thief would have taken the television or the laptop sitting untouched on the counter. This was connected to Chloe’s death. I felt a sudden rage of anger.Whoever did this took my sister from me, and now they were hunting through her remaining secrets.
I remembered how Chloe always hid things in unusual places, distrusting safes and standard locks. She used to say that the best place to hide something was where people would feel stupid looking. I moved fast through the apartment, trying to ignore the destruction. I checked under the mattress, pulling the fabric back, then inside cabinets and behind picture frames. Nothing. Time was running out but my determination pushed me harder.
This was for my sister. For Dad’s treatment. For the millions I signed for in that contract. I kept searching, heart racing, fear mixing with anger at whoever did this to her place. I checked the kitchen next, reaching behind the cereal boxes, then the living room, turning over every possibility. Still nothing. The panic was building in my throat, choking me. I was running out of time, and the empty space offered no clues.
Footsteps sounded in the hallway outside the apartment. This time closer. I froze, my hands gripping the edge of a flipped table. The intruder was back. I ducked into the bedroom and hid behind the door, pressing my back against the wall, barely breathing, waiting for them to come in. The footsteps paused right outside the door.
I stayed silent, terror gripping me so tightly I couldn't even swallow. If they came in now, I had nowhere to run, the bedroom window was locked from the outside. The seconds stretched out.
My mind raced with what would happen if they found me here. Then the footsteps slowly faded away down the hall, the heavy thuds disappearing toward the emergency exit.
I let out a shaky breath, my knees trembling, and went straight for the last spot I could think of. It was a place we used when we were teenagers, a trick she never outgrew. I dropped to the floor, ignoring the dust, and pried up the loose floorboard beneath Chloe’s bed near the headboard. Inside the small, dark space sat an old burner phone wrapped in thick plastic.
I grabbed it, felt a little relief.The plastic was dusty, but the device inside looked functional. This had to be what the text meant. This phone held the truth about my sister’s death, the hidden records she kept away from Sebastian and the rest of the world.
I clutched it tight against my chest, knowing it could change everything, and destroy the security I was trying to build for my father.
The phone vibrated in my hand, the sudden movement shocking my palm.
The screen lit up,then one unread message from an unknown number.
“DON’T LET MILLER SEE THIS PHONE.”
My heart stopped. Who's this person? and what does he have to do with this.
A second later, the front apartment door slowly began to open, the lock turning from the outside.
- Writer
