Chapter Eight — What He Left Behind
652 Words
The house was quieter than usual that night.
Not the kind of quiet that felt peaceful.
The kind that made every small sound feel louder than it should.
Mia sat on the floor of her father’s room, her back resting against the side of the bed.
She hadn’t planned to come in here.
But somehow, her feet brought her anyway.
Everything still looked the same.
Too same.
His shoes by the corner.
His jacket hanging behind the door.
The faint scent of him still lingering in the air.
It didn’t feel like a room that belonged to someone who was gone.
It felt like he had just stepped out.
Like he might walk back in at any moment.
Mia swallowed hard and looked away.
She couldn’t think like that.
Not now.
Her eyes moved slowly around the room again.
Taking everything in.
Not as his daughter this time.
But as someone searching.
“If there’s something you didn’t tell us…” she murmured quietly, “then it has to be here.”
She pushed herself up from the floor and walked toward the small desk by the window.
It wasn’t anything special.
Just old wood, slightly worn at the edges.
She opened the first drawer.
Papers.
Old receipts.
Nothing unusual.
The second drawer.
More documents.
Bills.
Neatly arranged.
Too neatly.
Mia frowned slightly.
Her father had always been organized.
But this felt… deliberate.
Her fingers moved slowly through the stack.
One paper at a time.
Careful.
Focused.
Then she stopped.
A name.
Not her father’s.
Her brows knitted together.
She pulled the paper out fully, her eyes scanning it quickly.
It looked official.
But unfamiliar.
And then—
another one.
Same name.
Different document.
Mia’s chest tightened slightly.
“Who is this…?”
She whispered it without thinking.
She flipped through the rest.
There were more.
Not many.
But enough.
All connected.
All hidden beneath everything else.
A small, uneasy feeling settled in her stomach.
This wasn’t just random.
She closed the drawer slowly, the papers still in her hand.
For a moment, she just stood there.
Thinking.
Trying to connect something that didn’t quite make sense yet.
Then—
her eyes shifted.
To the wardrobe.
She hesitated.
Something about it felt… off.
It was slightly open.
Just enough to notice.
Mia stepped closer, her heartbeat picking up just a little.
She reached for the handle.
Paused.
Then pulled it open.
Clothes.
Nothing strange at first glance.
Shirts.
Jackets.
Everything where it should be.
But as she moved them aside—
She saw it.
A small box.
Tucked behind everything.
Hidden well enough that no one would notice unless they were looking.
Mia’s breath caught slightly.
Slowly, she reached for it.
It was lighter than she expected.
Her fingers hesitated over the lid.
“Do I really want to know…?” she whispered.
The answer came almost immediately.
Yes.
She opened it.
Inside—
More documents.
And something else.
A card.
Clean.
Simple.
Expensive.
Her fingers tightened slightly as she picked it up.
A company name stared back at her.
The same one Lucas had mentioned.
Mia’s heart skipped.
No…
Her eyes moved quickly over the rest.
Dates.
Signatures.
Amounts.
Her father.
This company.
This wasn’t new.
This had been going on for a while.
Mia sat down slowly on the edge of the bed, the box still open in her lap.
Her mind raced.
He didn’t just owe them money.
He was involved.
Deeply.
And he never said a word.
Her grip on the card tightened.
Lucas.
Her chest rose and fell slowly.
That quiet feeling returned again.
The same one from the beginning.
Something wasn’t right.
And now—
She was certain of it.
Mia closed the box slowly.
But this time…
she didn’t feel lost.
She felt something else.
Determination.
Because whatever her father had been hiding—
she was going to uncover it.
No matter what it took.
- Writer
