Chapter 7The Secret Lucien Buried
1487 Words
Type your text or you can copy the content of the file which suffixed. ’doc’ or ’.txt’ to here. The content must be 200 words at leastAlina's fingers tightened around the file.
The first page had been typed years before she ever married Lucien.
Subject: Alina Ashcroft.
Her maiden name.
Her pulse began to race.
She flipped to the next page.
Age: Eight.
Status: Primary Target.
She stopped breathing.
Target?
What did that even mean?
Another page.
Security Recommendation: Immediate relocation.
Risk Level: Extreme.
She turned another page.
Most of the report had been blacked out with thick ink. Entire paragraphs were impossible to read.
Someone had hidden the truth long before she found the file.
Behind her, Lucien spoke quietly.
"You weren't supposed to see that."
She looked up.
His face had gone pale.
"You knew."
He closed the study door.
"I knew parts of it."
"You lied."
"I protected you."
"You keep calling your lies protection."
Her voice cracked.
"Do you even hear yourself?"
Lucien walked closer.
"I wanted to tell you."
"When?"
"When it was safe."
She laughed bitterly.
"I officially died before you decided it was safe."
Silence.
He accepted the blow without defending himself.
Alina lifted another document.
"What is this?"
Lucien stared at it.
His jaw tightened.
"You should let me explain."
"No."
She opened it anyway.
There were newspaper clippings.
Business scandals.
Political bribery.
Missing people.
Every article carried one familiar name.
Ashcroft Holdings.
Her father's company.
Her father had always told her they built hospitals.
Schools.
Research foundations.
He called their family business honest.
These articles painted something completely different.
Illegal investigations.
Threats.
Corporate espionage.
One headline froze her.
ASHCROFT EXECUTIVE FOUND DEAD AFTER TESTIFYING.
She whispered,
"My father never mentioned any of this."
"He wouldn't."
She looked at Lucien.
"Why?"
"Because he spent years cleaning up mistakes made before he took over."
She frowned.
"What mistakes?"
Lucien inhaled slowly.
"Your grandfather."
She blinked.
"My grandfather died before I was born."
"He also made enemies powerful enough to survive him."
Alina stared at him.
"I don't understand."
"He built an empire with dangerous people."
Lucien folded his arms.
"When your father inherited the company, he tried cutting those people out."
"And?"
"They refused to disappear."
The room suddenly felt colder.
She remembered something.
A conversation from childhood.
Her father had once told her never to answer unknown phone calls.
She had laughed.
He had not.
She remembered strange bodyguards following them on family vacations.
She remembered changing schools twice.
She remembered asking why.
Her father had smiled and said,
"Business."
Business.
It had never been business.
It had been survival.
Her chest tightened.
She looked back at the documents.
"Who were they?"
Lucien hesitated.
"I don't know all their names."
"You investigated them."
"Yes."
"So you know."
"I know enough."
His eyes became darker.
"They destroy families."
"They erase people."
"They buy governments."
"They never forgive betrayal."
Alina swallowed.
"And my father betrayed them."
"He tried."
Her hands trembled.
"So they killed him."
Lucien looked away.
"I believe so."
She felt sick.
All these years...
She had blamed fate.
A random illness.
A sudden collapse.
She had never questioned the official story.
She whispered,
"My father didn't die naturally."
Lucien stayed silent.
His silence answered everything.
Tears filled her eyes.
"You knew."
"I found evidence after his death."
"And you never told me."
"You were already being watched."
Her anger exploded.
"So you decided I didn't deserve the truth?"
"I decided you deserved a chance to live."
"You don't get to make that decision."
Her voice echoed through the room.
Lucien didn't move.
"I know."
"No, you don't."
She threw the file across the desk.
Papers scattered everywhere.
"You married me because of this."
"Yes."
"You watched me fall in love while hiding everything."
"Yes."
"You let me believe our marriage started because we loved each other."
"I loved you."
She froze.
His answer came without hesitation.
No pause.
No uncertainty.
"I loved you before we married."
Her breathing became uneven.
"Then why couldn't you trust me?"
"I trusted you."
"No."
"You trusted yourself."
He looked wounded.
"I couldn't lose you."
"You already did."
Silence stretched between them.
She wiped her eyes roughly.
"When did you start investigating my family?"
"Years before we met."
"How?"
"Your father hired me."
She stared.
"What?"
"He wanted someone outside his company."
"He believed there was a leak."
Her mind spun.
"My father hired you?"
Lucien nodded.
"I worked with him secretly."
"You knew him."
"Very well."
She tried remembering every conversation she had shared with her father.
Not once had he mentioned Lucien.
Not once.
"You were hiding from me before we even met."
"He asked me to."
"My father?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Lucien looked exhausted.
"He believed the less you knew, the safer you would be."
Her heart hurt.
Everyone had decided for her.
Her father.
Lucien.
Everyone.
Except her.
She whispered,
"I was never allowed to choose."
Lucien said nothing.
Because there was nothing to deny.
She walked toward the window.
Rain had started outside.
The city lights blurred through the glass.
"My accident."
She didn't turn around.
"It wasn't random."
"No."
"They wanted me."
"Yes."
"And the truck?"
"It wasn't an accident."
She closed her eyes.
Her knees almost gave out.
Someone had tried to murder her.
Not because of Lucien.
Not because of revenge.
Because of the family she was born into.
She laughed weakly.
"I spent weeks convincing myself you wanted me dead."
Lucien answered quietly.
"I know."
"I hated you."
"I know."
"I wanted you to suffer."
"I know."
She finally turned.
"Can you understand why?"
"I never blamed you."
His voice was painfully calm.
She hated how sincere he sounded.
It made forgiveness dangerous.
She wasn't ready.
She might never be.
Her phone vibrated.
Elara.
She ignored it.
It rang again.
And again.
Finally she answered.
"What?"
"Alina."
Elara sounded terrified.
"Where are you?"
"Why?"
"I've been looking for you."
"I'm busy."
"No."
Elara lowered her voice.
"You need to leave wherever you are."
Alina frowned.
"What happened?"
"I think someone followed me."
Her heartbeat quickened.
"What do you mean?"
"I saw the same black SUV outside my apartment."
She looked toward Lucien.
He was already listening.
"I drove away."
Elara continued.
"It kept following me."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm positive."
The call suddenly filled with static.
"Elara?"
Nothing.
Then a scream.
The line went dead.
"Elara!"
No answer.
She called again.
Voicemail.
Again.
Nothing.
Lucien grabbed his keys.
"We're leaving."
She hesitated.
"What if it's a trap?"
"It probably is."
"Then why go?"
"Because if it isn't, your friend is in danger."
Minutes later they were speeding through the city.
Lucien drove faster than she had ever seen.
Neither of them spoke.
The rain became heavier.
Traffic lights blurred into red and gold.
Alina kept calling Elara.
No answer.
They reached her apartment building.
Police cars.
Ambulances.
Yellow tape.
Alina's stomach dropped.
She jumped out before the car stopped.
An officer blocked her.
"You can't enter."
"My friend lives here."
"What apartment?"
She answered.
The officer checked his notebook.
"Nobody's inside."
"What?"
"The tenant wasn't home."
Relief hit her so hard she almost cried.
Lucien walked around the building.
He stopped near the parking lot.
He crouched beside broken glass.
"Tire marks."
He looked toward the exit road.
"They forced a vehicle off the road."
The officer approached.
"You know something?"
Lucien stood.
"No."
The officer walked away.
Alina whispered,
"Elara escaped."
"Maybe."
"You don't sound convinced."
"I'm not."
His phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed immediately.
"What?"
He listened.
"When?"
Another pause.
"I'll handle it."
He hung up.
"What happened?"
"We need to go."
"Where?"
"Your apartment."
Fear settled inside her.
"Why?"
He looked directly into her eyes.
"Our security alarm was triggered."
She felt every drop of blood leave her face.
They raced back.
Three police officers already stood outside her building.
Her apartment door hung open.
The lock had been destroyed.
Lucien stepped in first.
His hand instinctively shielded her.
Furniture had been overturned.
Drawers emptied.
Glass covered the floor.
Books ripped apart.
Someone had searched everything.
Not stolen.
Searched.
She walked slowly through the destruction.
"My laptop."
Still there.
"My jewelry."
Untouched.
Nothing valuable was missing.
Only papers.
Files.
Photographs.
Anything connected to her past.
Lucien entered the bedroom.
He stopped.
His expression hardened.
"Alina."
She walked over.
The wall above her bed carried a message.
Written in black paint.
Five words.
You were never meant to wake up.
Her entire body went cold.
She couldn't move.
She couldn't breathe.
Lucien stepped in front of her, blocking the message from view as if that could erase it.
But it was already burned into her mind.
Someone knew she was alive.
Someone had entered her home without fear.
Someone had been close enough to kill her.
And instead...
They had left a warning.
Which meant one thing.
The hunt had started.
- Writer
