Chapter 6: The Woman In The Photograph
2044 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 could not take her eyes off the picture.
The woman standing beside her was smiling.
Not pretending.
Not forcing it.
Smiling like someone she trusted.
Lucien stood across from her without speaking.
His silence felt louder than any answer he could have given.
She looked at him.
"You knew."
He closed his eyes for a brief moment.
"Yes."
The word struck harder than she expected.
"You knew before we got married."
"I did."
She laughed softly.
It was not happiness.
It was disbelief.
"So every time I asked you about my past..."
"I told you what I believed would keep you safe."
Her expression hardened.
"No."
She shook her head.
"You told me what you wanted me to know."
Lucien did not deny it.
That hurt more than an argument would have.
She walked toward the window, gripping the photograph tightly.
"I spent my life believing I knew who I was."
She looked over her shoulder.
"Now I find out there was another life before you."
"There was."
"And you knew."
"Yes."
She swallowed the lump in her throat.
"Did everyone know except me?"
"No."
"Then who?"
"Very few people."
"Name them."
Lucien hesitated.
"Adrian."
She nodded slowly.
"Who else?"
He remained quiet.
"Lucien."
"I promised."
"To who?"
His eyes met hers.
"Your father."
Everything inside her stopped.
"My father?"
"He made me promise."
She stared at him.
"My father knew?"
"Yes."
"And he wanted me to stay ignorant?"
"He wanted you alive."
She laughed again.
The sound was colder this time.
"Everyone keeps using that word."
Alive.
Protected.
Safe.
She was tired of hearing them.
"If this is what protection looks like, I never wanted it."
Lucien stepped closer.
"I know."
"No."
She pointed at herself.
"You do not."
She held up the photograph.
"I cannot remember this woman."
Her voice trembled.
"I cannot remember smiling like this."
She looked directly into his eyes.
"I cannot even remember who I was."
Lucien wanted to reach for her.
He stopped himself.
She noticed.
"You still think you can decide for me."
"I am trying not to."
"Then answer one question."
"I will."
She took a slow breath.
"Was anything between us real?"
The room fell silent.
Lucien did not answer.
Not immediately.
That pause shattered something inside her.
Because if the answer had been simple, he would have spoken.
Instead, he looked away.
She smiled sadly.
"I understand."
"No."
His voice came quickly.
"You do not."
"Then tell me."
He rubbed a hand across his face.
"When I first met you..."
He stopped.
She waited.
"I was looking for someone."
Her heartbeat quickened.
"Who?"
"You."
She frowned.
"I do not understand."
"I had spent months searching for you."
"Why?"
"Because your father disappeared."
Her eyes widened.
"My father disappeared before he died?"
Lucien nodded.
"Three weeks."
She had never heard that before.
"My mother never told me."
"She was never supposed to."
She stepped closer.
"So our meeting..."
"It was not an accident."
The words landed like a blow.
She closed her eyes.
"I knew it."
"You do not know everything."
"I know enough."
Tears gathered in her eyes.
"You were sent to me."
"No."
"Weren't you?"
"I chose to stay."
She looked away.
"But you did not choose to meet me."
He had no answer.
She nodded slowly.
"I was right."
"Alina."
"You found me because of my father."
"Yes."
"You stayed because I needed protection."
"Yes."
"And then you married me."
"Yes."
Every answer made breathing harder.
"So I was never just a woman you loved."
"You became that."
She looked at him.
"When?"
"The day you laughed at me."
Confusion crossed her face.
"What?"
"You spilled coffee all over my suit."
She blinked.
"I did?"
"You refused to apologize."
Despite herself, she frowned.
"That does sound like me."
A faint smile touched Lucien's face.
"You told me rich men deserved expensive mistakes."
She searched her memories.
Nothing.
Not a single image.
Not a single voice.
Only emptiness.
"I cannot remember."
His smile disappeared.
"I know."
She looked at him with tears shining in her eyes.
"That memory belongs to you."
"It belongs to us."
"No."
Her voice cracked.
"You still have it."
She touched her temple.
"I do not."
Silence settled between them again.
Then she whispered the question that had been haunting her.
"If I remembered everything..."
She hesitated.
"Would I still have married you?"
Lucien looked at her for a long time.
When he finally spoke, his voice was barely audible.
"I hoped you would."
"Hoped?"
"I never knew."
She stared at him.
"You were never certain I loved you?"
He smiled sadly.
"I was certain."
She frowned.
"Then why hope?"
"Because I was never certain you would forgive everything I had to hide."
Before she could answer, Adrian entered the room without knocking.
His face was pale.
"Sir."
Lucien immediately knew something was wrong.
"What happened?"
Adrian held up a tablet.
"Our security team searched the warehouse we raided this morning."
Lucien became alert.
"And?"
"They found boxes of old records."
Alina looked at him.
"What records?"
Adrian swallowed.
"They all belong to your family."
Lucien and Alina exchanged a look.
Neither of them spoke.
Adrian continued.
"There is something else."
"What?"
"We found a locked cabinet."
Lucien frowned.
"Open it."
"We already did."
Adrian slowly placed a worn brown folder on the table.
Dust covered its edges.
The paper looked years old.
Someone had hidden it carefully.
Alina reached toward it before anyone could stop her.
Lucien caught her wrist gently.
"Wait."
She looked at him.
"No."
"This could be dangerous."
She pulled her hand free.
"My entire life has become dangerous."
She lifted the folder.
There was no title.
Only a faded government seal.
Her pulse quickened.
Slowly...
She opened it.
The first page stared back at her.
Her blood turned cold.
Across the top, in bold black letters, were the words:
Subject: Alina Voss.
The room became silent.
Alina could hear her own heartbeat.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
She stared at the words again.
Subject: Alina Voss.
Her fingers tightened around the folder.
"What is this?"
Adrian looked at Lucien.
"I have not read it."
Lucien did not take his eyes off the file.
"I told everyone to leave it untouched."
Alina looked at him.
"You already knew."
"No."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I have been looking for this file for three years."
She searched his face.
There was no hesitation.
No calculation.
Only relief.
And fear.
"You have been looking for it?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because whoever possessed it controlled the truth about your past."
Her eyes returned to the first page.
Slowly, she turned it.
The next page contained a photograph.
Not the smiling picture with Seraphine.
This one was different.
She looked younger.
Maybe twenty-one.
She stood beside an older man.
His hand rested on her shoulder.
His smile was warm.
Her breath caught.
"My father."
The words escaped before she realized she had spoken them.
Lucien watched her carefully.
"You remember him?"
She shook her head.
"No."
Her fingers touched the photograph.
"I just... know."
There was another person standing beside them.
His face had been cut out.
Only his shoulder remained.
Someone had deliberately removed him from the picture.
Alina frowned.
"Who was here?"
Nobody answered.
She turned another page.
There were dates.
Addresses.
Financial records.
Travel schedules.
Names she had never heard before.
Then one sentence was highlighted in red.
Protect the daughter at all costs.
Transfer authority if the father is compromised.
She read it twice.
Then a third time.
"What authority?"
Lucien's jaw tightened.
"I don't know."
She looked up sharply.
"You don't know?"
"I know there was something your father protected."
"What?"
"I never found out."
"You expect me to believe that after everything?"
"I searched for years."
She studied him.
He sounded frustrated.
Not defensive.
Like the missing answer had haunted him too.
Adrian stepped closer.
"There is another document."
He handed it to Alina.
It looked like an interview transcript.
The first line read:
Witness Interview Number Seven.
Interviewing Officer: Elias Voss.
Alina frowned.
"Voss?"
She looked at Lucien.
"Your father."
Lucien nodded.
"My father worked the case before he died."
"You never told me."
"There are many things I never told you."
She looked back at the document.
"So both our fathers knew each other."
"Yes."
"They worked together."
"Yes."
Her mind struggled to keep up.
Nothing about her life resembled the story she had believed.
She continued reading.
Question:
Did anyone threaten Mr. Rowan before his disappearance?
Answer:
Yes.
A woman visited the office twice.
Question:
Name.
Answer:
Unknown.
Blonde hair.
Green eyes.
Always wore white.
Never gave her real name.
Alina's breathing slowed.
She already knew.
"Seraphine."
Lucien nodded.
"I believe so."
The next page contained another statement.
This one was handwritten.
If anything happens to me, my daughter must never discover what she inherited until the organization is destroyed.
Alina read it again.
Inherited.
"What did I inherit?"
Lucien remained silent.
She slammed the folder shut.
"I am tired of silence."
"I don't know."
"You always say that."
"Because sometimes it is true."
She turned away.
"I don't know who I am anymore."
Lucien watched her quietly.
"You are still Alina."
She laughed bitterly.
"No."
She held up the folder.
"This says otherwise."
"It says someone hunted you."
"It says someone built my entire life around secrets."
She looked directly into his eyes.
"And you helped them."
His face fell.
"I tried to stop them."
"But you still lied."
"Yes."
"You let me marry you without knowing any of this."
"Yes."
"You watched me promise to spend my life with you."
His voice became almost a whisper.
"I did."
"How could you?"
Lucien closed his eyes.
"When I first met you..."
He stopped.
"You smiled at me."
She looked away.
"I don't remember."
"I know."
"You keep saying that."
"Because I wish you did."
She swallowed.
"Maybe it's better that I don't."
His eyes opened.
"No."
"You said protecting me mattered more than telling me the truth."
"It did."
"And now?"
He answered without hesitation.
"Now the truth matters more."
She frowned.
"Why?"
"Because they know you're searching."
Adrian's phone rang.
He answered immediately.
His expression changed.
"What?"
He listened for several seconds.
Then ended the call.
"We have a problem."
Lucien stood.
"What happened?"
"The warehouse is on fire."
"What?"
"Our security team says someone broke in less than five minutes after we left."
Alina looked at the folder in her hands.
"They're destroying evidence."
Adrian nodded.
"Everything."
Lucien took his jacket.
"We're leaving."
Alina followed him.
"So am I."
"No."
She stopped.
"You don't get to decide that anymore."
"I know."
"Then don't."
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Finally, Lucien nodded.
"Stay close."
They rushed outside.
The drive to the warehouse was silent.
Smoke filled the night sky long before they arrived.
Fire trucks surrounded the building.
Flames consumed the roof.
Police officers forced everyone back.
Lucien showed his identification.
An investigator approached immediately.
"Mr. Voss."
"What survived?"
"Almost nothing."
Alina looked at the burning building.
Someone had planned this.
Someone had waited until the file was removed.
Then destroyed everything else.
A firefighter emerged carrying a small metal box.
"It's locked."
Lucien took it.
The surface was blackened by smoke.
One corner had melted.
But it remained sealed.
Alina stared at it.
"What is inside?"
"No idea."
The investigator interrupted.
"We found one more thing."
He handed Lucien a plastic evidence bag.
Inside was a silver necklace.
Alina froze.
She knew it.
Without knowing why.
She reached for it.
The moment her fingers touched the glass...
A memory exploded inside her mind.
Rain.
A little girl crying.
A woman screaming.
A man shouting.
"Run, Alina!"
Another voice.
"Don't let them take the key!"
Then darkness.
Alina staggered backward.
Lucien caught her before she hit the ground.
Her breathing became frantic.
"Alina."
She grabbed his arm.
"I heard him."
"Who?"
"My father."
Her eyes widened.
"He called me..."
She stopped.
Her face lost its color.
Lucien's heart sank.
"What did he call you?"
Her lips trembled.
"Not Alina."
- Writer
