Chapter 5
619 Words
The memory she lost
Amara couldn't speak.
The room felt like it had stopped moving.
“You were there?”
Her voice came out as a whisper.
Adrian looked at the photograph again.
“I don't understand it either.”
“Then why are you looking at me like I’m responsible?”
The question hit him.
Because he knew she was right.
Since the message arrived, he had been searching for someone to blame.
And somehow, the easiest person to suspect was the person he was trying to protect.
Amara looked away.
“I would remember something like that.”
Adrian studied her.
“Unless someone made sure you forgot.”
The words sent a chill through her.
Because deep down…
there was something she had always ignored.
Small memories.
Pieces of a night she could never fully remember.
A place.
A voice.
And a promise someone made to her when she was a child.
Amara closed her eyes.
For a second, she saw something.
Not a clear memory.
Just a feeling.
The sound of rain.
A man's voice.
Someone told her to be brave.
Then it disappeared.
She opened her eyes quickly.
“What was that?”
Adrian stepped closer.
“What did you remember?”
Amara shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
But she did know one thing.
That memory was real.
And it scared her.
The little pieces she had forgotten were starting to return.
“I was there,” she whispered.
Adrian looked at her.
“What?”
“The night your father died.”
The words felt impossible as she said them.
“But I don’t remember what happened.”
For the first time, Adrian didn't look at her with suspicion.
He looked at her with something else.
Concern.
Because now he understood.
Maybe Amara wasn't the person who destroyed his family.
Maybe she was the person who survived it.
Adrian picked up the photograph again.
He looked at the little girl standing beside his father.
Then at Amara.
“There’s something you need to know.”
Amara waited.
“My father wasn’t alone that night.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Who was with him?”
Adrian hesitated.
“Someone he trusted.”
The answer made her uncomfortable.
“Who?”
Adrian looked at the picture.
“The person who took this photograph.”
A silence filled the room.
Because suddenly, the question changed.
It wasn’t only about what happened to Adrian’s father.
It was about who had been there…
and why they chose to hide the truth for so many years.
Then Adrian noticed something on the back of the photograph.
A small handwritten message.
His fingers froze.
Amara noticed.
“What does it say?”
Adrian slowly turned the photograph over.
Three words were written behind it.
PROTECT HER ALWAYS.
Amara stared at the words.
Her heart raced.
“Protect who?”
Adrian didn’t answer.
Because he already knew.
The message wasn’t written to protect his father.
It was written to protect her.
“But why?” Amara whispered.
Adrian looked at her.
And for the first time, the wall between them started to break.
“I don’t know.”
The honesty in his voice surprised her.
Adrian Vale always seemed to have an answer.
But now he looked just as lost as she felt.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
A few seconds later, his face changed.
“What happened?” Amara asked.
Adrian slowly lowered the phone.
“The person who sent the message…”
He looked at the photograph in his hand.
“They know you’re with me.”
A cold silence filled the room.
And then came the final words.
“They’re coming for you.”
- Writer
