FINDING YOU , LOVING ME

ELENA'S SECRET

CHAPTER 12

Elena's Secret

Mia's POV

"He disappeared because of me."

Elena's words echoed inside the hidden room.

I couldn't speak.

Ethan looked just as shocked.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Elena stepped inside and closed the hidden door behind her.

For a moment, she said nothing.

Then she looked at me.

"Your father discovered something about Adrian."

"What?"

"He found proof that Adrian had been taking money from several businesses."

I looked at the folder in Ethan's hands.

"The documents."

She nodded.

"Your father wanted to expose him."

"Then why did he disappear?"

Elena took a deep breath.

"Because I helped him."

I frowned.

"How?"

"I helped him move the documents somewhere safe."

"Where?"

She looked at the blue box.

"Here."

My eyes widened.

"The box?"

"Yes."

I pulled it from my bag.

"Then why didn't Dad tell Mom?"

"Because he was afraid."

"Of Adrian?"

"Not only him."

I stared at her.

"Who else?"

Elena looked at Ethan.

"Your father."

Ethan froze.

"My father?"

Elena nodded.

"Your father was involved in the investigation too."

Ethan looked confused.

"But why would he hide that from me?"

"Because he thought protecting you meant keeping you away from the truth."

I looked down.

"So both our fathers were trying to protect us."

"Yes."

"Then what happened?"

Elena's eyes became distant.

"On the night of September 5, your father asked me to meet him."

She paused.

"He gave me the documents and told me to hide them."

"Did you?"

"Yes."

"Then what went wrong?"

"I was followed."

My heart sank.

"By Adrian?"

"I don't know."

Elena looked down.

"When I returned, your father was gone."

I swallowed.

"Did you ever see him again?"

She shook her head.

"No."

---

The room became silent.

I couldn't stop thinking about the word gone.

My father hadn't simply left.

Something had happened.

And everyone had kept it from me.

"Why did you tell Mom that he was gone?"

Elena looked at me.

"Because I believed he was dead."

I froze.

"You believed?"

She nodded.

"But I never found proof."

Ethan stepped forward.

"So he might still be alive?"

Elena didn't answer immediately.

"I don't know."

My heart began beating faster.

For years, I'd believed my father was simply a painful memory.

Now there was a possibility that the story wasn't finished.

"What about Adrian?"

Elena's expression hardened.

"Adrian wanted those documents."

"Why?"

"Because they could destroy everything he'd built."

Ethan opened the folder.

"Then why are they still here?"

Elena looked at him.

"Because your fathers succeeded in hiding them."

I looked at the documents.

"So why did Adrian keep searching?"

"Because he never knew where they were."

I slowly looked at the blue box.

"Until now."

Elena nodded.

"Until you opened it."

---

Suddenly, a loud sound came from upstairs.

We all froze.

Someone was inside the house.

Elena immediately whispered,

"Don't move."

Footsteps echoed above us.

Ethan closed the folder.

"Is it Adrian?"

"I don't know."

The footsteps became louder.

Elena motioned toward the opposite side of the room.

"There is another exit."

She pushed a shelf aside.

A narrow doorway appeared.

"Go."

I looked at her.

"What about you?"

"I'll distract whoever it is."

"No."

"Mia, go."

Ethan grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the doorway.

We ran through the passage.

The door closed behind us.

We found ourselves in a small alley behind the house.

We stopped to catch our breath.

"Is she okay?" I asked.

"I don't know."

Ethan looked back toward the house.

"We need to call someone."

Before he could take out his phone, it rang.

Unknown number.

He answered.

"Hello?"

Silence.

Then a man's voice spoke.

"You should have listened to your parents."

The call ended.

Ethan stared at his phone.

I felt a chill.

"Was that Adrian?"

"I don't know."

Then Ethan noticed something.

A small envelope had been slipped into his backpack.

He pulled it out.

There was no name.

Only the star symbol.

Inside was a single photograph.

My father.

He was standing beside a car.

And he was alive.

At least in the photograph.

On the back was a handwritten message:

"If you want to find him, stop looking for Adrian."

I stared at the words.

"Then who are we supposed to look for?"

Ethan turned the photograph over again.

There was another line beneath the message.

"Look for the person who started everything."

I looked at him.

Neither of us spoke.

Because we both realized the same thing.

Maybe Adrian wasn't the beginning of the story.

Maybe he was only part of it.

And somewhere out there was the person who knew the entire truth.

The person who had been waiting for us to find them.