The Dead Man’s Name
531 Words
The security room fell silent.
Rain hammered against the windows while the frozen image remained on the screen — the masked intruder caught for half a second beneath flickering hallway lights.
Adrian stared at it like he’d seen a ghost.
Elena watched him carefully.
“Who is he?”
No answer.
“Adrian.”
His jaw tightened before he finally spoke.
“Matteo Ricci.”
The name felt heavy in the room.
“The man your staff mentioned earlier?”
Adrian nodded slowly without taking his eyes off the screen.
“He worked for my father years ago.”
“And he’s supposed to be dead?”
A long silence followed.
Then Adrian walked away from the monitors, running a hand through his dark hair like the memory itself exhausted him.
“Matteo disappeared fifteen years ago after a fire at one of our family estates near the coast.”
Elena frowned.
“Disappeared… or died?”
Adrian looked back at her.
“We found a body.”
Something about the way he said it made Elena uneasy.
Not certainty.
Doubt.
⸻
Hours later, Elena couldn’t sleep again.
The storm had finally weakened, leaving the estate wrapped in eerie silence.
Moonlight spilled across her room while the unopened letter rested on the desk beside her bed.
Waiting.
Slowly, she reached for it.
Carefully unfolding the fragile paper, she began reading the faded handwriting.
The letter was written by a woman named Isabella Moretti.
The deeper Elena read, the colder her body became.
The Vale family buried the truth with Alessandro Moretti.
If anything happens to me, Adrian must never discover what his father did.
Elena’s breath caught.
Adrian.
The letter mentioned Adrian directly.
Suddenly, another line stood out.
The child was never supposed to survive.
A chill ran down her spine.
Before Elena could continue reading—
A floorboard creaked outside her room.
She froze instantly.
Another creak.
Someone was outside the door.
Slowly, Elena stood from the bed.
The doorknob moved slightly.
Once.
Twice.
Her heartbeat pounded painfully against her ribs.
Then—
A voice whispered softly from the hallway.
“Elena.”
Adrian.
Relief hit her immediately.
She opened the door quickly—
Only to find the hallway empty.
No Adrian.
No one.
Then the lights went out again.
Complete darkness.
And suddenly—
A gloved hand covered Elena’s mouth from behind.
She screamed against the grip as someone dragged her backward into the shadows.
“Stop fighting,” a male voice hissed near her ear.
Elena struggled violently, panic flooding her chest.
Then a second voice thundered through the hallway:
“GET AWAY FROM HER!”
Adrian.
Footsteps exploded through the darkness.
The attacker released Elena instantly and ran.
Adrian caught her before she hit the floor.
Breathing hard, Elena clutched his shirt tightly while distant security alarms echoed throughout the estate.
For several seconds, neither of them moved.
Adrian’s arms remained around her protectively.
Too close.
Too warm.
His heartbeat was racing too.
Elena looked up at him shakily.
“He knew my name.”
Adrian’s expression darkened instantly.
Because that meant one thing.
This was no random attack.
Someone inside the estate was helping the intruder.
- Writer
