Shadows from the Past
365 Words
Chapter 8:
It started with a phone call.
Lena had just come back from an event with Damien—another fake-smile, fake-laugh, fake-kiss-on-the-cheek sort of evening. But under all the pretending, something was shifting. Her body still hummed with the memory of their almost-kiss.
She was halfway out of her heels when her phone buzzed on the vanity.
Unknown Number.
She almost ignored it.
Almost.
“Hello?”
A pause. Then a voice she hadn’t heard in years.
“Still pretending to be someone you’re not, Lena?”
Her chest went cold.
“…Noah?”
“Took you long enough to answer. I thought billionaires trained their fiancées better.”
She closed her eyes. “What do you want?”
“Just catching up. Saw your face in a tabloid. You look expensive now.”
A cruel laugh. “But we both know the real you, don’t we?”
She gripped the phone tighter. “That life is over.”
“Funny thing about the past—it never really dies. Especially when there are debts left unpaid.”
Click.
He hung up.
Lena stared at the screen, her breath shallow. Her hands were shaking.
---
That night, Damien noticed something was off.
“You’re quiet,” he said as she poured herself a drink.
“Maybe I’m tired of playing house.”
“You’ve never been a good liar,” he said, stepping closer.
That made her laugh bitterly. “If only you knew.”
He studied her, eyes narrowing. “What happened?”
She wanted to tell him. She almost did.
But she didn’t. Because this arrangement—this almost-love—was built on a lie.
And if he found out who she used to be?
It might all come crashing down.
---
The next morning, she found an envelope slid under her bedroom door.
Inside: a photograph.
Her. From three years ago. In a different city. Different hair. With Noah.
And written on the back, in block letters:
“Does he know?”
Her hands shook.
Her past wasn’t just haunting her now—it was chasing her.
And Damien?
He had no idea what she was running from.
to be continued.............
- Writer
