Chapter 7 - The Woman Who Pulled The Trigger
The gun was in my hand.
I stared at the screen.
At myself.
At the woman who looked exactly like me.
She stood in that hotel room holding a weapon.
Pointing it at someone.
But I couldn't see who.
The video stopped before revealing the other person's face.
The room was silent.
Nobody looked away from me.
Not even for a second.
I felt my legs become weak.
"That's not me."
My voice sounded unfamiliar.
Nobody answered.
"That isn't me."
I said it again.
Louder.
Adrian immediately moved closer.
"I know."
I looked at him.
"You believe me?"
His expression broke my heart.
Because there was no hesitation.
"Yes."
I almost cried.
After everything.
After the evidence.
After seeing myself on that screen.
He still believed me.
But that made it even more terrifying.
Because if I wasn't the person holding that gun...
Who was?
And why did everyone have a recording of someone who looked exactly like me?
The man holding the tablet looked nervous.
"There is more."
Everyone turned toward him.
Adrian's face hardened.
"Play it."
The man hesitated.
"Mr. Vale, are you sure?"
"Play it."
The second part loaded.
The video continued.
The camera moved slightly.
The woman who looked like me stepped closer.
The gun remained raised.
Then a voice came through the speakers.
A woman's voice.
My voice.
"You promised me you would fix this."
My blood froze.
I had never heard myself sound like that.
Cold.
Empty.
Angry.
The camera moved again.
The person in front of me finally appeared.
And the entire room changed.
It was Adrian.
But not the Adrian lying beside me.
The Adrian from the video was standing.
Healthy.
Angry.
Alive.
The woman holding the gun pointed it directly at him.
"I trusted you."
Video Adrian looked at her.
"You don't understand what you're doing."
The woman laughed.
A sound that made my stomach turn.
"I understand everything."
The screen froze again.
Nobody breathed.
Because everyone had recognized something.
The woman wasn't just wearing my face.
She was using my voice.
My memories.
My life.
I looked at Adrian.
"What is this?"
He looked completely lost.
"I don't know."
But Clara stepped forward.
"You do."
Adrian turned.
"What?"
Clara looked at the screen.
"That night."
Her voice was quiet.
"You remember."
Adrian looked away.
And I knew.
He remembered something.
Something he had been hiding.
"Adrian."
I whispered.
"What happened?"
He didn't answer.
The silence became unbearable.
Then he finally spoke.
"That wasn't the first time I saw her."
I felt my chest tighten.
"Her?"
Adrian looked at the frozen image.
"The woman pretending to be you."
Everyone went still.
"Who is she?"
Adrian closed his eyes.
"I don't know her real name."
Julian laughed quietly.
Nobody looked at him.
"Of course you don't."
Adrian turned toward him.
"What does that mean?"
Julian stepped closer.
"It means you should tell Emma the truth."
Adrian's expression changed.
"Julian."
"No."
Julian shook his head.
"You've spent nine months lying to yourself."
He looked at me.
"She deserves to know."
I felt my hands shaking.
"Know what?"
Julian looked at Adrian.
"The reason you married Emma."
My heart stopped.
"What?"
Adrian looked at me.
"Emma..."
I stepped back.
"No."
I couldn't hear another secret.
Not another hidden truth.
Not another missing piece of my own life.
"Just tell me."
My voice cracked.
"Was anything real?"
Adrian's face changed.
Pain.
Pure pain.
"Everything with you was real."
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
Because I was scared."
The answer surprised me.
Adrian Vale.
The man everyone thought feared nothing.
Was scared.
"Of what?"
He looked at the screen.
"Of losing you."
The room went quiet.
Clara looked down.
Even she seemed affected.
Adrian continued.
"Before I met you, I spent years trying to destroy my father's secrets."
He looked at me.
"When I found evidence against my family, I realized something."
"What?"
"Everyone around me had a reason to betray me."
His voice became softer.
"Except you."
I didn't know whether to believe it.
I wanted to.
But my entire reality had changed too many times.
"So you married me to protect me?"
"No."
He shook his head.
"I married you because I loved you."
The words hurt.
Because they sounded true.
But truth had become dangerous.
I looked at Clara.
"What about her?"
Clara looked away.
Adrian answered.
"Clara was part of my past."
"Was?"
He nodded.
"When she disappeared, I thought she was dead."
Clara's eyes filled with anger.
"You thought I was dead because you believed your father's people."
Adrian looked ashamed.
"I was wrong."
The tablet suddenly made another sound.
The man looked at the screen.
"There's a hidden message."
Everyone turned.
"What message?"
He enlarged the file information.
A small text appeared.
Created by: E.C.
My initials.
I felt numb.
"No."
The man looked at me.
"There is a password."
Adrian frowned.
"What password?"
The man typed something.
The screen rejected it.
"Wrong."
He tried again.
Wrong.
Then Victoria spoke.
"Use her birthday."
Everyone looked at her.
My face went pale.
"How do you know my birthday?"
Victoria didn't answer.
Adrian looked at his mother.
"You know more about Emma than you ever admitted."
Victoria stayed silent.
The man typed my birthday.
The file opened.
A video appeared.
But this one was different.
It wasn't security footage.
It was a personal recording.
A woman was sitting in front of the camera.
The room looked familiar.
Too familiar.
My old apartment.
The woman looked directly into the camera.
She looked like me.
But older.
Tired.
Broken.
Then she spoke.
"Adrian, if you are watching this..."
Everyone froze.
The woman touched her face.
Tears filled her eyes.
"If I failed..."
She looked down.
"Then they already made you believe I was the enemy."
I couldn't breathe.
Because I recognized that voice.
It was mine.
The woman on the screen looked exactly like me.
But she wasn't the woman from the hotel.
She was someone else.
Someone who knew everything.
Someone who had recorded a message before all of this happened.
She looked back at the camera.
And whispered:
"The woman pretending to be me is not the person you should fear."
The screen flickered.
Then one final sentence appeared.
A name.
A name that made Adrian stand up despite his injuries.
May you like
Because it belonged to the person everyone thought had been dead for twelve years.
"The real threat is Clara."
