Chapter 3 - The Room Where Emma Disappeared
A little girl grabbed Kenji Takahashi's sleeve and whispered: "Don't go there alone."
When Kenji arrived at the abandoned apartment, he found Emma's broken necklace lying beside a blood-stained photograph. But carved into the wooden floor were four words: "She was never gone." Kenji realized someone wanted him to find this place.
The voice from the phone disappeared.
For a moment, nobody in the ballroom moved.
Kenji stared at the screen.
The apartment.
The broken chair.
The message on the wall.
And the shadow standing in the corner.
Then the feed went black.
"Trace it."
Kenji's voice was calm.
Too calm.
Ren immediately grabbed another device.
"We're trying."
"Try faster."
Nobody argued.
Because everyone in the room understood what had just happened.
Someone had found Emma.
Or someone wanted Kenji to believe they had.
Lily stood beside him, looking at the phone.
Her small hands were wrapped around the edge of her dress.
"Was that my mom?"
Kenji looked at her.
He wanted to lie.
He had spent years surviving by telling people what they wanted to hear.
But when he looked at Lily, he couldn't do it.
"I don't know."
The girl's eyes filled with fear.
"But she was there."
Kenji crouched down.
"When was the last time you saw her?"
Lily looked away.
"Three days ago."
"Three days?"
She nodded.
"She told me to pack my bag."
Kenji frowned.
"Why?"
"She said we might have to leave."
"Where?"
Lily hesitated.
Then she reached into the pocket of her dress.
She pulled out a small key.
Old.
Rusty.
Different from everything else in that elegant ballroom.
"My mom gave me this."
Kenji looked at it.
"She said if anything happened, I had to give it to you."
"Why didn't you give it to me before?"
The little girl lowered her eyes.
"Because she told me not to trust you."
The words were quiet.
But they hurt.
Kenji didn't show it.
"What changed?"
Lily looked at the shattered champagne glass.
"You saved me."
Kenji froze.
"Saved you?"
The girl nodded.
"Before tonight."
She looked toward the empty table.
"Those men were looking for me."
The room became silent again.
Ren stopped searching.
Kenji slowly stood.
"Why?"
Lily shook her head.
"I don't know."
Then she whispered:
"But my mom said I wasn't supposed to be alive."
Nobody spoke.
Those words stayed in the air.
A child shouldn't know things like that.
A child shouldn't have to hide from people who wanted her gone.
Kenji turned toward the security team.
"Get the car ready."
Ren looked at him.
"You're going?"
"Yes."
"Boss, this could be a trap."
Kenji looked at the photograph in his hand.
"It is."
Ren was surprised.
"Then why walk into it?"
Kenji looked back at Lily.
"Because Emma left her daughter with me."
A few minutes later, the ballroom was abandoned.
The celebration was over.
The guests were gone.
The perfect night had become a battlefield.
Kenji sat in the back of the black car while Lily sat beside him.
She looked out the window silently.
For a child, she was too quiet.
Too careful.
Too aware.
"Are you afraid of me?"
Kenji suddenly asked.
Lily turned.
"No."
"Most people are."
"My mom wasn't."
Kenji looked away.
That answer hurt more than he expected.
"Your mother was different."
Lily nodded.
"She said you were not a bad man."
Kenji almost laughed.
Almost.
Because the entire world had spent years telling him the opposite.
The car stopped outside the apartment building.
It was old.
Forgotten.
Nothing like the places Kenji usually entered.
Two security men checked the area.
Then Ren returned.
"Clear."
Kenji stepped out.
Lily followed.
He immediately noticed.
The building was too quiet.
No neighbors.
No lights.
No movement.
A place like this should have had signs of life.
But it felt abandoned.
Like everyone had been warned to leave.
They entered the apartment.
The door was already open.
Kenji raised his hand.
Everyone stopped.
He looked inside.
A broken chair.
A damaged table.
A fallen lamp.
Everything looked like a struggle had happened.
But something was wrong.
There was no blood.
No signs of Emma.
No body.
Nothing.
Only a message on the wall.
"You were always too late."
Kenji stared.
His expression darkened.
Lily grabbed his hand.
"Mr. Takahashi."
He looked down.
She was pointing.
At the floor.
Near the broken chair.
A necklace.
Kenji recognized it immediately.
Emma never removed it.
Not even when she worked.
Not even when she left.
He picked it up carefully.
There was something engraved inside.
A date.
And two initials.
K.T.
E.N.
Kenji's breathing stopped.
Because he had never given that necklace to Emma.
Someone else had.
Someone who knew something he didn't.
Ren searched the room.
"Boss."
Kenji looked up.
Ren was standing near a hidden panel behind a bookshelf.
"This wasn't here before."
Kenji walked closer.
The panel had a small lock.
Lily looked at the key in her hand.
Then at the door.
Her face changed.
"My mom said..."
Kenji turned.
"What?"
The girl held the key tightly.
"She said this key was not for opening something."
A pause.
"She said it was for proving something."
Kenji took the key.
He inserted it.
The lock opened.
Inside was a small hidden compartment.
No money.
No weapons.
Only documents.
Photos.
And a phone.
Kenji picked up the first photograph.
His entire world shifted.
It showed Emma.
Standing beside a man.
A man Kenji knew.
A man who had been his closest friend for fifteen years.
The man who had died eight years ago.
Akira.
Ren stepped closer.
"That's impossible."
Kenji didn't answer.
Because impossible things had been happening all night.
The second photograph was worse.
It showed Akira alive.
Standing beside Hiro Sato.
The same man who had tried to poison him.
Kenji flipped the photograph over.
A date was written on the back.
The day Emma disappeared.
Then the hidden phone suddenly turned on.
The screen lit up.
One new message appeared.
Kenji stared at the sender.
May you like
Because the name on the screen was someone who should have been dead for eight years...
And then the phone began ringing.
