Chapter 2 - The Name Hidden Inside the Phone
The voice outside the storage room said Cassian’s name again.
"Open the door."
Nobody moved.
Rosa’s small fingers tightened around Cassian’s hand.
I could feel my own heartbeat in my ears.
Because I knew that voice.
Not personally.
But I knew what it meant.
Someone inside this mansion had been watching us.
Cassian slowly turned his head toward the door.
His expression changed.
The softness he had shown Rosa disappeared.
The man everyone feared returned.
"Elena."
I looked at him.
"Take Rosa behind me."
I did not argue.
I moved immediately.
I pulled Rosa closer as Cassian stepped between us and the door.
The little girl looked up at him.
"Daddy..."
His eyes softened for half a second.
"Stay with Elena."
Then he reached for the handle.
The door opened.
But nobody was there.
Only the empty hallway.
The lights above us flickered.
Cassian stepped outside.
His guards appeared almost instantly from the other side of the mansion.
"Boss?"
Cassian raised his hand.
Everyone stopped.
He looked down.
There was something on the floor.
A small white envelope.
No name.
No writing.
Just a single black mark on the front.
A circle with a line through it.
I had never seen it before.
But Cassian had.
His face became colder.
"Where did this come from?"
One guard looked confused.
"We didn't see anyone."
Cassian picked up the envelope.
"Nobody enters this hallway without being seen."
His voice was quiet.
That was when I understood something.
Cassian was not angry because someone left a message.
He was angry because someone had managed to do something impossible.
He opened the envelope.
Inside was a single piece of paper.
His eyes moved across the words.
Then stopped.
"What does it say?" I asked before I could stop myself.
Cassian folded the paper.
"Nothing."
I knew he was lying.
Not because he was a bad liar.
Because he was too good.
People who hid the truth usually rushed.
Cassian became completely still.
That was how I knew the message mattered.
Rosa looked at him.
"Daddy."
He looked down.
"Yes?"
"Is Mommy in trouble?"
The question hit harder than anything else.
Cassian did not answer immediately.
And that scared me.
Because a man like Cassian always had an answer.
Even when he was angry.
Even when he was threatened.
But when his daughter asked about her mother...
he hesitated.
Finally, he crouched.
"Why do you think that?"
Rosa looked at the burner phone.
"Because Mommy cried."
The hallway went silent.
I looked at her.
"When?"
"Last night."
Cassian’s jaw tightened.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Rosa lowered her head.
"Because Mommy said Daddy would get hurt."
Nobody spoke.
The words stayed there.
Heavy.
Dangerous.
I watched Cassian carefully.
For the first time since I had met him, he looked like a man who had lost control of a situation.
Not because someone threatened him.
Because someone he loved had been hiding pain from him.
He stood slowly.
"Elena."
I looked at him.
"Take Rosa upstairs."
My eyes moved to the phone in his hand.
"What about that?"
"I'll handle it."
I almost believed him.
Almost.
But then the screen lit up.
A notification appeared.
Everyone saw it.
A new message.
From an unknown number.
Cassian looked at it.
The message only contained one sentence.
"Ask Elena what happened six years ago."
My blood turned cold.
Because I knew exactly what six years ago meant.
Cassian noticed my reaction.
"Elena."
I looked away.
"I don't know what that means."
But the silence after my answer was louder than any confession.
Cassian studied my face.
Then he did something unexpected.
He handed the phone to me.
"Unlock it."
I stared at him.
"What?"
"If you have nothing to hide, unlock it."
My hands felt numb.
"I don't know the password."
Cassian looked at the screen.
"Try."
I swallowed.
Then I typed the only number I could think of.
My birthday.
The phone unlocked.
Everyone froze.
Because it worked.
Cassian looked at me differently.
Not with anger.
With questions.
"Why would your birthday unlock this phone?"
I had no answer.
Because I truly did not know.
I had never touched that phone before.
I had never seen it.
But somehow...
it knew me.
Rosa stepped closer.
"Miss Elena?"
I looked down.
"Yes?"
She whispered:
"Mommy said your name when she was crying."
A cold feeling moved through my chest.
"What did she say?"
Rosa looked toward the stairs.
Then she whispered:
"She said she was sorry she couldn't tell you the truth."
I felt like the floor moved beneath me.
Because Isabella and I were not friends.
We barely spoke.
She was the lady of the house.
I was the maid.
There was a world between us.
So why would she apologize to me?
Cassian saw my expression.
"Elena."
I looked at him.
"Tell me everything you know."
"I don't know anything."
"That's not an answer."
"It is the truth."
He stared at me.
For a long moment.
Then he looked back at the phone.
The unlocked screen showed the hidden files.
One by one.
Photos.
Documents.
Recordings.
And then another file appeared.
A video.
Created six years ago.
The date made my breathing stop.
Because six years ago was when I first came to this mansion.
Cassian pressed play.
The video was dark.
The camera angle was hidden.
A woman’s voice filled the room.
Isabella.
Her voice was shaking.
"If Cassian ever finds this..."
She stopped.
A quiet sob.
Then:
"If Elena is still working here, it means I failed."
My body froze.
Cassian looked at me.
The video continued.
"I need you to understand something."
A pause.
"Elena was never the enemy."
The room became silent.
I could barely breathe.
Cassian watched the screen.
His expression changed.
Because the woman he trusted had just revealed a secret.
A secret involving me.
The video continued.
"She doesn't know what happened to her family."
My hands started shaking.
My family.
That word.
It felt impossible.
Because my family was gone.
At least, that was what I believed.
Cassian stopped the video.
He looked at me.
"What family?"
I opened my mouth.
Nothing came out.
Because I didn't know how to explain something I had spent years trying to forget.
When I was twenty-two, my parents died in a car accident.
That was the story.
The only story.
The one everyone gave me.
The one I accepted because I had no choice.
But now Isabella Renzi was saying there was something else.
Something hidden.
Cassian walked closer.
"Elena."
I looked at him.
"Did someone contact you before tonight?"
"No."
"Did Isabella ever talk to you about anything strange?"
"No."
"Did you know about this phone?"
"No."
He watched me carefully.
Then he believed me.
I don't know why.
Maybe because he saw fear.
Not guilt.
Before he could say anything else, one of the guards rushed into the hallway.
"Boss."
Cassian turned.
"What?"
The guard looked nervous.
"Mrs. Renzi's car was found outside the north gate."
My heart dropped.
Cassian stepped forward.
"And?"
The guard hesitated.
"She wasn't inside."
A silence followed.
Then Cassian’s phone rang.
Everyone looked at it.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Nobody spoke.
Cassian listened.
Then his face changed.
Because the person on the other end said something only he could hear.
His hand tightened around the phone.
"Who is this?"
A pause.
May you like
Then Cassian looked directly at me.
And the voice on the phone whispered my name.
