Chapter 4 - The Man Who Knew My Father
The hidden door opened.
A man stood in the darkness.
I couldn’t see his face.
Only his silhouette.
Adrian stepped forward immediately.
His weapon was raised.
"Don’t move."
The man stopped.
Then he laughed quietly.
Not nervously.
Not afraid.
Like he expected this.
"Still protecting people you don’t trust, Adrian?"
My heart tightened.
I knew that voice.
Not from my memories.
From somewhere else.
From my father’s old recordings.
Old messages he had saved on a broken phone I found years after he disappeared.
A voice that used to say my name.
A voice that used to tell my father to be careful.
The man stepped into the light.
And I recognized him.
Not because I knew him.
Because my father had kept his picture.
In a box hidden under my childhood bed.
The man who stood in front of us was older now.
Gray hair.
A scar across his cheek.
Cold eyes that looked like they had seen too much.
Adrian lowered his weapon slightly.
"Marcus."
The man's eyes moved toward me.
"She looks like him."
I froze.
"Who are you?"
He ignored my question.
Instead, he looked at Adrian.
"You finally told her."
Adrian’s expression hardened.
"I didn’t tell her anything."
Marcus smiled.
"Of course you didn’t."
The words carried a strange bitterness.
I looked between them.
"You both know about me."
Neither answered.
That was becoming a pattern.
Everyone had secrets.
Everyone except me.
I stepped forward.
"No."
My voice surprised even me.
"I’m done standing in rooms where people whisper about my life like I’m not there."
The basement went silent.
Marcus looked at me.
Then something changed in his expression.
Not fear.
Respect.
"You really are Daniel’s daughter."
I swallowed.
"Tell me what happened to him."
Marcus looked at Adrian.
Adrian looked away.
That told me everything.
They both knew.
They both had answers.
And they had both kept them from me.
Marcus slowly walked into the hidden office.
His eyes moved across the photographs.
The files.
The evidence.
"You shouldn’t have opened this room."
Adrian stepped between us.
"Why?"
Marcus looked at him.
"Because now everyone knows she’s here."
A cold feeling moved through my body.
"Who is everyone?"
Nobody answered.
Then the lights above us flickered.
Once.
Twice.
The hidden office went dark.
Adrian immediately grabbed my hand.
"Down."
The sound came before I understood.
A gunshot.
The bullet hit the wooden frame above us.
I fell behind the desk.
Titan moved instantly.
The dog that had been calm seconds ago became something else.
A protector.
A force.
He stood between me and the doorway.
Adrian fired back.
The basement exploded with noise.
I covered my ears.
Marcus pulled a second weapon from his coat.
I stared at him.
"You came prepared."
His eyes stayed on the door.
"I came because I knew they would come."
"Who?"
He looked at me.
"The people who killed your father."
The words stopped me.
Even with gunfire around us.
Even with Adrian fighting someone outside.
Those words were louder than everything.
My father wasn’t missing.
He wasn’t gone.
He was killed.
I felt my entire body go cold.
Adrian noticed my expression.
His face changed.
Because he knew Marcus had just crossed a line.
"Marcus."
But Marcus didn’t look away.
"She deserves the truth."
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
"You don’t know what she deserves."
"No."
Marcus looked at him.
"You’re right."
A pause.
"She deserves to know what you did."
The room became still.
Even Adrian stopped moving.
I looked at him.
"What does he mean?"
Adrian didn’t answer.
My chest tightened.
Because silence was an answer too.
Marcus moved closer.
"Ask him where he was the night Daniel disappeared."
I looked at Adrian.
He looked like someone had finally reached the one place he kept hidden.
The place nobody could touch.
"You were there?"
I whispered.
Adrian’s eyes met mine.
"Yes."
The answer hurt.
Not because I expected something different.
Because some part of me wanted him to deny it.
To tell me Marcus was lying.
But he didn’t.
"I was there."
The room spun.
"Then why did you let me believe he abandoned me?"
Adrian looked down.
"Because I thought it was safer."
"Safer?"
My voice broke.
"You let me spend twelve years thinking my father left me."
"I was trying to keep you alive."
I laughed once.
But there was no humor in it.
"From what?"
Adrian looked toward the door.
His answer was quiet.
"From the same people who are here now."
A crash came from outside.
Someone had entered the basement.
More footsteps.
More than one person.
Marcus looked at Adrian.
"You need to get her out."
Adrian shook his head.
"No."
Marcus stared.
"You still don’t understand."
Adrian’s expression hardened.
"I’m not leaving her."
The words surprised me.
They surprised Marcus too.
Because Adrian Voss had just admitted something dangerous.
He cared.
Not about an employee.
Not about a stranger.
About me.
Titan growled again.
This time toward the hidden wall behind the desk.
I looked at him.
"What is it?"
The dog scratched at the floor.
Adrian noticed.
Then his eyes moved to the old files.
"No."
He walked toward the wall.
"What?"
He didn’t answer.
He moved several folders aside.
Behind them was another small compartment.
Another secret.
Another thing my father had hidden.
My hands shook.
"How many secrets did he leave behind?"
Adrian opened the compartment.
Inside was a small black box.
No name.
No label.
Only one symbol.
The same symbol from Titan’s collar.
Marcus went pale.
"That shouldn’t be here."
Adrian looked at him.
"What?"
Marcus stepped closer.
"I watched Daniel hide that."
The words made Adrian freeze.
"You were there?"
Marcus nodded slowly.
"The night he disappeared."
I stared at him.
"Then you know what happened."
Marcus looked at me.
"I know who took him."
The room went silent.
Adrian opened the box.
Inside was a small recording device.
Old.
Damaged.
But still working.
He pressed the button.
Static filled the room.
Then a voice came through.
My father’s voice.
I stopped breathing.
"If you’re hearing this..."
My knees almost gave out.
Because after twelve years...
I heard him again.
"If you’re hearing this, it means they found my daughter."
I covered my mouth.
Adrian looked at me.
The recording continued.
"Adrian, if you are with her, then I need you to listen carefully."
Adrian moved closer.
The voice became weaker.
"Do not trust Marcus."
Everyone froze.
Marcus stepped back.
The recording continued.
"Because the man standing beside you..."
The sound cracked.
Static interrupted.
Then my father’s final words came through.
"...was the one who opened the door for them."
The recording stopped.
Nobody moved.
Marcus looked at Adrian.
Adrian looked at Marcus.
And then every light in the basement turned off.
May you like
A second later, the hidden office door locked from the outside.
And someone whispered my name through the wall.
