Chapter 8 - The Name Hidden In The Box
The sender name appeared on Adrian Blackwood's phone.
And he forgot how to breathe.
Because the message wasn't from an enemy.
It wasn't from a stranger.
It wasn't from someone trying to destroy him.
It was from someone who should have been impossible.
Elena.
The screen showed only one word.
"Adrian."
His fingers tightened around the phone.
Behind him, Sadie noticed the change immediately.
"What happened?"
He didn't answer.
Clara stepped closer.
"What is it?"
Adrian looked at the screen again.
The message remained.
A name.
Nothing else.
But somehow, that single word carried more weight than any threat.
Because Elena had been gone for fifteen years.
And dead for almost as long.
At least, that's what everyone had told him.
"Adrian?"
Sadie's voice brought him back.
He looked at the three people standing in the archive room.
The woman who might be his daughter.
The woman who claimed to be her sister.
The man who knew secrets he had hidden.
And a message from the woman who started everything.
"Nobody touches this room."
His voice was low.
Nobody questioned him.
Not even Clara.
Adrian walked to the black box inside the hidden compartment.
The box was small.
Simple.
No lock.
No decoration.
Almost like whoever placed it there wanted it to be found.
He picked it up.
It felt too light.
Like it couldn't possibly contain the truth that had destroyed his entire life.
Sadie stood beside him.
"Was that really my mother?"
Adrian looked at her.
He wanted to lie.
A part of him wanted to protect her.
But he had promised.
No more lies.
"I don't know."
The answer surprised her.
Because Adrian Blackwood admitting he didn't know something was almost impossible.
Clara watched him carefully.
"Open it."
Adrian looked at her.
"You know what's inside."
Clara shook her head.
"No."
"Then why aren't you afraid?"
Her expression changed.
"Because I have been afraid for fifteen years."
The room became quiet.
Adrian opened the box.
Inside was a small silver key.
A photograph.
And a folded letter.
The photograph was the first thing he noticed.
It was old.
Faded.
But clear enough.
Elena stood in front of the mansion.
Holding two babies.
One in each arm.
Adrian stopped moving.
Because he had never seen this picture.
Not once.
Not in fifteen years.
Not anywhere.
Sadie looked at it.
Her hand moved to her mouth.
"My mother..."
Clara stepped closer.
Her eyes filled with tears.
"She kept that."
Adrian turned the photograph over.
There was writing.
Elena's handwriting.
"If you found this, then Marcus failed to erase the truth."
Adrian's face hardened.
He continued reading.
"Adrian, I am sorry."
A pause.
"Not because I left."
His fingers tightened.
"Because I didn't have a choice."
The words blurred slightly.
But he kept reading.
"I know you will hate yourself for believing them."
Adrian stopped.
Because Elena knew him.
She knew exactly what would happen.
"I know you will think you should have found us."
His breathing changed.
"But please understand this."
A tear fell onto the paper.
"Your children survived because you never stopped loving them."
The room became silent.
Sadie looked away.
Clara closed her eyes.
Even Daniel looked affected.
Adrian continued.
"The truth about the twins is not what they told you."
His eyes moved faster.
"The child Marcus wanted was never the heir."
A cold feeling moved through him.
"The child Marcus feared was the one with the ability to expose him."
Adrian frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Nobody answered.
He kept reading.
"One of our children carries something Marcus spent his entire life trying to find."
The letter ended there.
Not finished.
Not complete.
Only one final sentence.
"Trust the child who remembers the night I disappeared."
Adrian slowly lowered the paper.
His eyes moved toward Sadie.
Then Clara.
"Who remembers?"
Neither answered.
Because they both knew.
Adrian looked at Sadie.
"You don't remember."
Sadie shook her head.
"I was four."
Clara looked away.
Adrian noticed.
"You do."
Clara didn't respond.
"Clara."
Her expression changed.
A painful silence.
Then she whispered:
"Yes."
Sadie looked at her.
"You remember?"
Clara nodded slowly.
"I remember that night."
The room felt smaller.
Adrian stepped closer.
"Tell me."
Clara looked at him.
"I remember my mother crying."
A pause.
"I remember your father coming to the house."
Adrian's face darkened.
"What did he do?"
Clara looked down.
"He took something."
"What?"
"A file."
Adrian frowned.
"What file?"
Clara shook her head.
"I don't know."
"Try."
Her eyes filled with fear.
"I was a child."
"I know."
"But I remember one thing."
"What?"
Clara looked at Sadie.
"Your mother was not trying to hide us from Marcus."
Adrian waited.
"She was trying to hide something from you."
The sentence hit him.
"From me?"
Clara nodded.
Sadie looked confused.
"Why would Mom hide something from Adrian?"
Clara didn't answer.
And that silence was worse.
Because maybe Elena wasn't only protecting them.
Maybe she was protecting Adrian from the truth.
A loud sound suddenly came from the hallway.
Everyone turned.
A guard rushed into the archive room.
"Mr. Blackwood."
Adrian immediately looked up.
"What?"
"The security system found someone."
"Where?"
The guard hesitated.
"In the east wing."
Adrian's expression changed.
"The east wing is locked."
The guard nodded.
"That's why we came to you."
Nobody moved.
Because everyone understood.
Someone had entered the one place in the mansion nobody could access.
The old private rooms.
The rooms belonging to Marcus Blackwood.
Rooms Adrian had sealed after his father's death.
Adrian walked toward the door.
Sadie followed.
"No."
He stopped.
"You stay here."
She looked at him.
"You said no more lies."
The words caught him.
Because she was right.
He had promised.
Clara stepped beside her.
"We go together."
Adrian looked at both women.
Two daughters.
Two secrets.
Two pieces of Elena he never knew existed.
Finally, he nodded.
The group moved through the mansion.
The east wing was dark.
Dust covered the hallway.
Nobody had walked there for years.
At the end stood a large wooden door.
The lock was broken.
Adrian stared.
Someone had entered.
Recently.
He slowly reached for the handle.
Then stopped.
Because from inside the room...
A voice spoke.
A woman's voice.
Weak.
Older.
But familiar.
"Adrian..."
Everyone froze.
Sadie's face turned pale.
Clara stopped breathing.
Adrian knew that voice.
He had heard it in dreams for fifteen years.
The door opened slightly.
May you like
And from the darkness inside...
Someone whispered his name again.
