Chapter 6 - The Woman Who Was Supposed To Be Dead
The lights went out.
For three seconds, nobody moved.
The entire room disappeared into darkness.
Lena stood frozen.
Sebastian immediately stepped in front of her.
A protective instinct he didn’t understand.
The sound from below came again.
"Lena..."
Her blood turned cold.
That voice.
She knew it.
She had spent ten years trying to forget it.
Trying to convince herself it was only a memory.
A dream.
A wish.
But impossible things did not speak her name.
Sebastian reached for the emergency light beside the wall.
Nothing happened.
The power had been cut completely.
Daniel’s voice came through the communication device.
"Sebastian, are you there?"
No response.
The signal was dead.
Someone had blocked it.
Sebastian looked toward the door.
"Stay behind me."
Lena didn’t move.
Because she wasn’t looking at the door.
She was looking at the staircase.
The one leading down.
The one where the voice had come from.
"That was her."
Sebastian looked at her.
"Who?"
Lena swallowed.
"My mother."
The words hung in the darkness.
Sebastian didn’t answer.
Because he wanted to believe she was wrong.
He wanted to believe this was another trick.
Another person trying to manipulate them.
But the fear in Lena’s eyes was real.
And Sebastian had learned something about fear.
People could fake anger.
They could fake confidence.
But fear was almost always honest.
A small light appeared.
A phone flashlight.
Sebastian held it up.
"Stay here."
Lena grabbed his arm.
"No."
He looked down at her hand.
The same hand that had once hidden pain.
The same hand that had trembled while saying she was fine.
"I’m coming."
Sebastian wanted to refuse.
But he saw something in her expression.
She had spent her entire life being protected from the truth.
Now she wanted to face it.
Together, they walked downstairs.
The basement was empty.
At least, it looked empty.
The old room beneath Bellhaven remained exactly as they had left it.
The files.
The computer.
The photographs.
But something was different.
A chair had been moved.
A drawer was open.
Someone had been there.
Recently.
Sebastian raised his flashlight.
"Lena."
She stopped.
On the wall was a photograph.
A new one.
Not old.
Not hidden.
Placed there intentionally.
It showed a woman standing outside a hospital.
A woman with Lena’s face.
Older.
But unmistakable.
Her mother.
Lena slowly approached.
Her fingers touched the photograph.
"No."
Her voice broke.
"No, that’s impossible."
Sebastian watched her.
Because he understood.
For years, she had mourned someone.
She had built her entire identity around losing her.
And now someone had ripped that foundation apart.
"Look at the date."
Sebastian pointed.
Lena looked closer.
The date was from yesterday.
Her knees almost gave out.
Sebastian caught her before she fell.
"She was alive."
Lena stared at the photograph.
"Why would she leave me?"
Sebastian had no answer.
Because that question wasn’t about facts.
It was about a wound.
A wound that had existed for ten years.
Then something caught his attention.
A small piece of paper beneath the photograph.
He picked it up.
Only four words.
She never stopped watching.
Sebastian’s expression changed.
"Someone wanted us to find this."
Lena looked around.
"Who?"
Before Sebastian could answer, the computer screen turned on.
Both of them turned.
The old monitor flickered.
A video file appeared.
No one had touched it.
No one was near it.
The file name appeared.
LENA_FINAL_MESSAGE.
Sebastian stepped closer.
Lena whispered:
"Play it."
He clicked.
The screen filled with static.
Then a woman appeared.
Older.
Tired.
But alive.
Lena stopped breathing.
Her mother looked directly into the camera.
"Lena."
The sound of her voice broke something inside her.
Tears immediately filled Lena’s eyes.
She covered her mouth.
Her mother continued.
"If you are watching this, then I know they failed."
Sebastian leaned closer.
"They?"
Her mother looked away from the camera.
Like she was afraid someone could hear.
"I’m sorry."
Lena shook her head.
"No."
A tear fell.
"Mom..."
The recording continued.
"I wanted to come back."
Her mother’s voice cracked.
"But every time I tried, they reminded me what would happen."
The screen distorted.
Then a name appeared.
Thomas Reed.
Sebastian’s face hardened.
Lena stared.
Her mother continued.
"Thomas knows the truth."
A pause.
"He knows what happened the night I disappeared."
Sebastian stepped closer.
The words hit him.
The night.
Again.
His forgotten memory.
His father.
The car.
The woman crying.
The little girl.
The video continued.
"I left clues because I knew someone would eventually find them."
Her mother looked directly into the camera.
"If Sebastian Vale finds this..."
The room became silent.
"If Sebastian is the one who finds this, then there is something he needs to know."
Sebastian stared.
"What?"
The recording paused.
Static filled the screen.
Then Lena’s mother spoke.
"Your father did not save me."
Sebastian froze.
"He saved you."
The video cut.
Nobody spoke.
The silence was heavier than anything before.
Lena looked at Sebastian.
"What does that mean?"
He didn’t answer.
Because he didn’t know.
And that frightened him more than any enemy ever had.
"My father saved me?"
Sebastian looked away.
"I don’t remember."
Lena stared.
"You don’t remember?"
He closed his eyes.
There was a part of his childhood he had always avoided.
A night everyone told him to forget.
A night his father told him was a nightmare.
A night after which everything changed.
"I was young."
"How young?"
"Ten."
Lena froze.
The same age she had been when her mother disappeared.
Sebastian looked at the floor.
"I remember my father taking me somewhere."
"Where?"
"I don’t know."
He paused.
"But I remember a woman."
Lena’s breathing stopped.
"What woman?"
Sebastian looked at her.
"I don’t know."
The answer hurt her.
But she waited.
"She was crying."
A tear formed in his eyes.
"I remember her saying one thing."
"What?"
Sebastian swallowed.
"Take care of my daughter."
Lena stepped back.
Because those words were impossible.
Those words connected two children.
Two lives.
Two families.
And neither of them knew why.
Upstairs, Daniel finally restored the power.
He rushed into the basement.
"Sebastian."
No response.
Daniel stopped when he saw their faces.
"What happened?"
Sebastian looked at him.
"Find Thomas Reed."
Daniel immediately understood.
"Why?"
"Because he knows where Lena’s mother is."
Daniel hesitated.
"Sebastian."
"What?"
"We found Thomas."
Sebastian turned.
"Where?"
Daniel looked uncomfortable.
"He came here."
Lena’s face changed.
"When?"
Daniel looked at her.
"Five minutes ago."
Sebastian’s eyes narrowed.
"What did he say?"
Daniel took a breath.
"He said he wanted to speak with Lena."
The basement became silent.
Lena looked at the stairs.
"Where is he now?"
Daniel didn’t answer immediately.
That was enough.
Sebastian stepped forward.
"Daniel."
"He left something."
"What?"
Daniel pulled a small envelope from his jacket.
"It was addressed to Lena."
She took it.
Her hands shook.
Inside was a single photograph.
Not of her mother.
Not of Sebastian’s father.
Of herself.
Ten years old.
Standing outside a hospital.
Beside her mother.
But there was something else.
Someone standing behind them.
A man.
Sebastian took the photograph.
His face changed instantly.
Lena noticed.
"Who is that?"
Sebastian didn’t answer.
Because he knew that face.
He had seen it before.
In his father’s old photographs.
In the hidden files.
In memories he thought were impossible.
Then the back of the photograph caught his attention.
A handwritten sentence.
His father’s handwriting.
Five words.
I failed to protect him.
Sebastian turned the photograph over.
And beneath the message was another name.
May you like
A name he had never expected to see.
Sebastian Vale.
