Chapter 2 - The Secret Behind The Photograph
The door opened slowly.
Adrian Moretti stepped in front of me before I could even move.
His entire body changed.
The calm man who had faced hundreds of enemies without fear was gone.
In his place was someone ready for war.
I held the photograph tightly in my hand.
The message written behind it kept repeating inside my mind.
"You were never supposed to survive."
Someone knew about me.
Someone had been watching me.
And somehow, Adrian Moretti was the only person who seemed to understand why.
The person outside the office did not enter immediately.
They waited.
Like they wanted us to know they were there.
Adrian looked at the security screen beside the door.
His expression became colder.
"Stay behind me."
I looked at him.
"Who is it?"
He did not answer.
That scared me more than anything.
Because Adrian always had an answer.
Even when he was angry.
Even when he was threatening someone.
But now?
He was silent.
The door suddenly opened.
A man stepped inside.
He was older.
Around sixty.
Wearing an expensive suit.
But what caught my attention was not his clothes.
It was the look on his face when he saw me.
Shock.
Pure shock.
Like he had seen a ghost.
"Sofia..."
I froze.
Nobody had introduced me.
Nobody had told him my name.
Adrian immediately moved forward.
"How do you know her?"
The man looked between Adrian and me.
His hands started shaking.
"I thought she was dead."
The room went silent.
My heart stopped.
Dead?
Why would anyone think I was dead?
I looked at Adrian.
For the first time, I needed him to explain something.
But he looked just as surprised.
"Leave."
Adrian's voice was low.
The man swallowed.
"Adrian, you don't understand."
"I said leave."
The man looked at me one more time.
Then he walked away.
But before leaving, he said something that changed everything.
"Ask her about the night her mother disappeared."
The door closed.
I stood there frozen.
My mother's disappearance.
A memory I had buried for years.
A memory nobody talked about.
Because everyone told me the same thing.
She left.
She abandoned me.
She chose not to come back.
But I always felt something was wrong.
I was only eight years old when it happened.
I remembered waking up in the middle of the night.
I remembered hearing my mother arguing with someone.
I remembered her crying.
Then silence.
The next morning, she was gone.
No goodbye.
No explanation.
Only a note.
A note my father told me not to read.
I looked at Adrian.
"Who was that man?"
He didn't answer.
"Adrian."
His eyes met mine.
And I saw hesitation.
That was something I never expected from him.
"You need to understand something, Sofia."
He walked toward the desk.
"The world you think you know is not real."
I laughed quietly.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was impossible.
"I design dresses. I work in fashion. My biggest problem last month was a client changing her mind about a wedding gown."
Adrian looked at me.
"That's what they wanted you to believe."
Those words made my stomach turn.
"Who are they?"
He looked toward the window.
"The same people who tried to erase your existence."
I stared at him.
"You are saying someone tried to kill me?"
"No."
His answer came immediately.
"Someone tried to make everyone believe you were already gone."
I didn't understand.
Then Adrian placed another folder on the desk.
Inside were documents.
Old documents.
Birth records.
Photos.
Reports.
My hands trembled as I looked through them.
My name was everywhere.
But not the name I knew.
The documents showed another surname.
Bennett was not my original family name.
It had been changed.
Years ago.
I looked at Adrian.
"Why do you have these?"
He stayed quiet.
That silence was becoming unbearable.
"Adrian."
Finally, he spoke.
"Because your mother gave them to my father before she disappeared."
I felt the room spinning.
"Your father?"
Adrian nodded.
"My father was involved in protecting people who wanted to escape powerful families."
I looked at the documents again.
"Who was my family?"
He didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he walked to the window.
Below us, the ballroom continued.
People laughed.
People drank champagne.
Nobody knew the truth hidden above them.
Finally, Adrian said:
"The Bennett family was destroyed twelve years ago."
I looked up.
"There was no Bennett family."
His eyes met mine.
"Because someone made sure there wouldn't be."
A cold feeling moved through me.
The photograph.
The warning.
The man who thought I was dead.
Everything connected.
But I still didn't understand one thing.
"Why did you protect me tonight?"
Adrian looked at me.
For a moment, the powerful mafia boss disappeared.
And I saw a man carrying an old promise.
"Because your mother saved my life."
I said nothing.
"My father was supposed to die that night."
He paused.
"Your mother stopped it."
I slowly sat down.
"So this was about repaying her?"
Adrian looked away.
"I thought it was."
"Thought?"
His expression changed.
"Until I found out why she saved me."
I waited.
But he didn't continue.
"Why?"
He looked at the folder.
"Because she knew someone would come after you."
A sudden sound interrupted us.
A phone.
Not Adrian's.
Mine.
I looked down.
Unknown number.
My hands went cold.
Adrian noticed.
"Don't answer."
But the phone kept ringing.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then a message appeared.
I opened it before Adrian could stop me.
There was only one sentence.
"I know Adrian Moretti found you."
My breathing stopped.
Then another message arrived.
"He doesn't know what your mother left behind."
I looked at Adrian.
He had read the message.
And for the first time, he looked afraid.
Not surprised.
Afraid.
"Who is it?"
I asked.
Adrian took my phone.
He stared at the screen.
Then he typed something.
A reply.
"Who are you?"
The answer came instantly.
Almost like they were waiting.
Adrian read it.
His face changed.
"What?"
I stepped closer.
"What did they say?"
He turned the phone toward me.
The message was short.
Three words.
A name.
A name I had never heard before.
But Adrian knew exactly who it belonged to.
Because his hands tightened around my phone.
And he whispered:
"No..."
I looked at the screen.
The name was still there.
The name of the person who supposedly died twelve years ago.
Adrian slowly walked toward the office door.
"Stay here."
"Adrian, what is happening?"
He stopped.
Then he looked back at me.
"The person who sent this message..."
His voice became quiet.
"...was the last person my father saw before he was murdered."
I froze.
The lights in the hallway suddenly went out.
One by one.
Darkness moved closer.
Then a sound came from outside.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Calm.
Coming toward the office.
Adrian reached for his gun.
The footsteps stopped in front of the door.
And then someone knocked.
Three times.
The door opened from the outside.
May you like
And a voice whispered:
"Sofia Bennett..."
