Chapter 3 - The Woman Who Knew Too Much
The door opened.
I expected to see the person who had been watching me.
The person who sent the messages.
The person who wanted me away from Sebastian Vale.
But nobody walked in.
Only a young woman stood outside the office, holding a folder against her chest.
She looked nervous.
Almost terrified.
"Mr. Vale," she said quietly.
Sebastian immediately recognized her.
His expression changed.
Not surprise.
Concern.
"Emma."
The woman looked at me.
Then at him.
"I need to speak with you."
Sebastian stepped toward the doorway.
"Not here."
Emma shook her head.
"It's about Lena."
My entire body went cold.
I had never seen her before.
But she knew my name.
Sebastian looked at me.
"Wait here."
I wanted to ask what was happening.
I wanted answers.
But before I could say anything, Emma walked inside and closed the door behind her.
The room suddenly felt smaller.
I watched them speak quietly near the window.
I couldn't hear every word.
Only pieces.
"She wasn't supposed to find out..."
"...someone has been covering this up..."
"...you don't understand who you're dealing with..."
Every sentence made my fear grow.
Finally, Sebastian turned around.
"Emma, leave."
She looked at him.
"You know what happened three months ago."
The silence afterward was worse than shouting.
Sebastian's face became unreadable.
Emma looked at me.
"Lena, you need to know something."
Sebastian immediately stepped between us.
"Enough."
Emma looked at him sadly.
"You're protecting her without knowing the truth."
I felt my heart sink.
"What truth?"
Nobody answered.
That was the answer.
Something had happened.
Something connected to me.
Something Sebastian already knew about.
I looked at him.
"You knew something before you met me."
He didn't deny it.
And that hurt more than a lie.
"Tell me."
Sebastian remained silent.
"Tell me why someone is sending you pictures of me."
His jaw tightened.
"Because they know I will look into it."
"And why would they care if you look into it?"
He looked away.
For the first time, Sebastian Vale looked like a man carrying a secret instead of a man controlling a situation.
"Because three months ago, a woman disappeared."
I froze.
"What woman?"
He looked at me.
"Someone who worked at Bellhaven."
The room became silent.
My fingers tightened.
"Who?"
Sebastian didn't answer.
Emma did.
"Her name was Mia."
The name meant nothing to me.
Until I remembered.
A waitress.
A girl who worked the late shifts.
A girl who suddenly stopped coming to work.
Everyone said she quit.
Everyone said she left the city.
But now I remembered something.
The night before she disappeared, she had grabbed my hand in the kitchen.
She looked afraid.
She whispered:
"If anything happens to me, don't trust anyone here."
I had forgotten.
Or maybe I had forced myself to forget.
Because remembering meant admitting something was wrong.
Sebastian watched my face.
"You knew her."
It wasn't a question.
I looked down.
"She worked with me."
"What did she tell you?"
I hesitated.
Because saying it out loud made it real.
"She thought someone was following her."
Sebastian's expression changed.
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"
I almost laughed.
Because nobody had ever listened.
Because people like me were invisible.
Because a missing waitress was not important enough.
"I thought she was scared for no reason."
Emma looked at me.
"She wasn't."
The words hit harder than I expected.
Sebastian walked back to the table and picked up the old photograph.
The one of me outside the hospital.
"Lena, this was taken the same week Mia disappeared."
I stared at the picture.
"What does that have to do with me?"
Sebastian placed another photograph beside it.
My blood ran cold.
It showed Mia.
Standing beside me.
But someone had circled my face.
Red ink.
A note was written underneath.
"She knows."
I stepped back.
"No."
My voice was barely a whisper.
"I didn't know anything."
Sebastian looked at me.
"I believe you."
Those four words almost broke me.
Because nobody had said them before.
Not when I explained the bruises.
Not when I said something felt wrong.
Not when I begged people to listen.
But Sebastian believed me.
And that scared me.
Because if he was right, then someone had been watching me for months.
The office door suddenly opened.
One of Sebastian's security men rushed inside.
"Mr. Vale."
Sebastian turned.
"What happened?"
The man looked at me.
Then back at Sebastian.
"The person who entered the building..."
He paused.
"They left something at the front desk."
Sebastian's expression hardened.
"What?"
The security man placed a small package on the table.
No name.
No address.
Only one word written on top.
"LENA."
I stared at it.
Nobody moved.
Sebastian slowly reached for it.
"Don't touch it," I whispered.
He looked at me.
"Why?"
Because I knew that handwriting.
Because I had seen it before.
On the note inside my bandage.
On the message that warned me.
On the paper that said someone knew what happened that night.
My voice trembled.
"Because whoever sent this..."
I swallowed.
"...wanted me to open it."
Sebastian carefully picked up a pair of gloves.
Then opened the package.
Inside was a small silver key.
And a photograph.
A photograph of Mia.
But this time, she wasn't alone.
Someone was standing behind her.
Someone whose face had been scratched away.
Sebastian turned the photo over.
There was writing on the back.
Three words.
Words that made his expression change completely.
I looked at him.
"What does it say?"
He didn't answer.
He just stared at the message.
Then his phone rang.
The screen showed an unknown number.
Sebastian answered.
A voice came through.
A voice I recognized.
Because I had heard it before.
The night Mia disappeared.
Sebastian slowly looked at me.
And whispered:
May you like
"Lena... it's the person who was with Mia that night."
Then the voice on the phone said my name.
