Chapter 3 - The Secret Hidden Behind The Archive Door
The archive door opened slowly.
Hazel stood behind Damian, frozen.
A minute ago, she thought the biggest danger in her life was Frankie Sullivan.
She was wrong.
Because the man standing inside Damian Romano’s private archive room was not a stranger.
He was someone Hazel recognized.
Someone she never expected to see again.
"Ethan..."
The name escaped her lips before she could stop herself.
Damian immediately turned.
"You know him?"
Hazel couldn't answer.
Her eyes stayed fixed on the man inside the room.
Ethan Brooks.
The man who disappeared six months ago.
The man who left her with a debt she never created.
The man she had spent countless nights wondering whether he was alive or dead.
But he was standing there.
Alive.
Calm.
And looking directly at her.
"Hello, Hazel."
Her entire body went cold.
Not because she was happy.
Because she realized something.
Ethan had never been missing.
He had been hiding.
Damian noticed her reaction.
The way her hands tightened.
The way her breathing changed.
The way she looked at Ethan like she was seeing a ghost.
Slowly, Damian stepped between them.
"You have five seconds to explain why you are inside my archive."
Ethan looked at Damian.
Then at Hazel.
A small smile appeared.
"Still protecting everyone except yourself, Damian?"
Hazel looked confused.
"You know him?"
Damian's expression remained cold.
"I know enough."
Ethan walked out of the archive room slowly.
He wasn't afraid.
That bothered Hazel.
Everyone who entered Damian Romano's personal space showed fear.
Except Ethan.
Which meant he knew something.
Something important.
Damian's hand moved slightly.
A silent warning.
But Ethan noticed.
"You haven't changed."
Damian stared at him.
"Neither have you."
The tension between them filled the hallway.
Hazel looked from one man to the other.
She felt like she had walked into a conversation that started years before she arrived.
"Someone explain what is happening."
Neither answered.
That made her angry.
"I said explain."
Her voice surprised both men.
Especially Damian.
Because Hazel was not supposed to speak like that.
Not to him.
Not here.
But she was tired.
Tired of secrets.
Tired of people deciding what she was allowed to know.
Ethan looked at her.
"He's been protecting you."
Hazel froze.
"What?"
Damian immediately looked at Ethan.
"Don't."
But Ethan continued.
"She deserves to know."
"Not from you."
Hazel looked at Damian.
"Protecting me from what?"
Silence.
A terrible silence.
Because silence meant the answer was worse than she imagined.
Damian looked away.
That was enough.
Hazel took a step back.
"All this time..."
Her voice shook.
"You knew something about me?"
Damian didn't deny it.
That hurt more.
"How long?"
"Hazel."
"How long did you know?"
Damian remained quiet.
Ethan answered for him.
"Before you started working here."
Her face changed.
Before.
The word echoed.
Hazel looked at Damian.
"You hired me because of this?"
Damian's expression hardened.
"No."
"Then why?"
"Because someone was watching you."
She stopped.
"What?"
Damian walked toward the archive room.
Inside, hundreds of documents filled the shelves.
But one section had been disturbed.
Someone had searched through it.
He picked up a folder from the desk.
Then handed it to Hazel.
She looked at the label.
Her name was written on it.
HAZEL BROOKS.
Her fingers trembled.
"Why do you have a file about me?"
Damian didn't answer immediately.
Because he knew the truth would change everything.
"Because six months ago, someone tried to erase your existence."
Hazel stared at him.
"What does that mean?"
Damian opened the folder.
Inside were photographs.
Documents.
Reports.
Pictures of Hazel leaving work.
Pictures of Ethan meeting strangers.
Records of financial transfers.
Her entire life.
Documented.
Watched.
She felt sick.
"Who did this?"
Damian looked at Ethan.
Ethan lowered his eyes.
And that was the first time Hazel noticed.
He was afraid.
Not of Damian.
Of something else.
"Ethan."
He didn't answer.
"Ethan, who did this?"
His voice became quiet.
"The same person who gave Frankie Sullivan your name."
Hazel stepped back.
"What?"
Ethan looked at her.
"I didn't disappear because I wanted to leave you."
Her eyes filled with anger.
"You disappeared and left me with sixty thousand dollars."
"I was trying to keep you alive."
The words hit harder than she expected.
Because they sounded real.
But Hazel had been hurt too much to believe easily.
"You could have told me."
"I couldn't."
"Why?"
Ethan looked toward Damian.
"Because he was already involved."
Hazel turned.
Damian's face remained unreadable.
But she saw something.
Guilt.
Small.
Almost invisible.
But there.
"What does he mean?"
Damian walked to the window.
For the first time, he looked tired.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
"Your ex-boyfriend discovered something he wasn't supposed to find."
"What?"
"A connection between Frankie Sullivan and someone inside my organization."
Hazel stared.
"Someone inside your organization?"
Damian nodded.
"Someone who has been feeding information to Sullivan."
Ethan continued.
"And someone who wanted Hazel gone."
Hazel looked at him.
"Why me?"
Neither man answered.
That scared her more than anything.
Because she knew there was a reason.
A real reason.
Damian returned to the desk.
He opened another compartment.
Inside was a small object.
A necklace.
Hazel recognized it immediately.
Her mother's necklace.
Her breath stopped.
"Where did you get that?"
Damian looked at it.
"Your mother gave this to someone before she died."
Hazel froze.
"My mother?"
She had lost her mother when she was young.
There had never been any mystery.
At least, that's what she believed.
"What are you saying?"
Damian looked directly at her.
"Your mother wasn't the person you were told she was."
The room became silent.
Hazel felt like the ground moved beneath her.
She reached for the necklace.
But Damian didn't give it to her immediately.
"Before I give this to you, you need to understand something."
"What?"
"Everything you know about the last ten years may be wrong."
Hazel stared at him.
"No."
The word came out quietly.
Because she didn't want to believe it.
Because believing it meant her entire life had been built on a lie.
Ethan stepped forward.
"Hazel."
She looked at him.
"I tried to find a way to tell you."
"You had six months."
"I was being watched."
"And I was drowning."
The guilt on Ethan's face was real.
But it wasn't enough.
Not yet.
A sudden sound interrupted them.
A phone vibrating.
Everyone looked toward the archive desk.
Damian's security tablet.
A new message appeared.
UNKNOWN SENDER.
Damian picked it up.
The screen showed only one sentence.
STOP LOOKING FOR HER.
Hazel stared.
"For me?"
Damian didn't answer.
Another message appeared.
This time with an attachment.
A photograph.
Damian opened it.
Then his face changed.
Hazel noticed.
"What is it?"
He turned the screen slowly.
The photo showed Hazel.
Sleeping inside Damian's study.
Taken just minutes earlier.
From inside the locked room.
Hazel's blood ran cold.
"Someone was here."
Damian looked toward the hallway.
"No."
His voice was barely a whisper.
Hazel looked at him.
"What?"
Damian tightened his grip on the tablet.
"Someone is still here."
The security alarm suddenly stopped.
Every light turned off.
The estate went completely dark.
Then, from somewhere inside the archive room, a quiet voice whispered:
"Hazel..."
She turned toward the sound.
Because she knew that voice.
It was impossible.
May you like
It belonged to someone who had been dead for years.
And the hidden door behind the bookshelf slowly began to open.
