Chapter 4 - The Woman Behind The Hidden Door
The hidden door opened wider.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Hazel stared into the darkness behind the bookshelf.
A place that shouldn't exist.
A place Damian had never mentioned.
A place someone had just used to enter his private archive.
Her heart was beating so loudly that she could barely hear anything else.
Then the voice came again.
"Hazel..."
Her body froze.
Because she knew that voice.
She had heard it every night in her memories.
A voice from her childhood.
A voice she thought she would never hear again.
"No..."
The word escaped her mouth.
Damian looked at her.
"You know that voice?"
Hazel couldn't answer.
Her eyes remained fixed on the opening.
Slowly, a figure stepped forward.
A woman.
Older.
Pale.
Tired.
But alive.
Hazel stopped breathing.
Because the woman standing in front of her was someone she had buried years ago.
Her mother.
"Hazel."
The woman's voice broke.
"I finally found you."
Hazel stepped backward.
"No."
She shook her head.
"No, this isn't possible."
Ethan moved closer.
But Damian stopped him.
"Don't."
Ethan looked confused.
"Damian..."
"Let her process this."
Hazel looked between them.
Both men knew.
They both knew.
That was the part that hurt the most.
Everyone had known something about her life except her.
Her mother looked at Damian.
"She wasn't supposed to find out like this."
Damian's expression hardened.
"Neither were you supposed to come here."
The woman looked away.
"I didn't have another choice."
Hazel finally found her voice.
"Someone explain."
Her mother looked at her.
The tears in her eyes made Hazel hesitate.
Because a part of her wanted to run toward her.
A part of her wanted to believe.
But another part remembered the empty years.
The funeral.
The goodbye.
The life she had lived without her.
"You died."
The woman closed her eyes.
"I know."
"You died."
Hazel repeated it louder.
"I watched them bury you."
"I know."
"Then who was in that grave?"
Silence.
The answer was already there.
But nobody wanted to say it.
Damian walked toward the desk.
"We need to leave this room."
Hazel turned.
"Why?"
"Because if someone found this archive, they know about the hidden entrance."
As if his words summoned it, the security system suddenly activated again.
A warning flashed.
MOVEMENT DETECTED.
Damian looked at the screen.
His expression changed.
"They're inside the building."
Hazel looked around.
"Who?"
Damian grabbed the communication device.
"Adrian, lock down the lower levels."
A voice answered immediately.
"Already done."
"How many?"
A pause.
"Three."
Damian's jaw tightened.
Hazel's mother looked afraid.
Not confused.
Afraid.
She knew exactly who they were.
Damian noticed.
"You recognize them."
The woman said nothing.
"Who are they?"
Still nothing.
Damian stepped closer.
"I protected your daughter because I thought you were protecting her from the truth."
His voice became colder.
"But now I need to know what you were protecting her from."
The woman looked at Hazel.
Then at Damian.
"From the same people who destroyed my life."
Hazel felt a chill.
"Who?"
Her mother reached into her coat.
Everyone reacted immediately.
Damian moved in front of Hazel.
Ethan stepped back.
But the woman didn't pull out a weapon.
She pulled out a small photograph.
She handed it to Hazel.
Hazel looked down.
The photo showed a younger version of her mother.
Standing beside another person.
A man.
A man Hazel recognized.
She looked at Damian.
Then back at the photo.
Because the man standing next to her mother...
Was Damian's father.
Damian saw it.
His expression changed.
"Where did you get that?"
Her mother whispered:
"He was the reason I disappeared."
The room became silent.
Hazel looked at Damian.
For the first time, she saw uncertainty in his eyes.
"You knew my mother?"
Damian didn't answer.
That was enough.
Hazel felt betrayed again.
"How many secrets are there?"
Damian looked at her.
"I didn't know she was alive."
"But you knew my father knew her."
A pause.
"Yes."
Hazel laughed quietly.
Not because it was funny.
Because she didn't know what else to do.
"Everyone knows pieces of my life except me."
Her mother stepped forward.
"Hazel, please."
"No."
Hazel looked at her.
"You don't get to disappear for years and come back asking me to trust you."
The woman's face broke.
"I did it to protect you."
"From what?"
A long silence.
Then:
"From Damian's family."
Damian's expression changed.
Hazel noticed.
"Your family?"
Damian looked away.
The answer hurt more than words.
"My father was not the man I thought he was."
Hazel stared.
"What does that mean?"
Before Damian could answer, the lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then the entire archive went dark.
A second later, emergency lights turned on.
Red.
Slow.
Warning.
The security screen displayed a new message.
NO SIGNAL.
Someone had cut communication to the estate.
Damian immediately moved.
"We need to go."
Hazel looked at him.
"Where?"
"Somewhere secure."
Her mother grabbed Hazel's hand.
Hazel froze.
The touch felt familiar.
Painfully familiar.
For one second, she was a child again.
Then she remembered.
She pulled away.
"Don't."
Her mother looked hurt.
But she nodded.
"I understand."
They moved through the archive.
Damian led them toward another hidden passage.
Hazel followed behind.
Her mind was overwhelmed.
Her mother was alive.
Ethan had been protecting her.
Damian had known more than he admitted.
And now someone was attacking the estate because of her.
She wanted answers.
But she was starting to realize something terrifying.
The truth might destroy everything.
They reached a small security room hidden beneath the third floor.
Damian opened the door.
Inside were monitors showing every area of the estate.
Hazel watched the screens.
Three figures moved through the halls.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Like they knew exactly where they were going.
"They're not searching."
Damian looked at her.
"What?"
Hazel pointed.
"They know where they are going."
Damian studied the screen.
She was right.
They weren't looking for something.
They were following a plan.
His expression became serious.
"They came for someone."
Hazel looked at him.
"Who?"
Before Damian answered, one of the cameras turned.
The person looked directly into the lens.
Like they knew they were being watched.
Then the screen changed.
A message appeared.
Not from security.
From the intruder.
HAZEL BROOKS.
YOU WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO MEET HER.
Hazel stepped closer.
Her mother's face went pale.
"No..."
Damian looked at her.
"Who sent that?"
The woman whispered:
"He found us."
The screen changed again.
A second message appeared.
THIS TIME, I WILL FINISH WHAT I STARTED.
Hazel looked at her mother.
"What did you start?"
Her mother didn't answer.
May you like
Because behind them...
The security room door slowly unlocked.
