Chapter 4 - The Secret Hidden In Her Memory
The photo stayed on Adrian Moretti's phone.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody moved.
Because everyone in the room understood the impossible truth staring back at them.
Matteo Moretti was alive.
Or someone wanted them to believe he was.
Adrian stared at the image.
The reflection in the hospital window.
The black coat.
The familiar face.
The same eyes he had seen in old family photographs.
The same man he had watched disappear eight years ago.
"No."
The word left Adrian's mouth quietly.
Gina looked at him.
"Adrian?"
He didn't answer.
Because his mind had already returned to that night.
Eight years earlier.
The night everything changed.
The night Matteo vanished.
Everyone had told Adrian the same story.
His younger brother had betrayed the family.
His younger brother had been caught.
His younger brother had died trying to escape.
Adrian had believed it.
Because believing it was easier than accepting the alternative.
That someone inside his own family had destroyed them.
But now...
A dead man was sending messages.
A dead man was leaving warnings.
And a stranger who had spent nineteen mornings beside him somehow had the evidence.
Adrian looked at Gina.
"Give me your sketchbook."
She hesitated.
"Why?"
"Because whatever is happening started before you entered this room."
Gina slowly handed it over.
Adrian turned through the pages.
Every drawing.
Every note.
Every small detail.
At first, they looked harmless.
A lonely woman keeping company with an unconscious patient.
But Adrian knew better.
Small details were where people hid the truth.
He stopped at a drawing from the seventh morning.
Behind his own face was another reflection.
A shadow.
A figure standing near the medical equipment.
Not Matteo.
Someone else.
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
"You saw him."
Gina shook her head.
"I didn't."
"You drew him."
"No."
Her voice became frustrated.
"I draw what I see."
Adrian looked at her.
"And you saw someone standing behind me."
Gina looked at the page again.
Her expression changed.
Because she realized something.
"I thought it was just a mistake."
"What mistake?"
"I thought I accidentally drew a shadow."
Adrian closed the notebook.
"No."
He looked toward the door.
"Someone was here."
Marco stepped closer.
"Boss, we searched the room."
Adrian looked at him.
"Did you search the walls?"
Marco stopped.
The silence answered.
Adrian pushed the blanket away.
Gina immediately stepped forward.
"You shouldn't stand."
"I need to."
"You almost died."
Adrian looked at her.
"And someone wants to know if I survived."
For a moment, Gina said nothing.
Then she quietly asked:
"Who are you really?"
The question had been waiting between them since the moment he opened his eyes.
Adrian expected fear.
Judgment.
Maybe disgust.
Instead, Gina looked tired.
Like she was not afraid of the answer.
"My name is Adrian Moretti."
She waited.
Nothing happened.
No reaction.
That surprised him.
"You don't know that name?"
Gina shook her head.
"Should I?"
Marco almost laughed.
But stopped when Adrian looked at him.
Gina continued.
"I know people here are scared of you."
A pause.
"But I don't know why."
Adrian studied her.
"You really have no idea who I am."
"No."
That was the first time he believed her completely.
Because nobody pretending would say it that honestly.
Adrian walked toward the window.
The city lights reflected against the glass.
"Moretti."
He said his own name quietly.
"For years, that name meant power."
He looked back at Gina.
"But it also meant enemies."
Gina watched him.
"Matteo was your brother."
Adrian froze.
"You heard that."
"The phone call."
She lowered her voice.
"He called you brother."
Adrian looked away.
"Yes."
"What happened to him?"
The question was simple.
The answer wasn't.
"He died."
Gina noticed the hesitation.
"You don't believe that."
Adrian said nothing.
That was her answer.
Before she could ask more, the hospital monitor beside Adrian suddenly beeped.
A warning.
Everyone turned.
The screen flickered.
Then went black.
The room became silent.
Marco immediately moved toward the machine.
"What happened?"
The nurse station outside started shouting.
Someone had cut the power.
Again.
Adrian looked at Gina.
"Stay here."
She frowned.
"You're going after whoever did this."
"Yes."
"Then I'm coming."
"No."
The answer was immediate.
Gina looked offended.
"You think I should sit here alone?"
Adrian paused.
Because she had a point.
The person who entered the room wasn't after him only.
They were interested in her.
He looked at Marco.
"Take her."
Gina shook her head.
"I don't need protection."
Adrian looked at her.
"Everyone needs protection."
The way he said it made her quiet.
Because it didn't sound like arrogance.
It sounded like experience.
A few minutes later, security returned.
Nothing.
No intruder.
No broken locks.
No evidence.
Only one thing was different.
The hospital room window.
A small envelope had been placed on the inside ledge.
Nobody had seen anyone enter.
Adrian stared at it.
Marco immediately stepped forward.
"Don't touch it."
Adrian ignored him.
He picked it up.
The envelope had no name.
Only one symbol.
A black circle.
Adrian's expression changed.
Gina noticed.
"You know that symbol."
He opened the envelope.
Inside was a single photograph.
An old photograph.
A family photo.
Adrian.
Matteo.
Their father.
Their mother.
And a young girl standing beside them.
A girl Adrian had never seen before.
On the back of the photo was one sentence.
Adrian read it silently.
Then his face changed.
Gina moved closer.
"What does it say?"
Adrian didn't answer immediately.
Because the handwriting belonged to his father.
The father who had died ten years ago.
The father who had taken every family secret to the grave.
The message said:
"The girl beside Matteo is the reason your brother disappeared."
Gina looked at the photograph.
"Who is she?"
Adrian turned the picture over again.
There was something else written underneath.
A name.
A name that made his entire body go cold.
Because it was not Matteo's secret.
It was his.
Adrian slowly whispered:
"Gina..."
She looked at him.
"Why are you saying my name?"
Adrian looked up.
For the first time since waking up, he looked genuinely afraid.
Because the girl in the photograph...
Was Gina.
But younger.
Standing beside Matteo.
And behind the photo was one more sentence.
A warning.
"She doesn't remember what she did."
At that exact moment, someone knocked on the hospital room door.
Three slow knocks.
Adrian looked toward it.
May you like
Because nobody was supposed to know they were there.
The door handle started turning.
