Chapter 5 - The Name on the List
Darkness swallowed the room.
I heard Dmitri move.
Then Victor grabbed my hand.
“Stay close.”
The emergency lights flickered on.
Evelyn was gone.
Her chair was empty.
Dmitri cursed.
“She couldn't have left.”
Victor looked around.
“There must be another exit.”
We found it behind a storage cabinet.
But Evelyn was nowhere.
Victor ordered the hotel searched.
Then he turned toward me.
“You need to call your family.”
I immediately grabbed my phone.
Three missed calls.
All from Daniel.
I called.
No answer.
I called again.
Still nothing.
My chest tightened.
Then a message arrived.
Unknown number.
Go to the east entrance alone.
I showed Victor.
His expression changed.
“Don't answer.”
Another message arrived.
We have your brother.
I stopped breathing.
Victor took the phone from my hand.
“Dmitri.”
“Already tracing it.”
I grabbed his arm.
“My brother is fifteen.”
“I know.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand exactly.”
Victor looked at me.
“They're using your family to control you.”
“Then let me go.”
“No.”
“If I don't go, they could hurt him.”
Victor’s voice softened.
“We'll get him back.”
I stared at him.
“You don't know where he is.”
“I know more than you think.”
He handed the phone to Dmitri.
“Trace everything.”
Then Victor called someone.
“Open the old security archive.”
A voice answered.
Victor gave a password.
The monitor displayed footage from months earlier.
I watched Clara entering the hotel.
Leon was beside her.
Then I saw myself.
I was working in the background.
Victor paused the footage.
“That was three months ago.”
I frowned.
“I've worked here longer.”
Victor zoomed in.
A man was standing behind me.
My blood went cold.
I recognized him.
“He came to our apartment.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Victor studied the image.
“He's one of Leon's people.”
The screen changed.
Another video appeared.
My mother leaving a clinic.
Then Daniel.
Then me.
They had been watching us.
For months.
I felt tears burn my eyes.
Victor noticed.
“This isn't your fault.”
I shook my head.
“I should have seen it.”
“You're a maid, Lena. You're not supposed to expect powerful people to build a trap around your family.”
His words made me look at him.
For the first time, Victor didn't look like the untouchable businessman everyone whispered about.
He looked tired.
Human.
Then Dmitri rushed in.
“We found Daniel.”
I stood.
“Where?”
“Outside the hotel.”
Relief hit me so hard my knees weakened.
But Dmitri didn't smile.
“He's alone.”
“What?”
“He was left beside a black car.”
Victor looked at the screen.
“Is he hurt?”
“No.”
“Then what's wrong?”
Dmitri placed a small envelope on the table.
“This was attached to his jacket.”
Victor opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
It showed me punching Victor.
Underneath were four words.
SHE SAVED THE WRONG MAN.
Victor stared at the message.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
A distorted voice spoke.
“Ask Lena what her father did.”
I looked at Victor.
My father had been dead for twelve years.
May you like
The voice continued.
“Because Clara didn't choose Lena by accident.”
