Chapter 2 - The Voice I Trusted
I stayed beneath that bed long after the man stopped speaking.
Because sometimes the most dangerous moments in life are not when you discover an enemy.
They are when you discover you were wrong about who your enemy was.
Above me, Grace stood frozen.
The man standing in front of her didn't move.
Neither did I.
For years, I had believed I understood every person around me.
I knew who wanted my approval.
I knew who wanted my money.
I knew who wanted my position.
But this man was different.
He was someone I had invited into my home.
Someone I had defended.
Someone I had trusted when nobody else was allowed near me.
Daniel Cross.
My closest advisor.
My right hand.
The man who had stood beside me through every difficult negotiation.
The man who knew where my companies were located.
The man who knew my private accounts.
The man who knew exactly how much Grace meant to me.
And now he was standing above my wife while she cried.
"Did you tell Elias anything?" Daniel asked again.
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
Grace wiped her tears quickly.
"I told you I couldn't keep doing this."
Daniel stepped closer.
"You don't have a choice."
My hand tightened.
Every instinct inside me wanted to move.
To grab him.
To force answers out of him.
But I stayed still.
Because I needed the truth.
Not revenge.
Not anger.
The truth.
Grace lowered her voice.
"You promised nobody would get hurt."
Daniel sighed.
"I said I would handle it."
"You said Elias would never find out."
There was a pause.
Then Daniel said something that made my entire body go cold.
"He wasn't supposed to."
I stared into the darkness beneath the bed.
Wasn't supposed to?
Those words carried more meaning than a confession.
They meant there had been a plan.
A plan involving me.
Grace walked away from him.
"You don't understand what you're asking me to do."
Daniel's voice became sharper.
"What I understand is that you still haven't accepted what happens if Elias learns everything."
Grace stopped.
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying your husband built an empire because he trusts nobody."
A pause.
"But you were the one person who could destroy him."
My breathing slowed.
Not because I was calm.
Because I was trying to control myself.
Grace whispered:
"I never wanted this."
Daniel answered immediately.
"Then you should have stayed away from him."
The room became silent.
My mind replayed that sentence.
Stayed away from him.
What did that mean?
Before I could think further, Daniel moved toward the door.
"I'll give you until midnight."
Grace didn't answer.
The door opened.
Then closed.
I remained beneath the bed.
Waiting.
Counting.
Listening.
Grace didn't move for several seconds.
Then I heard her sit down.
The mattress lowered.
A quiet sob escaped her.
I wanted to come out.
I wanted to tell her I knew.
I wanted to ask why.
But something stopped me.
Because there was one question I needed answered first.
Was Grace protecting me?
Or was she protecting herself?
I waited until I heard her leave the bedroom.
Then I slowly crawled out.
My legs felt heavy.
Not from the position.
From everything I had heard.
I looked around the room.
The place where I had slept beside my wife for years suddenly felt unfamiliar.
Like I was standing inside a stranger's house.
I walked toward the nightstand.
Grace's phone was still there.
I stared at it.
I had spent years telling myself I was different from the people who worked for me.
I didn't invade the privacy of the people I loved.
I didn't manipulate.
I didn't control.
But that night, I stopped pretending I was above the world I lived in.
I picked up the phone.
The screen was locked.
I almost laughed.
Because I knew the password.
Grace's birthday.
The first thing I noticed was not the messages.
It was the number of deleted conversations.
Someone had been careful.
Very careful.
I opened the recent calls.
Daniel's name appeared multiple times.
But there was something else.
A blocked number.
Twenty-seven calls.
All within the last week.
I clicked it.
Nothing.
No contact name.
No information.
Just a history of fear.
Then I found a message draft.
It had never been sent.
My fingers froze.
The message was written to Daniel.
"I can't keep lying to him. Elias deserves to know what happened that night."
That night.
I read it again.
Then again.
What night?
I searched deeper.
Photos.
Documents.
Notes.
Nothing.
Grace had cleaned everything.
But people always leave something behind.
Everyone does.
A photo.
A word.
A mistake.
I checked the recently deleted folder.
There was one picture.
My heart stopped before I even opened it.
Because the image showed my house.
Taken from outside.
The angle was strange.
Like someone had been watching.
I zoomed in.
The photo showed the bedroom window.
My bedroom window.
And beneath it was a timestamp.
Three months ago.
The night Grace first started acting differently.
I looked at the picture again.
Then I noticed something in the reflection.
A person standing outside.
Not close enough to identify.
But close enough to prove one thing.
Someone had been watching us.
I heard a noise downstairs.
I immediately locked the phone screen.
Footsteps.
Someone was coming.
I placed the phone back exactly where I found it.
Then I stepped into the darkness beside the closet.
The bedroom door opened.
Grace entered.
She looked exhausted.
Broken.
For a moment, I almost forgot everything.
Because she wasn't the woman who betrayed me.
She looked like someone who had been trapped.
Someone who had been carrying a secret alone.
She sat on the bed.
Then she whispered:
"Elias..."
My heart reacted before my mind did.
She said my name like she wished I was there.
Like she needed me.
Then she covered her face.
"I am so sorry."
I stayed silent.
Because I needed to know what came next.
Grace reached into the drawer beside the bed.
She removed a small envelope.
My eyes narrowed.
I had searched that drawer.
There was nothing there.
She opened the envelope.
Inside was a document.
She stared at it for a long time.
Then she whispered:
"If he finds out what happened to his brother..."
I stopped breathing.
My brother?
I didn't have a brother.
Not anymore.
Daniel had always told me my brother's death was an accident.
A tragedy.
Something we could never change.
But Grace knew something.
Something about the night my brother disappeared.
Something Daniel never told me.
Before I could move closer, Grace's phone suddenly lit up.
A new message appeared.
She looked at the screen.
And the color disappeared from her face.
I couldn't see the message.
Only her reaction.
She slowly stood.
Then she whispered:
"No..."
Another notification appeared.
This time, I saw the sender.
It was from Daniel.
But the message wasn't for Grace.
It was a warning.
A warning with my name.
May you like
Grace turned toward the bedroom door.
And then the door handle started moving.
