Chapter 6 - The Name on the Floor
We arrived at the museum twenty minutes later.
Police lights flashed outside.
Elena stood near the entrance.
She ran toward me.
"I tried calling."
"I know."
She looked at Roman.
"He's really here."
Roman nodded.
"Where is the archive?"
"Second floor."
We climbed the stairs.
The door was open.
Inside, hundreds of boxes remained untouched.
Except one.
Box 417.
The lid was on the floor.
My hands went cold.
Roman entered first.
I followed.
The letter was gone.
But something else had been left behind.
A small brass key.
I recognized it.
It belonged to the old museum storage vault.
Elena picked it up.
"What does it open?"
"The basement archive."
Roman looked at me.
"Let's go."
We descended.
The basement smelled of dust and old paper.
The vault was at the end of the corridor.
I inserted the key.
It turned.
Inside were thousands of records.
Property deeds.
Letters.
Photographs.
Old contracts.
Then I saw a familiar handwriting.
Roman's former partner.
I pulled out a folder.
Inside was the original letter.
I stared.
"How did this get here?"
Roman took it.
His expression changed as he read.
"What does it say?"
He didn't answer immediately.
Then he handed it to me.
The letter revealed everything.
The missing money.
The manipulated companies.
The person behind the scheme.
Mrs. Volkov.
But there was one final paragraph.
I trusted only one person to keep this evidence safe. Oleg Vulov.
My father's name.
I looked at Roman.
"My father protected it."
"Yes."
Then I saw something else.
A second sheet.
A list of people who knew.
My father.
My mother.
Natalya.
Roman.
And me.
But beside my name was a date.
Three years earlier.
The same year I had cataloged the letter.
Someone had been tracking me since then.
A noise came from the corridor.
We froze.
Footsteps.
Roman turned off the light.
Someone entered the basement.
A shadow moved across the doorway.
Elena whispered:
"Who is that?"
Roman motioned for silence.
The footsteps came closer.
Then a woman's voice spoke.
"Paulina?"
I recognized it.
My mother's.
I stepped forward.
"Mom?"
Roman caught my arm.
The voice came again.
"Paulina, come out."
But something was wrong.
My mother's voice sounded frightened.
Not commanding.
Desperate.
I looked at Roman.
He nodded.
We stepped into the corridor.
My mother stood there.
She was alone.
Her coat was wet from rain.
She looked at the letter.
Then at me.
"Oh, Paulina."
She began to cry.
"I was afraid this would happen."
"What?"
She looked at Roman.
"She knows."
Roman stepped forward.
"Who?"
My mother wiped her eyes.
"Mrs. Volkov."
A loud crash came from behind us.
We turned.
The vault door slammed shut.
Someone had locked it from the outside.
My mother screamed.
Roman ran toward it.
I heard another sound.
A phone ringing.
Not mine.
Not Roman's.
My mother's.
She looked down.
The caller ID showed a name.
Natalya.
My mother answered.
No one spoke.
Then a whisper came through the phone.
"Mom..."
My sister sounded terrified.
"She's coming for Paulina."
The call ended.
Roman stared at me.
Then my mother said the words that changed everything.
"Natalya wasn't kidnapped."
I looked at her.
"Then where is she?"
My mother pointed toward the locked vault.
May you like
"She's been hiding from the same woman we have."
Then the lights went out.
