Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Was Supposed To Be Dead
The video froze.
Not because the file ended.
Because someone had disconnected it.
The screen went black.
The basement became completely silent.
I stared at my phone.
My aunt's voice was still echoing in my head.
"Emma."
Just my name.
Nothing else.
But somehow, that was enough.
Because I knew her voice.
I had heard it hundreds of times.
When I was a child.
When I was afraid.
When I needed someone to tell me everything would be okay.
And now, years after her death, I had heard her speaking from a video that was never supposed to exist.
Daniel stepped backward.
His face had lost all color.
"You need to leave."
I looked at him.
"What?"
"You need to leave this house right now."
I almost laughed.
The man who spent six years convincing me everything belonged to him was suddenly telling me to leave my own house.
"Why?"
He looked toward the basement entrance.
"Because you don't understand what you're looking at."
I held up my phone.
"No, Daniel. I think I'm finally understanding."
Lorraine walked toward me.
"Emma."
I looked at her.
"Don't."
She stopped.
For the first time, she looked like she was afraid of me.
Not because I was threatening her.
Because I was no longer the woman who stayed quiet.
"I want the truth."
Nobody spoke.
"I want every single thing you both have hidden from me."
Daniel shook his head.
"It's not that simple."
I looked around the basement.
The files.
The photographs.
My aunt's notes.
Everything she had spent years collecting.
"It looks pretty simple from where I'm standing."
Daniel closed his eyes.
Then he whispered:
"Your aunt wasn't supposed to find out."
The words hit me.
Not because they surprised me.
Because they confirmed everything.
"You just admitted it."
He opened his eyes.
"I didn't mean—"
"You did."
I stepped closer.
"What wasn't she supposed to find out?"
Daniel didn't answer.
Lorraine did.
"The truth about the company."
I turned toward her.
"What truth?"
She looked at Daniel.
Then at me.
"Daniel wasn't just borrowing money from your accounts."
My stomach tightened.
"He was hiding debt."
Daniel's expression hardened.
"Mom."
"No."
Lorraine's voice became stronger.
"You let her believe you built everything yourself."
Daniel looked angry.
"Stop."
"You let her pay bills. You let her support you. You let her believe you were creating a future together."
I stared at Daniel.
He didn't deny it.
That hurt more than if he had screamed.
Because silence was confirmation.
I remembered every conversation.
Every dinner where he talked about his company.
Every time he said:
"One day, you'll see I made it."
I thought he meant he wanted to succeed.
I never realized he meant he wanted me to believe a story.
I walked toward the desk again.
There were more files.
One folder had my aunt's name written across it.
Another had Daniel's.
And a third folder had only one word.
"Emma."
My hands froze.
I opened it.
Inside were documents.
Photos.
Letters.
And a small recording device.
My aunt had prepared everything.
Not after something happened.
Before.
She had known something was coming.
I picked up the first letter.
The date was three weeks before she died.
"Emma, if you're reading this, I failed to tell you in person."
I swallowed.
The next line made my hands shake.
"I trusted Daniel because you loved him. I wanted to believe I was wrong."
I looked at Daniel.
He was watching me.
The fear in his eyes was no longer hidden.
I kept reading.
"But I discovered something that changed everything."
The basement suddenly felt colder.
I turned the page.
"My death may not have been an accident."
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
I looked up.
Daniel whispered:
"Stop reading."
I ignored him.
The next page had a photograph attached.
A picture of my aunt's car.
Parked outside her house.
The night she died.
Underneath the photo, she had written:
"The person who came to see me was not alone."
My eyes moved to the next sentence.
"He brought someone I trusted."
I looked at Daniel.
"Who was with you?"
He didn't answer.
"Daniel."
Still nothing.
I slammed the file onto the desk.
"Who was with you?"
His face changed.
Like he was fighting between telling me the truth and protecting himself.
Finally, he said:
"Someone from the company."
"Who?"
He looked away.
"Someone who knew about the money."
I felt my chest tighten.
"Name."
He stayed silent.
Lorraine whispered:
"Victor."
Daniel looked at her.
Too late.
I heard it.
A name.
A person.
A secret.
"Who is Victor?"
Daniel sat down.
The confidence was gone.
"He was my business partner."
"WAS?"
Daniel didn't answer.
I walked closer.
"What happened to him?"
He looked at me.
"He disappeared."
"When?"
"The same week your aunt died."
Everything connected.
The hidden files.
The money.
The basement.
The video.
The person my aunt said should not be found.
I looked at my phone.
The frozen video screen.
My aunt's voice.
Someone had recorded that night.
Someone had seen everything.
"Where is Victor now?"
Daniel looked toward the basement door.
"I don't know."
I studied his face.
And I knew he was lying.
Not because I had proof.
Because I had spent six years learning his expressions.
The small pause before a lie.
The way his eyes moved.
The way his voice changed.
I knew him.
Maybe better than he knew himself.
"Daniel."
He looked at me.
"Tell me the truth."
He stayed quiet.
Then his phone rang.
Everyone looked at it.
The screen showed a number.
No name.
Daniel immediately rejected the call.
A second later, it rang again.
This time, Lorraine looked nervous.
"Don't answer."
I noticed.
"Why?"
Nobody replied.
The phone kept ringing.
Finally, Daniel picked it up.
He didn't say hello.
He just listened.
And whatever he heard made him stand completely still.
His face changed.
Not fear.
Shock.
Then the person on the other end spoke.
I couldn't hear the words.
But Daniel could.
Because after five seconds, he whispered:
"That's impossible."
I stepped closer.
"Who is it?"
He ended the call.
Nobody spoke.
"Daniel."
He looked at me.
And for the first time since this nightmare began, he looked like he needed me.
Not as a wife.
Not as someone to cook.
Not as someone to fix his problems.
As someone who could save him.
"Emma..."
I waited.
"Victor is alive."
The room went silent.
I felt my heartbeat in my ears.
"The man you said disappeared?"
Daniel nodded slowly.
"He called me."
I looked at the basement files.
The photographs.
My aunt's warning.
Then back at him.
"What did he want?"
Daniel looked terrified.
"He said he has the original recording from the night your aunt died."
My breath stopped.
"And?"
Daniel's voice dropped.
"He said he wasn't the person who hurt her."
A cold feeling moved through me.
"Then who was?"
Daniel didn't answer.
Because before he could speak...
The basement lights suddenly turned off.
Every light.
At the exact same time.
The darkness swallowed the room.
Then my phone lit up.
A new message.
Unknown number.
May you like
Only three words appeared:
"Look behind you."
