Chapter 4 - The Voice Behind the Locked Room
The phone kept ringing.
My mother's favorite song echoed from inside the dark archive room.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
For a few seconds, the entire executive floor of Blackwood Tower felt frozen.
I looked at Adrian.
His face had lost all color.
Not the face of a billionaire.
Not the face of a man who controlled thousands of employees.
The face of someone who had just seen a ghost.
"That song..." I whispered.
Adrian didn't answer.
He stepped closer to the doorway.
"Stay back."
The command was quiet.
But serious.
I frowned.
"Why?"
His eyes remained fixed on the darkness inside.
"Because whoever did this wants someone to enter first."
The words made my stomach tighten.
Daniel stepped beside him.
"Mr. Blackwood, we should wait for the police."
"No."
Adrian's answer came immediately.
Daniel looked surprised.
"Sir."
"No police."
The security officer stared at him.
"Why?"
Adrian finally looked away from the room.
"Because if the person who did this is who I think it is..."
He stopped.
"Calling the police will only warn them."
I felt a chill.
"Who are you talking about?"
Nobody answered.
That was becoming a pattern.
Everyone knew something.
Everyone was afraid.
And somehow, I was always the last person to learn the truth.
I stepped forward.
Adrian immediately noticed.
"Emily."
"What?"
"Don't."
I looked at him.
"My mother died because of this."
Silence.
"I deserve to know what is inside that room."
Adrian looked like he wanted to argue.
But he didn't.
Maybe because he knew I was right.
Maybe because he knew he had kept enough secrets from me.
The archive door remained open.
Dark.
Silent.
Waiting.
Daniel turned on his flashlight.
The beam moved across the room.
Rows of shelves.
Old documents.
Hard drives.
Boxes labeled with dates.
Everything looked untouched.
Except for one thing.
A small table in the center of the room.
And on top of it...
A phone.
An old phone.
Playing the song.
My mother's song.
I walked closer.
Adrian followed.
The phone continued ringing.
But there was no caller ID.
Just one word on the screen.
"Emily."
I stopped.
My hands became cold.
"It knows my name."
Adrian stared at the phone.
"No."
I looked at him.
"What do you mean, no?"
His voice became low.
"It doesn't know your name."
He looked at the screen.
"It was programmed for you."
I stared at him.
"What?"
Before Adrian could explain, the phone stopped ringing.
The silence afterward felt worse.
Then the screen lit up again.
A message appeared.
One sentence.
"She deserves the truth."
My heart raced.
"Who sent that?"
Nobody knew.
Then another message appeared.
"Ask him about the night she disappeared."
I slowly turned toward Adrian.
The room became completely silent.
Because I knew exactly who "him" was.
Adrian Blackwood.
"What night?" I asked.
He didn't respond.
I stepped closer.
"What night did my mother disappear?"
Adrian looked away.
That was the answer.
Not a spoken answer.
But an answer.
"You lied to me."
His jaw tightened.
"I protected you."
"No."
My voice became louder.
"You hid it from me."
Daniel looked uncomfortable.
He moved slightly away.
Giving us space.
Adrian picked up the phone from the table.
"Your mother was investigating something dangerous."
"That's not what I asked."
He closed his eyes.
"The night she died..."
He stopped.
I waited.
"The night she disappeared from my life, she came here."
My breathing slowed.
"To this building?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Adrian looked at the shelves around us.
"Because she had evidence."
"Evidence about what?"
His silence returned.
I hated that silence.
"Say it."
Adrian looked at me.
"About someone close to me."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
That shocked me.
"You don't know?"
"No."
He placed the phone on the table.
"Your mother trusted very few people."
"Was she one of them?"
His expression changed.
"Yes."
The answer was immediate.
And somehow, that hurt more.
Because I realized Adrian Blackwood had known my mother.
Not casually.
Not professionally.
He knew her.
He cared about her.
And I had spent years knowing nothing.
"What happened after she came here?"
Adrian walked toward one of the shelves.
He pulled out an old box.
The label was faded.
But I could still read the date.
Twenty years ago.
He opened it.
Inside were papers.
Photographs.
Documents.
My hands shook.
I reached for one photograph.
It showed my mother standing in this exact room.
She looked younger.
Confident.
Alive.
Beside her stood Adrian.
And another person.
A man whose face had been scratched out.
Someone had deliberately damaged the photograph.
"Who is that?"
Adrian looked at it.
"I don't know."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I've spent twenty years trying to find out."
I looked through the documents.
Most were business records.
Financial reports.
Company files.
Then I found something.
A handwritten note.
My mother's handwriting.
I knew it immediately.
Because she had written birthday cards to me every year.
The letters were familiar.
The note said:
"Adrian is not the enemy. But he is surrounded by them."
I looked up.
Adrian was watching me.
"She wrote that?"
I nodded.
His face changed.
Like seeing her handwriting still had power over him.
"What else?"
I continued reading.
The bottom of the page contained another sentence.
"If anything happens to me, find Emily."
My heart stopped.
I looked at Adrian.
"She knew."
He didn't move.
"She knew something would happen."
Adrian lowered his head.
"Yes."
The answer was almost impossible to hear.
I stepped back.
"You knew my mother was in danger."
"I suspected."
"Suspected?"
My voice cracked.
"And you did nothing?"
His expression broke.
"I tried."
"No."
I shook my head.
"You failed."
Those words hurt him.
I could see it.
But I didn't care.
Because my entire life had been built around a lie.
My mother had not just died.
She had been running from something.
And Adrian Blackwood had been standing near the truth the entire time.
Before he could respond, Daniel's radio suddenly turned on.
A voice came through.
"Security breach resolved."
Daniel grabbed the radio.
"Who is speaking?"
Static.
Then:
"Mr. Reeves."
Daniel froze.
Because the voice was not coming from security.
It was coming from inside the archive room.
Everyone turned.
Slowly.
The flashlight moved toward the back corner.
There was another door.
A hidden door.
One that none of us had noticed.
The handle moved.
Once.
Twice.
Someone was inside.
Adrian stepped in front of me.
Daniel reached for his weapon.
The hidden door slowly opened.
May you like
And a woman's voice whispered from the darkness:
"Emily... your mother told me you would come."
