Chapter 6 - The Man in the Photograph
The photograph slipped from my fingers.
"That's impossible."
My voice sounded different.
Smaller.
Like I was trying to convince myself.
Adrian Blackwood stood beside my mother in the picture.
Not in the background.
Not by accident.
Beside her.
Close enough that they looked like they trusted each other.
Close enough that they looked like they had a history.
I looked at Adrian.
He did not deny it.
That hurt more than any lie.
"You knew."
The words came out quietly.
Adrian stared at the photograph on the floor.
"Emily..."
"No."
I stepped back.
"Don't say my name."
His face changed.
The same pain I had seen before appeared again.
But this time, I didn't care.
"You knew my mother."
"Yes."
"You were with her the night she disappeared."
"Yes."
The answer was too easy.
Too calm.
Like he had been carrying it for twenty years.
I shook my head.
"You let me believe she died in an accident."
Adrian looked down.
"I didn't know how to tell you."
"You didn't know?"
My voice rose.
"You didn't know how to tell a ten-year-old girl that her mother was involved in something dangerous?"
The room became silent.
Daniel looked away.
Even he knew this conversation was something Adrian had avoided for too long.
"I was trying to keep you safe."
I laughed.
A bitter, broken sound.
"Safe?"
I pointed toward the photograph.
"Someone killed my mother."
Adrian's eyes hardened.
"We don't know that."
"Don't lie to me."
"I am not lying."
"Then tell me what happened."
He didn't answer.
That silence was enough.
I picked up the photograph.
"Twenty years."
My hands shook.
"Twenty years, and everyone decided I didn't deserve the truth."
Adrian stepped closer.
"Your mother made me promise."
I froze.
"What?"
"She made me promise that if anything happened to her, I would keep you away from this."
I stared at him.
"She trusted you to protect me?"
"Yes."
"Then why did she leave me a message saying to trust you?"
Adrian looked surprised.
Because I had never told him about that part.
Claire's letter.
The missing page.
The message from my mother.
Trust Adrian Blackwood.
I saw something change in his expression.
"What message?"
I looked at him.
"Why?"
His voice became urgent.
"What did your mother write?"
I hesitated.
Then I realized something.
Adrian knew less than I thought.
The powerful billionaire.
The man everyone feared.
The man who owned everything.
He was searching for answers too.
I told him.
"She said to trust you."
For the first time, Adrian looked completely shocked.
He sat down slowly.
"She never stopped believing I would find the truth."
I watched him.
"Then help me find it."
Adrian looked up.
And for a moment, neither of us spoke.
Because that was the first time we were on the same side.
Not employee and CEO.
Not stranger and billionaire.
Two people connected by the same missing piece.
Daniel cleared his throat.
"We need to leave."
We turned.
He was standing near the archive entrance.
"What?"
He pointed toward the security cameras.
"They're disabled."
Adrian frowned.
"How long?"
Daniel checked his tablet.
"Since before we entered."
My stomach tightened.
"Someone planned this."
Daniel nodded.
"And they wanted us all inside this room."
Adrian stood.
"Victor."
The name came out like a warning.
I looked at him.
"Victor Hale?"
Adrian nodded.
"He knew about this archive."
"Could he have taken Claire?"
Adrian's expression changed.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because Victor wouldn't hide."
He looked toward the empty hidden doorway.
"He would want us to know it was him."
A cold feeling moved through me.
"Then who was it?"
Nobody answered.
Because none of us knew.
We left the archive room with the photograph and the memory card.
Adrian insisted we move to a private conference room.
No phones.
No computers.
No outside communication.
That alone told me how serious everything was.
The billionaire CEO of one of the largest companies in the world was afraid someone was listening.
I placed the memory card on the table.
"How do we open it?"
Adrian looked at it.
"We need a password."
"Do you know it?"
"No."
I stared at him.
"My mother gave it to you?"
"No."
"Then who has it?"
Adrian looked at the photograph.
"The only person who might know is Claire."
I looked at the empty chair across from us.
"She's gone."
"Yes."
Daniel walked into the room.
He looked uncomfortable.
"There is something you need to see."
He placed a tablet on the table.
A security recording.
"Where did you get this?"
"I recovered backup footage."
The video showed the archive hallway.
The timestamp was twenty minutes earlier.
The hidden door opened.
Claire walked out.
Then someone followed.
A man.
Wearing a dark coat.
His face was hidden.
But his movements were familiar.
The person walked behind Claire.
Then the screen glitched.
The video froze.
Daniel tapped the screen.
"That's all we have."
"Can you enhance it?"
"I tried."
The image became clearer.
Slowly.
The man's face began to appear.
I leaned closer.
Then stopped.
Because I knew him.
Not personally.
But from somewhere.
From television.
From magazines.
From every business article about Blackwood International.
Adrian stood behind me.
His breathing changed.
"No."
I looked at him.
"You know him."
Adrian stared at the screen.
The color drained from his face.
"That can't be."
"Who is it?"
He didn't answer.
I looked back at the screen.
The face became clearer.
Older.
Different.
But unmistakable.
Adrian whispered:
"That's not possible."
"Adrian."
His eyes stayed on the screen.
"That's Victor Hale."
My heart dropped.
"But you said he would never hide."
Adrian didn't respond.
Because he was staring at something else.
Something in the video background.
A reflection.
A second person.
Standing behind Victor.
Someone who should not have been there.
Daniel noticed it too.
He paused the footage.
Zoomed in.
The reflection became clearer.
A woman.
Adrian stepped closer.
His face went pale.
"Claire."
Nobody moved.
Because Claire was supposed to be missing.
But in the reflection...
she was not being taken.
She was standing beside Victor.
Helping him.
Then Daniel's tablet suddenly received a new message.
One sentence.
From Claire's phone.
"Adrian, you still don't know who betrayed you."
The screen went black.
Then another message appeared.
A photograph.
Taken moments ago.
Inside the conference room.
Of all of us sitting there.
May you like
And in the corner of the image...
someone was standing behind me.
