Chapter 3 - The Woman In My Bedroom
The woman on the phone whispered: "Emma, don't turn around."
When I opened the bedroom photograph, I noticed the silver necklace beside my bed.
The same necklace had a date engraved on the back: "October 14, 2019."
Dominic suddenly realized someone had been inside our house.
I stared at the picture.
My hands felt numb.
For several seconds, I couldn't understand what I was looking at.
The photograph showed my bedroom.
My bedroom.
The place where I slept every night.
The place where I kept my most personal memories.
The place where Dominic kissed me goodbye every morning before leaving for work.
And standing beside my bed was a person.
The image was dark.
The angle was strange.
Whoever took it had been standing near the doorway.
Watching.
Waiting.
I zoomed in on the picture.
The person's face was hidden.
But I could see enough.
A black coat.
A hand resting on the edge of my nightstand.
And a small silver necklace lying beside my pillow.
The same necklace Dominic had given me three years earlier.
The same necklace I thought I had lost.
My heart started beating faster.
"How did someone get into our bedroom?"
Nobody answered.
Dominic looked like he had seen a ghost.
Victoria moved closer to him.
"Dominic..."
He ignored her.
His eyes remained fixed on the photograph.
"Emma, where did you put this necklace?"
I looked at him.
"What?"
"The necklace."
His voice was different.
Not angry.
Not defensive.
Terrified.
"I lost it years ago," I said.
Dominic swallowed.
"No, you didn't."
A strange feeling moved through me.
"What does that mean?"
He didn't answer.
Because he knew.
He knew something about my necklace.
Something he had never told me.
I took a step back.
"Dominic, what are you hiding?"
He ran his hand through his hair.
For the first time since I met him, he looked completely powerless.
"I need you to listen carefully."
I almost laughed.
Because that was what everyone said before revealing something terrible.
"Eight years ago, before I met you, there was an incident."
"Victoria."
He nodded.
"Yes."
I looked at her.
She looked away.
"What incident?"
Dominic walked toward the window.
"I was working with Victoria on a private investigation."
I frowned.
"A private investigation?"
He nodded.
"There was a company involved. A company that was hiding financial crimes."
"And Victoria was investigating them?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
His silence answered before he did.
"Because someone close to the company was threatening her."
I looked between them.
"And you helped her?"
"Yes."
"Then why hide it?"
Dominic closed his eyes.
Because he knew the answer.
"Because after that night, someone tried to kill her."
The room became silent.
Victoria finally spoke.
"They thought I was dead."
I looked at her.
"What?"
She stepped forward slowly.
"My car was found abandoned. There was blood inside."
I stared at her.
"But you survived."
She nodded.
"Yes."
"Then why did everyone think you died?"
Victoria looked at Dominic.
And that look told me something.
Something terrible.
"Because Dominic helped create a new identity for me."
I felt like the floor moved beneath my feet.
My husband.
The man who had built a life with me.
Had helped another woman disappear.
"Why?"
Dominic finally turned around.
"Because if they found her, they would have killed her."
I wanted to believe him.
I wanted to believe there was a reasonable explanation.
But then I remembered the ballroom.
His hand protecting her.
His silence.
The years of secrets.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
His expression broke.
"Because I thought keeping you away from it would keep you safe."
I shook my head.
"No."
My voice was quiet.
"But you didn't keep me safe."
I pointed at the photograph.
"Someone entered our house."
Nobody spoke.
"Someone stood next to my bed."
Still nothing.
"Someone knew exactly where I sleep."
Dominic looked down.
And that was when I noticed something.
He wasn't surprised.
He was afraid.
Not because someone had entered our home.
Because he knew who could do it.
"Who is he?"
Dominic looked at me.
"What?"
"The person in the picture."
He said nothing.
"Who is he, Dominic?"
Victoria suddenly stepped forward.
"Emma, you need to leave."
I looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because if he knows you found this..."
She stopped.
Too late.
I heard it.
The fear in her voice.
"He?"
Dominic looked at her.
"Victoria."
But I already understood.
There was someone else.
Someone above Dominic.
Someone both of them feared.
I picked up the photograph.
"Tell me his name."
Dominic didn't move.
Then he said something I never expected.
"Richard Vale."
The name meant nothing to me.
But Victoria reacted immediately.
Her face lost all color.
"No."
She whispered.
"He's gone."
Dominic looked at her.
"He was never gone."
A cold feeling spread through me.
"Who is Richard Vale?"
Nobody answered.
Then Dominic walked to his desk and opened another drawer.
Inside was a small envelope.
He placed it in front of me.
"This was sent to me yesterday."
I opened it.
Inside was a single piece of paper.
Only one sentence was written.
"Your wife remembers more than she knows."
I looked at Dominic.
"What does that mean?"
He didn't answer.
Because another memory suddenly appeared.
A memory I had forgotten.
A hospital room.
Six years ago.
A doctor telling me I had been unconscious after a car accident.
Dominic sitting beside my bed.
Holding my hand.
Telling me everything was okay.
But there was something else.
Something strange.
A man standing outside the hospital room.
Watching me.
I had never remembered his face.
Until now.
I looked at the photograph again.
The person beside my bed.
The person in my bedroom.
The person watching me.
The same person from my hospital memory.
My hands started shaking.
"Dominic..."
He looked at me.
"I know him."
The room went completely silent.
Victoria whispered:
"Emma, you can't remember him."
I turned toward her.
"Why?"
She looked terrified.
"Because the doctors said the accident damaged your memory."
I stared at her.
Then at Dominic.
"What accident?"
Nobody answered.
Because I suddenly remembered something else.
A voice.
A man's voice.
From the night of the crash.
A voice saying my name.
A voice saying:
"She cannot remember what she saw."
I stepped backward.
"No..."
Dominic moved toward me.
"Emma."
I looked at him.
"You knew."
He stopped.
"You knew I wasn't just in an accident."
His silence was enough.
The truth was finally starting to appear.
My husband had not just hidden Victoria.
He had hidden my past.
I grabbed my coat.
"I need to go."
"Emma, wait."
"No."
I looked at Dominic.
"Five years of marriage."
My voice cracked.
"And I don't even know which parts were real."
I walked toward the front door.
Dominic followed.
"Emma, please."
I opened the door.
Then stopped.
Because something was lying on the floor outside.
A small envelope.
My name was written on it.
Not printed.
Handwritten.
I picked it up.
Dominic saw it.
And his face changed.
"What?"
I looked at him.
"Who wrote this?"
He didn't answer.
Because he recognized the handwriting.
I opened the envelope slowly.
Inside was an old photograph.
A photograph of me.
Standing beside a man I had never met.
On the back were three words.
"Ask your husband."
I turned the picture over.
May you like
And the moment I saw the man's face, Dominic whispered a name I had never heard before...
"Your father is alive."
