Chapter 5 - The Man Who Was Supposed To Be Dead
The office door opened slowly.
I raised the weapon in my hand.
For one second, I thought I was ready.
I wasn't.
Because when the person stepped into the room, my entire body forgot how to react.
Marcus Vale stood there.
Alive.
Older.
Different.
But unmistakably him.
The man who trained me.
The man who disappeared after the investigation.
The man whose death certificate my family had shown me six years earlier.
Noah gasped.
"Mom..."
I immediately lowered the weapon.
I moved in front of him.
Protecting him.
Even from someone I once trusted.
Marcus looked at me.
Not with anger.
Not with fear.
With sadness.
"Elena."
His voice was exactly the same.
The same voice that once guided me through impossible missions.
The same voice that told me to keep moving when I thought I couldn't.
But now it carried something else.
Regret.
"You shouldn't have found this file yet."
I stared at him.
"You shouldn't be alive."
Silence.
A long silence.
Marcus looked down.
"I know."
My grip tightened.
"Six years."
He didn't answer.
"Six years everyone believed you were dead."
"I know."
"You let me believe you were dead."
His eyes moved away.
That hurt more than I expected.
Because even after everything, some part of me still remembered him as the man who saved my life.
The man who believed in me before anyone else did.
"You were my commander."
"I know."
"You were my family when my own family ignored me."
His expression changed.
"Elena..."
"No."
My voice became sharper.
"Don't say my name like everything is okay."
Marcus looked toward Noah.
Then back at me.
"Your son shouldn't hear this."
I looked at Noah.
He was scared.
Confused.
But he was watching me.
Waiting.
I hated that he had to be part of this.
I hated that the secrets of adults always found their way to children.
I knelt beside him.
"Buddy, I need you to go to the living room."
"But Mom..."
"I'll be there in a minute."
He looked at Marcus.
Then at me.
Finally, he nodded.
When Noah left, the room felt colder.
Marcus walked toward the desk.
He looked at the computer screen.
The evidence file was still open.
"You saw the video."
"Yes."
"Then you know."
"I know Claire betrayed us."
Marcus shook his head.
"No."
I frowned.
"What do you mean no?"
"Claire was involved."
He looked at me.
"But she wasn't the person controlling everything."
A cold feeling moved through me.
"Who was?"
Marcus didn't answer.
That was becoming a pattern.
People gave me pieces.
Never the entire truth.
I stepped closer.
"I'm done being protected."
Marcus looked at me.
"You think that's what happened?"
"What else would you call it?"
"I call it survival."
I laughed quietly.
"Whose?"
He didn't respond.
Mine.
Or theirs.
I already knew the answer.
Marcus reached into his coat.
He pulled out a small device.
A secure drive.
He placed it on the desk.
"This contains everything."
I stared at it.
"Everything about the contract?"
"No."
A pause.
"Everything about your family."
I felt my stomach tighten.
"What does that mean?"
Marcus looked toward the hallway where Noah had gone.
Then lowered his voice.
"Your father didn't invite you home tonight because he wanted to confess."
"Then why?"
"Because he knew they were coming."
I froze.
"Who?"
Marcus looked at the front door.
Before he answered, we heard something.
A car outside.
Then another.
Then another.
Three vehicles.
Stopping.
My military instincts immediately activated.
I moved toward the window.
Black SUVs.
No markings.
Men getting out.
My heart sank.
"Who are they?"
Marcus didn't hesitate.
"The same people who tried to destroy the contract."
I looked at him.
"You said they were never found."
"They weren't."
"Then how do you know?"
His face became serious.
"Because I was one of the people looking for them."
I turned.
"And?"
Marcus looked at me.
"And I found them."
A knock came from downstairs.
Not a normal knock.
Three slow knocks.
A signal.
Someone who knew exactly where they were.
I reached for my phone.
No signal.
Blocked.
Of course.
Someone had planned this.
I looked at Marcus.
"How long have you known?"
"About tonight?"
"About Claire."
His silence answered.
I felt betrayed all over again.
"You knew."
"I suspected."
"Six years."
"Elena..."
"You let me spend six years thinking I failed."
His face changed.
"I was trying to keep you alive."
The words stopped me.
"What?"
Marcus walked closer.
"When the investigation started, the person who leaked the documents wasn't trying to destroy the company."
He paused.
"They were trying to destroy you."
I remembered the accusations.
The questions.
The whispers.
The transfer.
Everything.
"They wanted you blamed because you were the only person capable of exposing them."
"Why?"
"Because you discovered something during the mission."
I shook my head.
"I discovered the contract leak."
"No."
Marcus looked at me.
"You discovered the network behind it."
The room went silent.
A network.
Not one person.
Not one mistake.
A system.
My entire family.
My company.
My career.
All connected.
The knocking downstairs stopped.
That was worse.
Because silence meant movement.
Marcus looked toward the hallway.
"We need to leave."
I looked at Noah.
"No."
Marcus understood immediately.
"Elena."
"I'm not leaving without my son."
"I know."
He nodded.
"That's why I came."
Something about his words bothered me.
"What does that mean?"
Before he could answer, the lights went out.
The entire house fell into darkness.
Noah screamed from the living room.
"Mom!"
I moved instantly.
I ran toward him.
Marcus followed.
A flashlight turned on from the hallway.
Not ours.
Someone else was inside.
I grabbed Noah and pulled him behind me.
A figure stood at the end of the hallway.
Tall.
Silent.
Watching.
Marcus stepped forward.
"Don't."
The figure stopped.
Then spoke.
"Marcus."
A woman's voice.
I knew that voice.
My blood froze.
Because I had heard it thousands of times.
At family dinners.
At celebrations.
In my childhood home.
The person standing in the darkness stepped into the light.
My mother.
She looked at me.
Then at Marcus.
May you like
And she said:
"Elena, you were never supposed to find out that I was the one who ordered his disappearance."
