Chapter 5 - The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
The voice came from the other side of the door.
"Mariana Salgado."
My entire body went cold.
Nobody in the room moved.
Nobody even breathed.
Because that voice was impossible.
I knew that voice.
Not from yesterday.
Not from years ago.
From my childhood.
From old recordings.
From the memories I had tried to forget.
My father's voice.
Daniel looked at me.
His eyes widened.
"Mariana..."
I couldn't answer.
My mother grabbed my hand.
"Don't go near that door."
The warning in her voice was different.
Not fear.
Panic.
The lights were still out.
The house was completely dark.
The only sound was the person standing outside.
Waiting.
Then the voice came again.
"Open the door, Mariana."
My knees felt weak.
"My father..."
I whispered.
My mother shook her head.
"No."
"But that's his voice."
"I know."
The answer terrified me more than anything.
Richard stepped backward.
His face had lost all color.
Elena was crying silently.
For the first time since I met her, she looked completely broken.
Daniel looked between them.
"What is happening?"
Nobody answered.
Then the door handle stopped moving.
A few seconds passed.
And suddenly, everything became quiet.
Too quiet.
Richard moved toward the window.
Daniel grabbed his arm.
"What are you doing?"
"We need to see if he's gone."
"Who?"
Richard looked at him.
"The person who destroyed all of us."
He pulled the curtain slightly.
Then froze.
"What?"
I stepped closer.
Richard slowly turned around.
"He's not outside."
My heart started pounding.
"What do you mean?"
"He was never outside."
The room went silent.
Daniel looked confused.
"Then where was the voice coming from?"
Nobody answered.
Then we heard it.
A sound from upstairs.
A floorboard moving.
Someone was inside the house.
My mother immediately looked toward the hallway.
"Everyone stay here."
Daniel shook his head.
"No."
He grabbed a flashlight from the drawer.
"I'm not letting anyone walk around alone."
My mother looked at him.
"You don't understand."
"No."
Daniel's voice hardened.
"I understand that someone tried to kill my wife."
He looked toward Elena.
"And my own family knows more than they told me."
Nobody argued.
Because he was right.
We moved through the dark hallway slowly.
Every step felt louder than it should have.
The old house creaked around us.
I held onto Daniel's hand.
Not because I was afraid of the dark.
Because I was afraid of what we would find.
We reached the stairs.
At the top was the bedroom where the snake had been placed.
The door was slightly open.
I stopped.
"Nobody touched that room."
Richard looked at me.
"What?"
"The police sealed it."
Daniel raised the flashlight.
The beam moved across the door.
There was something carved into the wood.
A small symbol.
My mother saw it.
And immediately stepped back.
"No."
I looked at her.
"What is it?"
She didn't answer.
She was staring at the symbol like she had seen a ghost.
"Mom."
She finally spoke.
"Your father used that symbol."
My stomach tightened.
"Why?"
"Because it meant danger."
Daniel opened the door.
Inside, everything looked exactly the same.
The broken pillow.
The sheets.
The evidence markers from the police.
Except something was different.
The window was open.
The curtains moved slightly.
Someone had been inside.
Daniel walked toward the window.
On the floor beneath it was a small object.
A watch.
An old silver watch.
My mother gasped.
"No."
I looked at her.
"You know that?"
She nodded slowly.
"That was your father's."
The room became silent.
I picked it up.
My hands shook.
There was a small engraving on the back.
A sentence.
One I remembered.
Because my father used to say it to me when I was little.
"Always trust what people hide, not what they show."
I felt tears forming.
My father had left clues.
He knew something would happen.
He knew someone would come after me.
But why?
Why didn't he tell me?
Why did he let me believe my mother was dead?
I turned toward Richard.
"You knew about this."
He didn't deny it.
"I knew your father was investigating."
"Investigating what?"
Richard looked at the floor.
"The company."
"What company?"
He looked at me.
"The company your father and I built together."
I froze.
"You worked with my father?"
Richard nodded.
"Before everything fell apart."
Daniel looked shocked.
"My father never mentioned any of this."
"Because he was protecting you."
Richard looked at me.
"And because he knew someone close to us was listening."
Everyone became quiet.
I looked toward Elena.
She looked away.
Again.
That was enough.
"Elena."
She didn't respond.
"Look at me."
Slowly, she did.
"Did you know about my father?"
Her lips trembled.
"I knew he was looking into things."
"What things?"
She swallowed.
"The people behind the company."
"What people?"
Her eyes filled with tears.
"The people who paid us."
The sentence hit the room like a weapon.
Daniel stared at his mother.
"Paid you?"
Elena covered her mouth.
She realized what she had said.
Too late.
I stepped closer.
"Paid you to do what?"
She said nothing.
"Paid you to watch me?"
Silence.
"Paid you to find my insurance policy?"
Silence.
"Paid you to put that snake under my pillow?"
Her face collapsed.
"I didn't want it to happen like that."
Daniel looked at her.
"You did it."
Elena shook her head.
"No."
Her voice broke.
"I only prepared the room."
Nobody moved.
The confession hung there.
I felt sick.
"You prepared the room."
She looked at me.
"I was supposed to make sure you slept there."
"And then?"
Her eyes filled with fear.
"Then someone else was supposed to handle the rest."
Daniel stepped back.
"My God."
I looked at Elena.
"Who?"
She didn't answer.
Then something happened.
The flash drive inside the box suddenly lit up.
A tiny blue light blinked.
Everyone turned.
Richard whispered:
"It activated."
Daniel picked it up.
"What does that mean?"
My mother looked terrified.
"It means someone knows we opened the box."
The laptop on the desk suddenly turned on.
Nobody touched it.
The screen was black.
Then a video appeared.
A man sat in front of the camera.
Older.
Tired.
But familiar.
My heart stopped.
Because I knew that face.
Even after twenty years.
Even after believing he was gone.
My father looked directly into the camera.
"Mariana."
I covered my mouth.
Tears filled my eyes.
The recording continued.
"If you are watching this, then the truth has finally started coming out."
Daniel stared at the screen.
Richard looked terrified.
My father continued.
"But there is something you need to know before you trust anyone in this house."
The video glitched.
The screen went dark.
Then one final line appeared.
A file name.
A hidden recording.
Created yesterday.
May you like
By someone using my mother's name.
And before anyone could speak, the study door behind us slowly opened.
