Chapter 7 - The Woman Who Saw Everything
The hospital lights went out, and Rachel whispered: "He knows we're here." When the emergency power returned, I found my father's hidden key missing from the table. But one message appeared on my phone: "Ask Rachel what she saw that night." I finally realized someone inside the hospital was helping Victor.
For three seconds, nobody moved.
The darkness swallowed the room.
The machines stopped.
The monitors went black.
Emily's hand tightened around mine.
"Daniel."
Her voice was barely a whisper.
I looked toward the door.
Nothing.
No footsteps.
No voices.
Just darkness.
Then the emergency lights turned on.
A red glow filled the room.
The first thing I noticed was Rachel.
She was standing beside the table.
Her face had changed.
She wasn't afraid anymore.
She looked defeated.
Like she had been waiting years for this moment.
"The key."
My eyes moved toward the table.
The small envelope was gone.
I stepped forward.
"Where is it?"
Rachel didn't answer.
"Where is the key?"
She looked at me.
"I don't know."
I stared at her.
"That's impossible."
Emily tried to sit up.
"Daniel..."
I looked back.
"Stay down."
But Emily ignored me.
She looked at Rachel.
"You knew this would happen."
Rachel's eyes filled with tears.
"I hoped it wouldn't."
"What are you talking about?"
Rachel looked toward the hallway.
"The person who took it was never after the key."
My chest tightened.
"Then what were they after?"
She looked directly at me.
"You."
The room became silent.
I wanted to reject it.
To laugh.
To say it was impossible.
But I couldn't.
Because every single event from the past three months led to this moment.
The divorce.
The lies.
The accident.
The hidden files.
Someone had been controlling everything.
And I was the only thing connecting all of it.
A nurse suddenly rushed into the room.
"Everyone needs to leave."
I turned.
"Why?"
"Security issue."
"What security issue?"
She hesitated.
Then looked at Rachel.
"There was someone inside the restricted hallway."
My heart sank.
"Someone?"
She nodded.
"The cameras caught a person entering this floor."
"Who?"
The nurse looked uncomfortable.
"We don't know."
I looked at Emily.
She was staring at me.
Terrified.
Because she knew.
She knew this wasn't over.
Ten minutes later, the police arrived.
The hospital became a maze of questions.
Security officers checked every entrance.
Every camera.
Every hallway.
But whoever entered was already gone.
I stood outside Emily's room with Rachel.
Neither of us spoke.
Finally, I turned to her.
"You saw my father the night he died."
Rachel closed her eyes.
"Yes."
I waited.
But she said nothing else.
I stepped closer.
"How?"
She looked down.
"I was his assistant."
"I know that."
"No."
She looked at me.
"You don't know everything."
I waited.
Rachel took a deep breath.
"The night your father died, he called me."
"What did he say?"
"He told me to take a file and leave."
"What file?"
"The same file Victor is trying to find."
My heart moved faster.
"Why didn't you go to the police?"
Her face changed.
"I did."
"And?"
"They didn't believe me."
"Why?"
She gave a painful smile.
"Because the officer handling the case was already working for someone else."
I froze.
"Who?"
Rachel looked away.
"Your mother."
I closed my eyes.
Another piece.
Another secret.
Another person connected.
"Tell me exactly what happened."
Rachel sat down.
"I arrived at your father's office around midnight."
"Why?"
"He called me."
"What did you see?"
She looked at her hands.
"I saw your father arguing with someone."
"Who?"
She didn't answer immediately.
Then:
"Your mother."
I felt like the floor disappeared.
"My mother was there?"
Rachel nodded.
"They were fighting."
"About what?"
"The money."
I looked away.
"Then what?"
"Your father told her everything was going to end."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning he knew what she had done."
The room felt smaller.
"Did she kill him?"
Rachel looked shocked.
"No."
The answer came quickly.
Too quickly.
"Then who did?"
Rachel didn't speak.
And that scared me more.
"Rachel."
She looked at me.
"I saw someone else enter the office."
"Who?"
Her eyes filled with fear.
"Victor."
I stopped breathing.
"He was there?"
"Yes."
"But you said Victor wasn't involved at first."
"He wasn't."
"Then why was he there?"
Rachel looked toward Emily's room.
"Because your father wasn't just investigating your mother."
I waited.
"He was investigating Victor too."
The words hit me.
Victor.
My best friend.
The man who had comforted me after my father's death.
The man who helped me rebuild the company.
The man who told me to forget the past.
He had been standing in the middle of it.
"Why did he let me believe my father died in an accident?"
Rachel's voice became quiet.
"Because your father left one final instruction."
"What?"
She looked at me.
"If anything happened to him, you were never supposed to know the truth."
I frowned.
"Why?"
"Because he knew someone would come after you."
A message notification interrupted us.
My phone.
I looked down.
Unknown number.
Another message.
I opened it.
Stop asking Rachel questions.
My blood went cold.
Another message appeared.
She is lying to you.
I looked at Rachel.
She saw my expression.
"What is it?"
I didn't answer.
Because another message arrived.
This one had a photo.
A photo of Rachel.
Taken years ago.
Standing beside my father.
But there was something else.
A timestamp.
The date.
The day after my father supposedly died.
I stared at it.
Impossible.
My father died that night.
Rachel couldn't have been with him after.
Unless...
I looked at her.
"What is this?"
Her face changed when she saw the photo.
She stopped breathing.
"Daniel..."
"What aren't you telling me?"
She reached for the phone.
But I pulled it away.
"No."
My voice was shaking.
"Not anymore."
Rachel looked broken.
"I was trying to protect you."
"Everyone says that."
I stepped back.
"Everyone says they are protecting me."
Then I heard something.
A sound from Emily's room.
A crash.
The door was slightly open.
I turned.
"Emily?"
No answer.
I rushed inside.
The room was empty.
The bed was still there.
The machines were still running.
But Emily was gone.
The window was open.
The curtain moved slowly.
And on the bed was a handwritten note.
Only five words.
I found who killed your father.
My hands shook as I picked it up.
Because below those words was Emily's signature.
And underneath her name was another sentence.
May you like
A sentence that made my entire body go cold.
"Daniel, don't trust the person standing behind you."
