Chapter 6 - The Truth Hidden In My Father's Voice
The screen went black.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
The message remained in the center of the archive computer.
ACCESS GRANTED BY: ADRIAN VOSS.
I stared at those words until they stopped looking real.
Then I looked at Adrian.
He didn't move.
That scared me more than anything.
Because Adrian Voss was the kind of man who always had an answer.
A plan.
A way out.
But now he looked like someone had just pulled the ground from beneath him.
"Explain."
My voice was quiet.
But everyone heard it.
Adrian looked at the screen.
"I didn't do that."
I laughed once.
A short, painful sound.
"Of course."
His eyes moved to me.
"Sadie."
"No."
I stepped back.
"Don't."
The room felt smaller.
Every person in that archive had lied to me.
Daniel.
My mother.
Everyone.
And now the one person who kept acting like he was different had a file showing his name.
My mother moved closer.
"Sadie, listen."
I looked at her.
"No."
My voice cracked.
"I spent seven years believing my father abandoned me because he died."
I pointed at the computer.
"I found out he was alive."
I looked at Daniel.
"I found out you knew."
Then I looked at Adrian.
"And now I find out your name is connected to the evidence he died protecting."
Nobody answered.
Because they knew.
They had no excuse left.
The computer suddenly made a sound.
A notification.
The video started playing again.
My father's face appeared on the screen.
Everyone turned.
His voice filled the room.
"Sadie, if you're watching this, then someone has already tried to make you doubt the people around you."
I froze.
Because it felt like he was speaking directly to this moment.
"That's why I'm leaving this message."
My father's eyes moved away from the camera.
Like he was checking if someone was watching.
Then he continued.
"Trust the person who has the most to lose by telling you the truth."
The video paused.
A loading symbol appeared.
Then another message appeared.
CONNECTION INTERRUPTED.
Adrian immediately moved toward the computer.
"Someone is trying to erase this."
Daniel looked toward the hallway.
"Not someone."
Everyone looked at him.
Daniel's face turned pale.
"The same person who erased everything seven years ago."
The archive lights flickered.
Again.
This time, nobody thought it was an accident.
Adrian reached for his phone.
No signal.
The bodyguards checked the exits.
Locked.
My mother grabbed my arm.
"We have to leave."
I pulled away.
"No."
She looked surprised.
"What?"
"I need to see the rest."
"Sadie—"
"No."
I looked at the screen.
"My father left this for me."
My voice became stronger.
"I spent seven years wishing for answers."
I looked around the room.
"And now everyone wants me to walk away before I hear them."
Nobody stopped me.
Because they knew I was right.
Adrian restarted the system manually.
The video returned.
My father appeared again.
This time, his expression was different.
More serious.
"There's something I never told you."
My heart tightened.
"I wasn't working alone."
The room went silent.
My father continued.
"There was someone helping me inside the organization."
Adrian looked at the screen.
My father looked straight into the camera.
"Someone who had access to everything."
I glanced at Adrian.
The timing felt impossible.
But then my father said something that made everyone freeze.
"And that person was not Adrian."
The room changed.
Completely.
I looked at Adrian.
He looked away.
For the first time, I saw something I didn't expect.
Relief.
Pain.
Regret.
My father continued.
"Adrian Voss was not the enemy."
My breathing slowed.
"He was the only person who tried to help me expose them."
I looked at Adrian.
All the anger I had aimed at him suddenly felt uncertain.
My father continued.
"But he made one mistake."
The video paused.
Everyone waited.
Then the recording resumed.
"He trusted the wrong person."
The words echoed.
The wrong person.
Someone close.
Someone who betrayed him.
The screen showed another file.
A photograph appeared.
Three people standing together.
My father.
Adrian's father.
And someone else.
Someone I recognized immediately.
I stopped breathing.
Because I knew that face.
Everyone knew that face.
My mother.
The photo was dated two weeks before my father's death.
I turned slowly.
My mother looked at the screen.
Then closed her eyes.
"Mom?"
She didn't answer.
"Why are you in that picture?"
Tears filled her eyes.
"Because your father trusted me."
The room went silent.
"And I failed him."
The confession hit harder than any secret before.
"You worked with him?"
She nodded.
"Yes."
"Then why did you hide everything?"
She looked at me.
"Because after your father disappeared, they came for everyone connected to him."
"Who?"
She whispered:
"The people who killed him."
The words were finally spoken.
Not an accident.
Not a mystery.
Not a tragedy.
Killed.
My father had been murdered.
And everyone had known.
The computer suddenly flashed again.
Another file appeared.
No one opened it.
It opened by itself.
The title appeared.
THE LAST PERSON MY FATHER CALLED.
My stomach tightened.
Because there was only one name underneath.
Sadie Miller.
I stared at the screen.
"What?"
Daniel stepped closer.
"That doesn't make sense."
Adrian looked confused.
"Your father called her?"
My mother looked terrified.
"No."
Everyone turned toward her.
She whispered:
"That's impossible."
The file began loading.
A recording appeared.
A phone call.
The date.
The night my father died.
Seven years ago.
My hands started shaking.
Because I remembered that night.
I remembered sitting alone in my bedroom.
Waiting for my father to come home.
Waiting for him to call.
But he never did.
The recording started.
Static.
Breathing.
Then a voice.
My father's voice.
"Sadie?"
I covered my mouth.
He was alive.
He was talking.
Right before he disappeared.
"Sadie, if you can hear this, I need you to listen."
The recording became distorted.
Then his voice returned.
"Don't trust..."
The audio cut.
Everyone leaned closer.
The file glitched.
A second voice appeared.
Not my father's.
Someone else had been on the call.
Someone standing near him.
Someone who heard everything.
The recording cleared for one second.
And the voice said:
"She already knows."
My blood went cold.
Because I recognized that voice.
It was someone I had known my entire life.
The recording continued.
And my father's final words appeared on the screen.
"Sadie, run from the person you call..."
May you like
The archive door suddenly unlocked.
Someone was standing outside.
