Chapter 3 - The Woman Who Was Supposed To Be Dead
The voice from the staircase froze the entire room.
"Don't open it."
I had spent years learning how to control my emotions.
Fear.
Shock.
Anger.
All of them could make people careless.
But hearing that voice broke through every wall I had built.
Because I knew it.
I knew the rhythm.
The quiet confidence.
The way the last word always sounded like a warning.
I had heard it before.
Five years ago.
The night everything changed.
Dominic slowly looked at me.
"You know who that is."
I stared at the dark hallway above us.
My mind was trying to find another explanation.
A recording.
A trick.
Someone imitating a voice.
Anything.
Because the truth was impossible.
The person standing upstairs could not exist.
I whispered one word.
"Claire."
The silence that followed was heavier than anything before.
Dominic's expression changed.
Not because he knew the name.
Because he saw my reaction.
He understood that whoever was upstairs was connected to me.
The footsteps started again.
Slowly.
One step.
Then another.
A woman appeared at the top of the stairs.
But she did not walk down.
She simply stood there.
Watching us.
The lights above her flickered.
For a moment, I forgot how to breathe.
She looked older.
Different.
But not enough.
Not enough to make me believe my eyes were wrong.
Claire.
The woman who recruited me into my first major investigation.
The woman who taught me how to find secrets people buried.
The woman who vanished after sending me one final message:
"Stop looking for me."
Then she disappeared.
No body.
No explanation.
No goodbye.
Just gone.
Dominic looked between us.
"Who is she?"
Claire ignored him.
Her eyes stayed on me.
"You shouldn't have come here."
My hands tightened.
"You sent the message."
Her expression did not change.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because you were the only person who would listen."
I laughed quietly.
Not because it was funny.
Because I did not know whether I wanted to be angry or relieved.
"You disappeared."
"I had to."
"You let me believe you were dead."
Claire looked away for a second.
And that small movement told me everything.
She was hiding something.
Something even bigger than her disappearance.
Dominic stepped forward.
"You know my accountant."
Claire finally looked at him.
"Yes."
"Where is Ethan Cross?"
Her silence was the answer.
Dominic's face hardened.
"You brought her here because of him."
"No."
Claire looked at me.
"I brought her here because of what Ethan found."
She walked down the stairs slowly.
Every step felt like a countdown.
When she reached the bottom, she stopped several feet away.
She looked at the envelope with my name written on it.
"You opened the file."
I nodded.
"Not yet."
"Good."
Dominic looked confused.
"Why?"
Claire looked at him.
"Because once you read what's inside, there is no going back."
Dominic almost smiled.
"I've heard that before."
"You've never heard it from someone who knows what is coming."
The room went quiet.
I looked at Claire.
"What did Ethan find?"
She reached into her coat and pulled out a small flash drive.
She placed it beside the envelope.
"Ethan discovered someone had been moving money through companies that don't officially exist."
Dominic frowned.
"I checked every account."
"That's why they were careful."
Claire looked at him.
"They weren't stealing from you."
Dominic stared.
"Then what were they doing?"
"They were preparing."
"For what?"
Claire looked at me.
"For the day Dominic Hale disappeared."
The words hit harder than I expected.
Dominic's expression changed.
Someone had not been trying to destroy him.
Someone had been preparing to replace him.
I picked up the flash drive.
"Why come to me?"
Claire answered immediately.
"Because you know how these people think."
"I don't know them."
"You do."
I looked at her.
"What does that mean?"
Claire stepped closer.
"Your last investigation."
My stomach tightened.
Nobody knew about that.
Nobody except Claire.
And the person who hired me.
Five years ago, I had investigated a private security company accused of covering up disappearances.
The case was closed before I finished.
The evidence disappeared.
The witnesses disappeared.
And then Claire disappeared.
I had spent years believing it was because I got too close.
But now I wondered if I had been looking in the wrong direction.
Dominic noticed my silence.
"What was your last investigation?"
I didn't answer.
Claire did.
"Something connected to the same person who is controlling your organization."
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
"Who?"
Claire looked toward the window.
For the first time, I saw hesitation.
Real hesitation.
The kind that came from someone who knew saying a name could change everything.
"I don't know."
Dominic looked angry.
"You brought us here without knowing?"
"I know enough."
"That's not good enough."
Claire turned toward him.
"Someone inside your circle has been watching you for years."
The room became still.
"Someone you trust."
Dominic said nothing.
Because he already had a suspicion.
I could see it.
He was thinking of names.
People close to him.
People who had access.
People who knew his weaknesses.
Claire walked toward the envelope.
She touched it but did not open it.
"This was not meant for you."
She looked at me.
"It was meant for the person you were before."
I frowned.
"What does that mean?"
"It means whoever wrote this knows something about you that you don't."
The words made no sense.
But something inside me reacted.
A memory.
A conversation from years ago.
A warning I had ignored.
Claire picked up the envelope.
Then stopped.
Her eyes moved toward the security camera in the corner.
"Turn that off."
Dominic looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because we're not alone."
Everyone froze.
I looked around.
The lodge was silent.
Empty.
But Claire's expression told me she was certain.
Dominic grabbed a remote and checked the security system.
The monitors turned on.
Four cameras.
The front entrance.
The hallway.
The outside property.
Nothing.
Then the fifth screen appeared.
A camera angle I had never seen.
The inside of the lodge.
A hidden camera.
Pointed directly at us.
Dominic stared.
"I don't have this camera."
Claire whispered:
"I know."
The screen suddenly changed.
A video file appeared.
No one touched the system.
The file started playing automatically.
A man appeared on the screen.
Ethan Cross.
The missing accountant.
Alive.
Sitting in a dark room.
His face looked exhausted.
Terrified.
He looked directly into the camera.
Then he spoke.
"If Dominic is watching this, it means they already know."
Dominic stepped closer.
"Ethan..."
The video continued.
"If Claire brought the investigator here, there is still a chance."
My heart stopped.
Because Ethan was not talking to Dominic.
He was talking to me.
His eyes looked straight into the camera.
"You need to find the person who ordered my disappearance."
A pause.
Then his voice became quieter.
"Because she has been standing beside you since you arrived."
The screen went black.
Nobody moved.
Dominic slowly turned around.
Claire looked confused.
I looked toward the doorway.
Because for the first time, I realized something.
Ethan was not warning us about someone outside the lodge.
May you like
He was warning us about someone already inside.
Then the front door slowly opened behind us.
