Chapter 7 - The Door That Should Have Stayed Closed
The message stayed on the phone screen.
Your father is inside.
I stared at those four words until they stopped making sense.
My father.
Inside.
Not dead.
Not gone.
Not a memory.
Inside.
The hallway was dark except for the small glow coming from the phone on the floor.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
It was as if the entire world had stopped waiting for someone to make the first decision.
Then Marcus stepped forward.
"No."
The word came out quietly.
But with certainty.
I looked at him.
"What do you mean no?"
He didn't answer.
His eyes stayed fixed on the phone.
Daniel moved closer.
"Marcus."
Marcus shook his head.
"That's impossible."
Victor looked at him.
"Is it?"
Marcus turned.
"You know something."
Victor didn't respond.
That was enough.
Marcus grabbed his jacket.
"What are you hiding?"
Victor's expression remained calm.
"Something your father spent years trying to protect."
"My father is dead."
Victor looked at him.
"You believe that because someone wanted you to."
The words hit Marcus hard.
I watched his face change.
Not because he believed Victor.
Because some part of him already knew.
I hated that feeling.
The feeling of realizing everyone had been living with a truth you were never allowed to touch.
I picked up the phone from the floor.
My hands were shaking.
I looked at the message again.
"How?"
Everyone looked at me.
I pointed at the screen.
"How would someone know I would see this?"
No one answered.
Then Victor spoke.
"Because they wanted you to."
I looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because fear makes people move."
His voice was quiet.
"And they needed you to open a door."
I frowned.
"What door?"
Victor looked toward the end of the hallway.
The emergency exit.
Then back at me.
"The one your mother never wanted you to find."
A cold feeling moved through my body.
My mother.
Again.
Everything always came back to her.
"What did she hide?"
Daniel closed his eyes.
Like he had been hoping this moment would never happen.
"Your mother wasn't hiding something from you."
I looked at him.
"Then what?"
"She was hiding something for you."
The answer should have comforted me.
It didn't.
Because every secret had a reason.
And every reason had a cost.
I turned toward Daniel.
"Tell me everything."
He hesitated.
"No."
My anger rose.
"No?"
"I need you to understand something first."
"I understand plenty."
"No."
His voice became stronger.
"You don't."
The hallway became silent.
Daniel stepped closer.
"Your mother knew people were watching your family."
I swallowed.
"Who?"
"People with power."
"That doesn't answer anything."
"No."
He looked at me.
"Because the answer is worse."
I waited.
Daniel looked at Marcus.
Then Victor.
Then me.
"Your mother discovered that your father's company wasn't destroyed by a business failure."
I already knew that.
But hearing it again still hurt.
"He was betrayed."
Daniel nodded.
"By someone close."
My eyes moved to Marcus.
Not because I suspected him.
Because my father had warned me not to trust someone beside me.
Marcus noticed.
His expression changed.
"You think it's me."
I looked away.
"I don't know what to think."
The honesty seemed to hurt him more than an accusation.
"Fair enough."
Victor stepped forward.
"There is something you need to see."
He picked up the folder.
From inside, he removed a small black drive.
A simple object.
Almost meaningless.
But everyone reacted when they saw it.
Marcus stared.
"Where did you get that?"
Victor looked at him.
"Your father gave it to Daniel."
Daniel nodded.
"Before he died."
Marcus's voice became lower.
"What is on it?"
Nobody answered.
That scared me.
Because people were usually afraid of things that mattered.
Victor looked at me.
"Your father recorded a message."
My breath stopped.
"For me?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"The night before he disappeared."
I looked at Daniel.
"You watched it?"
Daniel shook his head.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because your father made me promise."
I almost laughed.
Another promise.
Another secret.
Another person deciding what I could handle.
"What did he say?"
Daniel looked at the drive.
"He said only you should hear it."
The lights suddenly came back on.
The hallway returned.
But something felt different.
Because now we knew someone had been close enough to turn the power off.
Someone had been inside the building.
Someone had been watching.
Marcus immediately looked toward the restaurant.
"We need to leave."
Victor shook his head.
"Too late."
I looked at him.
"What?"
He pointed toward the security camera above the hallway.
The small red light was off.
"They already know where we are."
Marcus pulled out his phone.
"No signal."
Daniel checked his.
Nothing.
Victor looked toward the entrance.
"We need another way out."
"How?"
Victor didn't answer.
Because a sound came from the restaurant.
A chair moving.
Slowly.
Someone was there.
But everyone had already left.
Marcus moved in front of me.
Daniel moved beside him.
Even Victor became alert.
The three men who had spent years hiding the truth were now standing together.
Protecting me.
The irony wasn't lost on me.
A few hours ago, I had walked into a restaurant hoping to convince one man to invest in my future.
Now I was standing in a dark hallway with three men connected to my past, trying to survive whatever was coming.
Marcus whispered:
"Stay here."
I grabbed his arm.
"No."
He looked at me.
"I can't keep being protected from the truth."
Something changed in his expression.
Then he nodded.
Together, we walked toward the restaurant.
Every step felt louder.
The dining room was empty.
Tables abandoned.
Glasses left untouched.
The beautiful place where Cassandra had humiliated me now looked like a crime scene.
Then I saw it.
A chair pulled away from the table.
A single envelope sitting on top.
My name was written on it.
Evelyn.
I looked at Daniel.
He immediately shook his head.
"I didn't put that there."
Marcus looked at Victor.
Victor didn't move.
Nobody touched it.
Until my phone vibrated.
A new message.
This time from my father.
Don't open the envelope.
My heart stopped.
Because underneath the message was another line.
He's lying about who he is.
I slowly looked up.
The envelope was still on the table.
May you like
Waiting.
And then someone behind us whispered my name.
