Chapter 8 - The Person Standing Behind Me
The message stayed on my screen.
"Look behind you, Natalie."
For a few seconds, I couldn't move.
Not because I was afraid.
Because my mind was trying to understand something impossible.
The photo attached to the message showed the room we were standing in.
The hidden room.
The same room that only a handful of people knew existed.
Adrian.
His security team.
The woman who knew my mother.
The older man who claimed to know my father.
And me.
But there was someone else.
A figure standing behind me.
Close enough to touch me.
Close enough that if the person wanted to...
I stopped that thought.
Slowly, I turned around.
Everyone watched.
The wall behind me was empty.
Nothing.
No person.
No shadow.
No movement.
I looked back at my phone.
The photograph was still there.
The figure was still there.
"Who took this?"
My voice sounded different.
The older man stepped closer.
"Let me see."
I handed him the phone.
His face changed the moment he saw the image.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
"You know who it is."
It wasn't a question.
He looked at Adrian.
Adrian noticed.
"What?"
The older man didn't answer.
"Who is in the photo?"
The room became tense.
The man slowly lowered the phone.
"I don't know."
Nobody believed him.
Not even himself.
Adrian took the phone.
His eyes moved over the picture carefully.
Then he zoomed in.
The figure behind me became clearer.
Not enough to see a face.
But enough to see details.
A hand.
A sleeve.
A small mark on the wrist.
Adrian froze.
I noticed.
"What?"
He didn't respond.
"Adrian."
His eyes lifted.
"Where did you see that symbol before?"
I looked at the image.
The mark on the wrist.
A small black symbol.
The same one.
The same symbol that had appeared everywhere.
My mother’s files.
The envelope.
The key.
The photographs.
The woman covered her mouth.
"No."
Everyone looked at her.
She stepped back.
"No, that’s impossible."
Adrian turned toward her.
"You know something."
The woman looked terrified.
"I thought he was dead."
The room went quiet.
My heart started racing.
"Who?"
Nobody answered.
I looked at Adrian.
Then the older man.
Then the woman.
Everyone knew.
Everyone except me.
"Who is dead?"
The older man finally spoke.
"Someone who shouldn't be here."
That answer made no sense.
"That is not an answer."
I stepped forward.
"Who is in the picture?"
The woman looked at me.
Her eyes were filled with something I had never seen before.
Guilt.
"Natalie..."
"No."
My voice broke.
"I need the truth."
The woman closed her eyes.
"The person behind you..."
She stopped.
Then whispered:
"Was your father's closest friend."
I waited.
But she didn't continue.
"His name?"
Adrian answered.
"Daniel Cross."
The name hit the room like a weapon.
The older man immediately looked at Adrian.
"You shouldn't have said that."
"Why?"
Adrian stared at him.
"Because she deserves to know."
I looked between them.
"Who is Daniel Cross?"
Nobody answered quickly.
And that told me everything.
The truth was always hidden behind silence.
Finally, Adrian spoke.
"Daniel worked with my father."
"Your father?"
He nodded.
"He was there the night mine died."
I looked at the photograph again.
The figure behind me.
"Was he there when my father disappeared too?"
Nobody spoke.
Adrian didn't need to answer.
I knew.
The room suddenly felt smaller.
"So he was part of everything?"
The older man shook his head.
"No."
Everyone looked at him.
"No?"
He looked at the photograph.
"That's what makes this dangerous."
I frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"Daniel wasn't trying to destroy your family."
"Then what was he doing?"
The man's face became serious.
"He was trying to protect it."
That wasn't the answer I expected.
I felt more confused than before.
"Then why did my father fear him?"
Adrian looked away.
Because he knew.
He knew something.
I walked toward him.
"You know."
He remained silent.
"Adrian."
Finally, he spoke.
"Your father didn't trust Daniel."
"Why?"
"Because Daniel knew too much."
"About what?"
Adrian looked at the key on the table.
"About what your father found."
I picked up the key.
"What does this open?"
Nobody answered.
Again.
I was starting to hate that wordless agreement everyone seemed to have.
The woman walked toward the old wooden box.
"There is one thing your mother left behind."
She opened a hidden compartment inside the box.
A small metal device sat there.
Not a phone.
Not a recorder.
Something older.
A storage device.
She handed it to Adrian.
"He said only you could open it."
Adrian looked at me.
"Your father said that?"
The woman nodded.
I stared.
"Why you?"
Adrian held the device carefully.
"Because your father trusted me."
I shook my head.
"Everyone trusted you."
The words came out bitter.
"My mother. My father. Everyone."
Adrian didn't defend himself.
"I failed them."
The honesty surprised me.
He looked at the device.
"But I won't fail you."
Before I could answer, the lights flickered again.
This time, nobody looked surprised.
Everyone moved immediately.
The security team checked the exits.
The older man locked the door.
The woman turned off the monitors.
"What is happening?"
Adrian looked at me.
"We're leaving."
"Where?"
"Somewhere they can't find us."
I almost smiled.
"Do places like that exist?"
Adrian looked at me seriously.
"Yes."
"Where?"
His answer was quiet.
"The place where your father hid the truth."
A few minutes later, we moved through a private exit beneath the building.
I still didn't understand how much of Adrian's world existed beneath the surface.
Secret rooms.
Hidden tunnels.
People who watched from shadows.
A life I had never known.
We reached an underground garage.
A black vehicle waited.
Before we entered, my phone vibrated.
I looked down.
Another message.
Unknown number.
This time there was no photo.
Only text.
"Ask Adrian why your father trusted him with the gun."
I stopped walking.
My blood turned cold.
Adrian noticed.
"What happened?"
I looked at him.
Slowly.
"What gun?"
The entire garage went silent.
The older man looked at Adrian.
The woman looked away.
And Adrian...
Adrian looked like he had been waiting twenty years for this question.
"Where did you hear that?"
I held up my phone.
His face changed.
Not fear.
Not surprise.
Pain.
"You need to understand something."
I stared at him.
"What?"
He looked toward the vehicle.
Then back at me.
"The night your father disappeared..."
A pause.
"He wasn't running from the people who wanted him dead."
My heartbeat increased.
"Then who was he running from?"
Adrian opened his mouth.
But before he could answer—
the underground garage lights suddenly shut off.
A single emergency light turned on.
May you like
And from the darkness behind us...
someone whispered my childhood nickname.
