Chapter 3 - The Secret Inside The Dead Man's Phone
Elena held the ringing phone in her hand.
Nobody moved.
The sound echoed across the empty beach.
One ring.
Two rings.
Three.
Marcus stared at the screen.
His expression changed.
Not confusion.
Fear.
"Drop it."
Elena looked at him.
"What?"
"Drop the phone."
His voice was different now.
No calm.
No control.
A warning.
Elena slowly lowered her hand.
"Why?"
Marcus stepped closer.
"Because whoever is calling already knows where we are."
The phone kept ringing.
Adrian watched it from inside the SUV.
His face became pale.
"Give it to me."
Marcus turned.
"No."
Adrian's eyes hardened.
"I said give it to me."
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Marcus handed him the phone.
Elena watched carefully.
The powerful man who had just survived a plane crash was suddenly looking at a cracked phone like it contained a weapon.
Adrian answered.
Nobody spoke.
The person on the other end remained silent.
Then Adrian said one word.
"Daniel."
Elena felt the air change.
Marcus closed his eyes.
Claire looked away.
The name again.
Daniel Voss.
The brother who was supposed to be dead.
The brother who Adrian believed had caused everything.
Adrian listened.
His fingers tightened around the phone.
"You should be dead."
Silence.
Then his expression changed.
A mixture of anger and disbelief.
"Where did you get that?"
Another pause.
Adrian looked toward Elena.
And that was when she knew.
Whatever the caller had said involved her.
"Don't touch her."
The words came out quietly.
But everyone heard them.
Marcus stepped forward.
"Adrian."
Adrian ignored him.
"You want me? Fine."
His voice became colder.
"Leave her out of this."
Elena's heart started beating faster.
She didn't know this man.
She had met him less than an hour ago.
But someone on the phone already wanted to use her against him.
The call ended.
Adrian lowered the phone.
Nobody spoke.
Finally, Marcus asked:
"What did he say?"
Adrian looked at the cracked screen.
"Daniel knows she saved me."
Claire shook her head.
"That's impossible."
Adrian looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because Daniel didn't survive either."
The words landed heavily.
Elena looked between them.
"Can someone please explain what is happening?"
Nobody answered immediately.
That bothered her more than anything.
They were not hiding information from her because they didn't trust her.
They were hiding it because the truth was dangerous.
Marcus opened the SUV door.
"We need to leave."
Elena didn't move.
"No."
Marcus looked at her.
"Elena."
"No."
She pointed toward Adrian.
"I saved him. I nearly died getting him out of that aircraft. Then five strangers show up, a woman appears who knows him, and now someone is calling from a phone that somehow knows my name."
Her voice remained steady.
"But nobody is telling me anything."
Marcus looked at Adrian.
Adrian slowly nodded.
"She's right."
Marcus frowned.
"Adrian."
"Tell her."
The older man stayed silent.
Then he finally spoke.
"Three years ago, Adrian Voss and Daniel Voss were fighting over control of the Voss empire."
Elena listened.
"Adrian believed the company needed to change. Daniel believed power mattered more than anything."
Claire added quietly:
"They stopped being brothers."
Marcus continued.
"Then Adrian discovered someone inside the company was moving money through secret accounts."
"Daniel?"
Adrian looked down.
"I thought it was him."
"But you were wrong?" Elena asked.
Adrian didn't answer.
That was an answer itself.
Marcus continued.
"The night Adrian disappeared, his yacht exploded. Everyone believed he died."
"And Daniel?"
Claire looked at the ocean.
"Daniel disappeared the same night."
Elena felt a chill.
"So both brothers vanished."
Marcus nodded.
"Yes."
"And now one of them is calling."
Nobody corrected her.
Because everyone knew what that meant.
Adrian looked at the phone.
"He wants something."
"What?"
Adrian's eyes moved toward Elena.
"The only witness who can prove what happened."
Elena froze.
"Me?"
"No."
Adrian shook his head.
"Not you."
He looked at the ocean.
"The person who was supposed to die on that jet."
Elena didn't understand.
"What does that mean?"
Before Adrian could answer, Marcus's phone rang.
He answered immediately.
A man's voice spoke.
Marcus listened.
Then his face changed.
"Repeat that."
Everyone watched him.
"What?"
A long pause.
Then Marcus lowered the phone.
"The aircraft wreckage."
Adrian looked at him.
"What about it?"
Marcus swallowed.
"They found another passenger."
The beach became silent.
Elena stared.
"But you said he was alone."
Marcus looked at Adrian.
"We were wrong."
Adrian's face tightened.
"Who?"
Marcus didn't answer.
He looked at Claire.
Then at Elena.
Finally, he said:
"The passenger was registered under a name that doesn't exist."
Adrian stepped forward.
"Tell me."
Marcus looked down.
"The name on the manifest was..."
He stopped.
A strange fear crossed his face.
"Elena Marlowe."
The world seemed to stop.
Elena stared.
"No."
Marcus showed her the digital record.
Her name.
Her birth date.
Her information.
All listed as a passenger on Adrian's private jet.
"But I wasn't there."
Adrian looked at her.
And for the first time since she found him...
He looked afraid.
Because he knew something she didn't.
"Elena."
She turned toward him.
"What?"
Adrian walked closer.
His voice dropped.
"Who are your parents?"
The question felt impossible.
"My parents?"
"Answer me."
She stepped back.
"My mother died when I was young. My father left before I could remember him."
Adrian stared at her.
Like he had just heard something impossible.
"That's not true."
Elena felt anger rising.
"Excuse me?"
Adrian looked at Marcus.
"Find her file."
Marcus immediately pulled out his phone.
Claire watched Elena carefully.
"You don't know who you are, do you?"
Elena looked at her.
"What are you talking about?"
Claire didn't answer.
Because Marcus's phone suddenly showed a result.
His face went completely blank.
"What?"
Adrian grabbed the phone.
He read the screen.
Then he looked at Elena.
The woman who had saved his life.
The woman whose name appeared on his dead passenger list.
The woman who had no idea why powerful people were hunting her.
Adrian whispered:
"Your father wasn't a nobody."
Elena couldn't breathe.
"Who was he?"
Adrian looked at her.
And before he could say the name, every phone around them received the same message at the exact same time.
Marcus's phone.
Claire's phone.
Adrian's phone.
Even the cracked phone Elena had found.
One sentence appeared.
YOU FINALLY FOUND HER.
Then another message arrived.
A photo.
Elena looked down.
Her hands began shaking.
Because the picture showed a little girl standing beside a man she had never met.
But the man was holding her hand.
May you like
And on the back of the photograph was written one name...
Adrian Voss.
