Chapter 4 - The Girl In The Photograph
Elena stared at the photograph.
Her fingers felt numb.
The picture was old.
The edges were worn.
The colors had faded.
But the people in it were clear.
A little girl.
Standing beside a man.
The man was younger.
Different.
But Elena recognized him immediately.
Adrian Voss.
He was holding her hand.
Not like a stranger.
Not like someone meeting a child for the first time.
Like someone who had protected her.
Loved her.
Elena slowly looked up.
"Why am I in this picture?"
Nobody answered.
The silence was worse than any explanation.
Adrian kept staring at the photograph.
His face had lost all color.
"Where did you get this?"
Elena looked at the cracked phone.
"It was sent to all of us."
Adrian took the phone from her.
His eyes moved across the screen.
Then stopped.
A message appeared below the photo.
SHE DESERVES TO KNOW THE TRUTH.
Adrian's hand tightened.
Marcus noticed.
"You know something."
Adrian didn't reply.
"Adrian."
Still nothing.
Elena stepped closer.
"Tell me."
Adrian looked at her.
For the first time since they met, he looked uncertain.
That frightened her more than anything.
A man who could survive a plane crash.
A man who had enemies searching for him.
A man whose name made people afraid.
Was afraid of telling her the truth.
"Elena..."
She waited.
"That photo was taken nineteen years ago."
Her eyebrows tightened.
"Impossible."
"Why?"
"Because I wasn't nineteen years old."
Adrian looked down.
"I know."
The answer made her uncomfortable.
"What does that mean?"
Claire stepped forward.
"Adrian."
He ignored her.
"Your father worked for me."
Elena froze.
"My father?"
"His name was Thomas Marlowe."
She shook her head.
"No."
"Yes."
"I don't know that name."
"Because someone wanted you to forget it."
The ocean wind moved around them.
Elena felt like the ground beneath her was changing.
"My father left when I was a baby."
Adrian looked at her.
"That's what they told you."
She stared.
"Who?"
Nobody answered.
Marcus looked toward the road.
His expression changed.
"We need to move."
Elena turned.
"Not until I get answers."
Marcus looked at her.
"You will."
"No."
Her voice became sharper.
"I almost died saving him."
She pointed at Adrian.
"I deserve to know why my name was on that jet."
Adrian watched her.
Then slowly nodded.
"You're right."
Marcus looked surprised.
Adrian continued.
"Thomas Marlowe wasn't just my employee."
He looked at the photograph.
"He was my closest friend."
Elena listened.
"Twenty years ago, before I became who everyone thinks I am, Thomas helped me build my first company."
Adrian paused.
"He was the only person who knew everything."
"Everything about what?"
Adrian's eyes darkened.
"My family."
A sound came from the distance.
A vehicle.
Everyone turned.
Marcus immediately reached for his weapon.
"Too late."
Elena looked confused.
"What?"
Marcus watched the highway.
"They found us."
Three black vehicles appeared.
Not SUVs.
Military-style trucks.
They moved quickly.
Too quickly.
Marcus opened the SUV door.
"Get inside."
Elena didn't move.
"Who are they?"
Adrian grabbed her arm.
"People who thought I was dead."
The trucks stopped.
Doors opened.
Men stepped out.
They were armed.
But they were not looking at Adrian.
They were looking at Elena.
One of them raised a phone.
A picture appeared on the screen.
The same photograph.
The little girl.
The man beside her.
Adrian.
The man lowered the phone.
"Elena Marlowe."
Her blood turned cold.
"How do you know my name?"
Nobody answered.
The man smiled.
"Because we've been looking for you for nineteen years."
Adrian stepped in front of her.
"No."
The man looked amused.
"You still protect her."
Adrian's expression changed.
"You know who she is."
The man tilted his head.
"Of course."
A pause.
"She is the reason you survived."
Elena felt her chest tighten.
"What does that mean?"
The man looked directly at her.
"Your father left you something."
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
"What?"
The man smiled.
"Something Adrian Voss has spent nineteen years trying to find."
Marcus looked at Adrian.
"You knew?"
Adrian didn't answer.
That was enough.
Elena stepped back.
"You knew about me?"
Adrian turned.
"No."
The pain in his eyes looked real.
"I knew about your father."
"But not me?"
"No."
"Then why are they saying this?"
Nobody had an answer.
The armed men moved closer.
Marcus and the others raised their weapons.
The beach became a battlefield.
Adrian grabbed Elena's hand.
"Trust me."
She looked at him.
"You are asking a lot from someone who just found out her entire life might be a lie."
"I know."
"Why should I trust you?"
Adrian looked at her.
"Because your father trusted me."
The words stopped her.
Before she could respond, one of the enemy men shouted:
"Adrian!"
Everyone looked.
The man pulled out a small object.
A necklace.
Elena froze.
Because she recognized it.
She had worn the same necklace since childhood.
The only thing her mother left her.
The man held it up.
"Thomas Marlowe gave this to his daughter."
Adrian stared.
"Where did you get that?"
The man smiled.
"From the place where he hid the truth."
Elena touched her own necklace.
It was still around her neck.
But the man's necklace was different.
Older.
Bigger.
Like a copy.
Adrian saw it too.
His expression changed.
"No..."
Marcus looked at him.
"What?"
Adrian whispered:
"That's not possible."
Elena looked between them.
"What?"
Adrian looked at her necklace.
Then the one in the man's hand.
"Your father didn't leave you a necklace."
A silence followed.
"He left you a key."
Elena's fingers moved toward the necklace.
A key.
Inside it?
She had worn it her entire life.
Never knowing.
Never questioning.
The enemy leader smiled.
"Now you understand."
Adrian stepped forward.
"What does it open?"
The man looked at Elena.
Not Adrian.
"Ask her."
Everyone turned.
Elena felt confused.
"Ask me what?"
The man smiled.
"Ask her what she remembers from the night her father disappeared."
Elena stopped breathing.
Because there was one thing.
One memory.
A memory she had spent years trying to forget.
A man's voice.
A dark room.
A promise.
She had never told anyone.
Not even her mother.
Adrian noticed her expression.
"Elena?"
Her lips trembled.
"I remember something."
The enemy men became silent.
Marcus looked at her.
"What?"
She touched her necklace.
"When I was little..."
Her voice became quieter.
"My father told me never to trust anyone who came looking for this."
Adrian stepped closer.
"What else did he say?"
Elena looked at him.
And suddenly remembered.
A sentence buried for nineteen years.
A sentence she had never understood.
"He said..."
She stopped.
Because the enemy leader's phone suddenly rang.
He answered.
Listened.
Then his face changed.
The confidence disappeared.
"What?"
A pause.
Then he looked directly at Elena.
And whispered:
"She's already opened the door."
Everyone froze.
Because nobody knew what door he meant.
Except Adrian.
His face turned pale.
"Take Elena away from here."
Marcus looked at him.
"Why?"
Adrian stared at the necklace around Elena's neck.
Because inside it...
May you like
Something had started moving.
And then Elena heard a small click coming from the pendant in her hand.
