Chapter 6 - The Man Who Was Supposed To Be Dead
The knock came again.
Three slow knocks.
Not loud.
Not rushed.
Almost polite.
And somehow, that made it worse.
Nobody moved.
The apartment went completely silent.
The deleted video.
The hidden message.
The name that had appeared on the frozen screen.
Everything disappeared from my mind except one thing.
Someone was standing outside my door.
Adrian raised his hand.
Everyone stopped.
His eyes moved toward Marcus.
Marcus nodded and quietly reached for the weapon hidden beneath his jacket.
I looked at them.
"What is happening?"
Neither answered.
That was when I realized something terrifying.
They were not surprised someone was outside.
They were prepared.
Adrian walked toward the door slowly.
Every step was controlled.
Careful.
Like he already knew danger was waiting.
I grabbed his arm.
He stopped.
"Don't."
His eyes looked down at my hand.
Then back at me.
For a second, I forgot who he was.
Not the mafia boss.
Not the dangerous man everyone feared.
Just a man standing in front of a door where someone might be waiting.
"Whoever is out there knows about me," I whispered.
Adrian's expression hardened.
"Exactly."
"And you're still opening it?"
"No."
He looked toward Marcus.
"Check the hallway."
Marcus moved silently.
A few seconds later, he returned.
"Clear."
Adrian frowned.
"Clear?"
Marcus nodded.
"No one."
That made no sense.
The knock had been real.
I heard it.
They heard it.
Someone had been there.
Adrian looked at the door.
Then at the small security camera above it.
"Show me the footage."
Marcus checked the monitor connected to the apartment security system.
The screen appeared.
The hallway.
The door.
Empty.
Then the timestamp.
Two minutes earlier.
A shadow appeared.
Someone stood outside.
But the camera angle only showed the person's shoes.
Nothing else.
No face.
No body.
Nothing.
Then the figure disappeared.
I stepped closer.
"Can you zoom in?"
Marcus tried.
The image became blurry.
But something appeared.
A small detail.
A symbol on the person's shoe.
Adrian froze.
I noticed immediately.
"What?"
He didn't answer.
"Adrian."
His eyes stayed on the screen.
"That's impossible."
The way he said it made my stomach tighten.
"What is it?"
Marcus looked at him.
"You know that symbol?"
Adrian didn't respond.
Then he said one sentence.
"The person wearing it is dead."
The room went cold.
I stared at him.
"Who?"
Adrian turned away from the screen.
"Someone who shouldn't exist."
I hated that answer.
Because every answer Adrian gave created a bigger mystery.
"Everyone keeps saying that."
My voice cracked.
"Someone knows my past. Someone knows my parents. Someone sends me pictures. Someone breaks into my apartment."
I looked at Adrian.
"And you keep acting like you know everything."
His face changed slightly.
"I don't."
"Then tell me what you know."
Silence.
Finally, Adrian sat down.
The first time I had seen him do that.
Not as a powerful man.
Not as someone controlling the room.
Just as someone carrying something heavy.
"Your father wasn't just an accountant."
I waited.
"He worked with financial records for organizations that didn't officially exist."
"What kind of organizations?"
"Companies."
"That's not an answer."
"No."
His eyes met mine.
"It's not."
I crossed my arms.
"My father was a normal man."
Adrian shook his head.
"No."
The certainty in his voice hurt.
"Your father was a man who discovered something dangerous."
"What?"
"The reason powerful people were able to control entire industries."
I frowned.
"Money."
"More than money."
He looked at Marcus.
Marcus opened a briefcase.
Inside were old documents.
Photographs.
Files.
Adrian placed one photograph on the table.
My father's face stared back at me.
But he wasn't alone.
He was standing beside Adrian.
Years younger.
Before the scars.
Before the reputation.
Before I ever knew his name.
I looked at Adrian.
"You knew my father."
The silence confirmed it.
"How?"
Adrian looked down.
"Because your father saved my life."
I stopped.
"What?"
"Twenty years ago."
He touched the photograph.
"I was younger. I thought I understood the world."
A bitter smile appeared.
"I was wrong."
I looked at the picture again.
My father.
Adrian.
Together.
Two people from completely different lives.
"I don't understand."
"Your father found out someone was planning to eliminate certain people."
"People like you?"
"Yes."
"And my parents died because of that?"
Adrian didn't answer immediately.
Then:
"Partly."
The word made me angry.
"Partly?"
I stepped closer.
"My parents are dead. I lost my entire childhood. And you say partly?"
His expression changed.
Not anger.
Guilt.
"I spent years trying to find out what happened."
"Why?"
"Because I owed him."
The apartment became silent.
I didn't know what to say.
Because Adrian Vale, the man everyone feared, was standing there admitting he had failed someone who saved him.
Then Marcus interrupted.
"Boss."
Adrian looked up.
Marcus was holding a tablet.
"We recovered the original video file."
Everyone turned.
"What?"
Marcus looked at me.
"The deletion was fake."
My heart stopped.
"The person who sent it wanted us to think it disappeared."
He pressed play.
The video returned.
The same room.
The same hidden woman.
But this time, there was more.
The camera angle changed.
Someone else was in the room.
A man.
Standing behind her.
I couldn't see his face.
But I recognized the voice.
A voice from my childhood.
A voice from my nightmares.
"Chloe."
I froze.
The woman spoke.
"Your father trusted the wrong person."
The man behind her moved closer.
Then the camera captured his face.
Adrian went completely still.
Marcus whispered:
"No."
I looked between them.
"Who is that?"
Nobody answered.
Because Adrian already knew.
The man in the video was older now.
But the face was unmistakable.
The person responsible for everything.
The person Adrian believed was dead.
The person who had destroyed my family.
Adrian whispered his name.
"Daniel Cross."
I frowned.
"Who is Daniel Cross?"
Adrian didn't look at me.
Because he was staring at the screen.
A man who had supposedly died fifteen years ago.
A man whose funeral Adrian had personally attended.
A man who was now standing in front of the camera.
Alive.
The video continued.
Daniel looked directly into the camera.
Like he knew we would watch it.
Then he smiled.
And said:
"Adrian, if you found Chloe, it means you finally failed to protect her again."
Adrian's face changed.
"Again?"
I looked at him.
"What does he mean?"
Before Adrian could answer, his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He picked it up.
No one spoke.
Then a voice whispered:
"You should ask Chloe about the night she met Daniel."
My blood froze.
Because I had never met Daniel Cross.
At least...
I thought I hadn't.
Then Adrian looked at me.
And I saw fear in his eyes.
Real fear.
"Chloe."
I couldn't move.
"Do you remember the man who saved you when you were seven?"
I swallowed.
"What man?"
Adrian stared at me.
"The man your memory made you forget."
My phone suddenly vibrated.
A new message appeared.
One photo.
One sentence.
The photo was old.
A little girl.
A man.
A burning car behind them.
May you like
And the sentence below said:
"Ask her who was holding her hand when her parents died."
