Chapter 4 - The Box Under My Mother’s Bed
We returned to my apartment together.
The blue box was exactly where I had left it for eight years.
Under the bed.
Wrapped in an old sweater.
I placed it on the table.
Adrian stared at it.
“That’s it.”
“You recognize it?”
“My mother made it.”
I looked at him.
“Your mother?”
“She gave it to Claire.”
The box was locked.
I had never found the key.
Adrian did something that surprised me.
He took a ring off his finger.
The band had a tiny hidden mechanism.
He inserted a thin metal strip.
Click.
The lock opened.
Inside were photographs, letters, a key, and a small flash drive.
My hands shook.
“What is this?”
“Your mother’s final evidence.”
I picked up the first letter.
It was addressed to Adrian.
My dear Adrian,
If Eve ever finds this, it means I failed to keep her outside this war.
I stopped reading.
Tears filled my eyes.
Adrian took a step toward me.
“I can read it later.”
“No.”
I continued.
Michael betrayed us.
Victor discovered the ledger.
I hid the original in a place only Eve could access.
I looked at Adrian.
“Only me?”
“Yes.”
The next sentence made my blood run cold.
She doesn't know she remembers.
I stopped.
“What does that mean?”
Adrian said nothing.
I looked at him.
“What does it mean?”
He knelt beside me.
“When you were six, there was a fire.”
“I remember the fire.”
“You were unconscious for three days.”
“I remember waking up in a hospital.”
“Your mother told the doctors you had no memory of what happened before the fire.”
I stared at him.
“What are you saying?”
“She was lying.”
“Why?”
“Because the people who started the fire wanted to know what you saw.”
I dropped the letter.
“What did I see?”
Adrian’s voice softened.
“You saw your father meet Victor.”
I felt sick.
My father had always been a blank space in my life.
Now that blank space was becoming a nightmare.
The flash drive contained dozens of files.
Bank records.
Audio recordings.
Photographs.
One video.
I clicked it.
My mother appeared on screen.
She looked directly into the camera.
“Eve, if you are watching this, then you are old enough to know the truth.”
My breath caught.
“My father did not leave us because he hated me,” she continued. “He left because he betrayed us first.”
She explained that Michael had been working with Victor.
Together, they had created shell companies.
Money was stolen.
Contracts were forged.
When Claire discovered it, she threatened to expose them.
Adrian tried to help.
That was when Victor ordered the fire.
Claire survived.
Michael disappeared.
And I survived because Adrian arrived before the second floor collapsed.
The video ended.
I looked at Adrian.
“You saved me.”
“Yes.”
“My mother knew?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you stay?”
“Because Victor threatened to kill you if I did.”
I stared at him.
“And you believed him?”
“I had proof.”
“Why did you let everyone think you abandoned us?”
“Because disappearing kept you alive.”
I began crying.
Not quietly.
Not gracefully.
The kind of crying that makes your ribs ache.
Adrian stood there, not touching me.
He knew better.
After several minutes, I whispered:
“Why did you care so much?”
His eyes became glassy.
“Because I loved your mother.”
“And me?”
He hesitated.
“I loved you because she asked me to.”
I looked up.
He smiled sadly.
“And then I loved you because you were you.”
Something in my chest shifted.
Not romance.
Not yet.
Something more dangerous.
Trust.
That evening, Dylan arrived with Sophie.
I was furious.
“You brought her here?”
“She knows where the ledger is.”
Sophie was pale.
“I found another file.”
She placed it on the table.
“I found out why Dylan cheated.”
I stared at him.
He looked down.
“Tell her,” Sophie said.
Dylan swallowed.
“My father made me choose.”
I laughed.
“He forced you to sleep with your best friend?”
“No.”
“What then?”
“He told me if I married you, Victor would come after you.”
“And cheating was your solution?”
Dylan’s eyes filled with tears.
“I thought if you hated me, you would leave.”
Silence.
“You broke my heart to protect me?”
“I thought I was protecting you.”
“Did you ever stop to ask what I wanted?”
“No.”
“That’s the problem.”
Sophie looked away.
Dylan pulled a small envelope from his pocket.
“Your mother wrote my grandmother once.”
He gave it to me.
Inside was one sentence.
If Eve ever learns the truth, let her choose for herself.
I looked at Adrian.
He nodded.
For the first time, he didn't try to influence what I would do.
“You should have told me,” I said.
“I know.”
“Both of you.”
No one answered.
Then the lights went out.
A crash came from the hallway.
Sophie screamed.
Someone had entered the building.
Adrian immediately moved me behind him.
Footsteps approached.
A gunshot cracked through the apartment.
The window shattered.
We dropped to the floor.
Adrian covered me with his body.
Dylan rushed toward the door.
“Don’t!” Adrian shouted.
Another shot struck the wall.
Then silence.
When the police arrived, the intruder was gone.
May you like
But something was missing.
The blue box.
