The message felt heavier than the phone itself.
**Ask about Victoria**
Nobody spoke. Elena stared at the screen. Daniel stared at the screen. Adrian stared at the screen. The silence stretched until it became unbearable. Finally, Elena looked up.
"What does that mean?"
Neither man answered.
That alone was answer enough.
"You both know something."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
"Elena—"
"No."
For once, she refused to let him redirect the conversation.
"I'm tired of being treated like I'm standing outside a room everyone else is allowed into."
Her voice shook slightly.
Not from fear.
From frustration.
The message still glowed on her screen.
**Ask about Victoria.**
Someone wanted her to know something.
Something important.
Something dangerous.
Daniel shifted uncomfortably.
Adrian noticed.
"Leave us."
Daniel blinked.
"What?"
"Leave us."
The order was calm.
Firm.
Final.
Daniel looked between them.
Then nodded.
A few moments later the apartment door closed behind him.
Leaving Adrian and Elena alone.
---
The silence felt different now.
Heavier.
Elena folded her arms.
"Talk."
Adrian walked toward the window.
The black car was gone.
At some point during the chaos, it had disappeared.
That didn't make Elena feel any better.
If anything, it made things worse.
"What exactly do you want to know?" Adrian asked.
She laughed bitterly.
"Seriously?"
He didn't respond.
"Fine."
Elena took a breath.
"Who was Victoria?"
The question lingered between them.
For a moment Adrian looked exhausted.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
Like a man carrying something for too long.
"Victoria was the woman I planned to marry."
"I know that part."
His eyes closed briefly.
Then opened again.
"She wasn't just my fiancée."
His voice softened.
"She was my best friend."
Something inside Elena tightened.
Because she believed him.
Every word.
The room fell silent again.
Then she asked the question she'd been avoiding.
"How did she die?"
This time Adrian didn't answer immediately.
His gaze moved back toward the city.
Toward somewhere far away.
Somewhere years ago.
"It was a car accident."
Elena froze.
A car accident.
Yet something felt wrong.
Because Adrian wasn't looking at her anymore.
He was looking at the past.
"And?"
His shoulders stiffened.
"And what?"
"You don't believe it was an accident."
The words slipped out quietly.
But they landed like thunder.
Adrian slowly turned.
The look in his eyes told her everything.
He had spent years asking himself the same question.
Years.
"No."
The answer came quietly.
But it shook the room.
"No, I don't."
Elena stopped breathing.
For the first time, Adrian Volkov had admitted something nobody else knew. He believed Victoria's death wasn't an accident. The realization settled heavily between them.
"Did you tell the police that?"
Adrian laughed.
A cold, humorless laugh.
"They investigated."
"And?"
"They found nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing."
His voice carried years of bitterness.
Years of frustration.
Years of grief.
The kind that never truly disappears.
Elena swallowed.
Then another thought struck her.
A terrible thought.
"What if whoever is sending these messages knows something?"
The room went still.
Adrian's expression hardened immediately.
Because he had clearly considered the possibility.
And hated it.
Before either of them could speak again, Adrian's phone rang.
He glanced at the screen.
His expression changed instantly.
Dangerously.
"What is it?" Elena asked.
He answered the call.
"Daniel."
A pause.
Then another.
Elena watched Adrian's face grow colder with every passing second.
When the call ended, he slipped the phone into his pocket.
"What happened?"
Adrian looked directly at her.
His eyes were darker than she'd ever seen them.
"They found the car."
Relief flooded her.
"Good."
"It was abandoned."
The relief vanished immediately.
"Abandoned?"
Adrian nodded.
"Empty."
A chill ran down Elena's spine.
"Then where's the driver?"
Adrian didn't answer.
Because he didn't know.
And somehow...
That was the most frightening answer of all.
---
Later that night, after Adrian had gone to make several calls, Elena found herself unable to sleep.
Her thoughts kept circling back to Victoria.
The accident.
The messages.
The secrets.
Finally she stood and walked toward the bookshelf in the study.
She wasn't even sure what she was looking for.
Until she saw it.
A photograph.
Half-hidden behind a stack of files.
Elena picked it up carefully.
And froze.
It was Adrian.
Years younger.
Standing beside Victoria.
Both smiling.
Both happy.
But that wasn't what caught Elena's attention.
It was the man standing in the background.
Barely visible.
Watching them.
His face was partially obscured.
Yet somehow...
She recognized him.
Her heart nearly stopped.
Because she had seen that face before.
Across the street.
Inside the black car.