Chapter 6 The Photograph
My fingers trembled as I tapped the message open. The photograph filled my screen, and my heart almost stopped.
It was me, I was standing outside my apartment building yesterday morning with a cup of coffee in my hand. I remembered that moment clearly because I had been rushing to catch the bus for my interview at Kingston Sports Group.
Someone had taken that picture without me knowing. I quickly swiped to the next image. Another photograph appeared. This one showed me standing beside the road after Ethan’s accident.
The third one was even worse. It had been taken less than ten minutes ago.
I was walking into Saint Mary’s Medical Center beside Alexander. My blood ran cold. “They’re here,” I whispered.
Alexander stepped closer and took the phone from my hand. His expression darkened as he scrolled through the pictures one by one. “They’ve been following you.”
“I’ve never noticed anyone.”
“That was the point.”
A new message appeared beneath the photographs. You’re asking the wrong questions. Go home before someone gets hurt.
The room fell silent. Ethan looked from me to Alexander. “They know she’s here.”
Alexander handed my phone to one of the guards. “Trace it.”
The guard frowned. “They’re using encrypted numbers, sir.”
“I don’t care. Find something.”
“Yes, sir.”
I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to stop shaking. “This can’t be happening.”
Alexander looked at me. “It is.”
His voice was calm, but there was something dangerous behind it. Whoever was doing this had finally crossed a line.
Another guard rushed into the room without knocking. “Mr. Kingston.”
“What?”
“We’ve reviewed the parking garage cameras.”
Alexander turned toward him. “And?”
“A black motorcycle entered five minutes before your vehicle.”
“So?”
“It never left.”
A heavy silence settled over the room. Alexander’s eyes narrowed.
“Lock down the garage.”
The guard nodded and hurried away.
Ethan looked exhausted. “You need to leave.”
I shook my head. “Not until you tell me what you know.”
He sighed heavily. “I wish I knew more.”
“You said my father was protecting something.”
“I heard them talking.”
“Who?”
“The men after the accident.”
His voice was barely above a whisper. “They kept saying your father hid it before he died.”
“Hid what?”
“I don’t know.”
Every answer only created more questions.
Alexander walked toward the window overlooking the hallway. His attention shifted from one guard to another as if he expected trouble at any second.
Then his phone rang. He answered immediately.
“What?”
His expression hardened. “When?”
He listened for several seconds before ending the call.
“What happened?” I asked. “They searched your apartment.”
My stomach dropped. “What?”
“My security team went there after the first threatening message.”
I could barely breathe. “They were too late.”
I stared at him. “You sent people to my apartment?”
“Yes.”
“What did they find?”
“The front door had been forced open.”
A wave of panic washed over me.
“My apartment…”
“They turned it upside down.”
I grabbed the edge of Ethan’s hospital bed to steady myself. “My father’s things…”
Alexander looked straight into my eyes.
“They were searching for something.”
The brown envelope.
The memory returned so clearly that I almost gasped. My father hiding it inside the old wooden desk, his nervous smile.
The way he changed the subject whenever I asked questions. “They’re looking for a file,” I whispered.
Alexander nodded. “So are we.”
Before anyone could speak again, one of the hospital alarms suddenly began blaring through the hallway.
Doctors and nurses rushed past the glass windows. The entire floor exploded into movement.
A guard spoke urgently into his radio. “Someone cut the power on the east wing.”
Another voice answered through the radio. “All security units respond immediately.”
The lights flickered once, then twice. Then the entire floor went dark. For one terrifying second, the only sound was the frantic beeping of Ethan’s heart monitor.
Then a gunshot echoed somewhere down the hallway. Someone screamed.
Alexander grabbed my arm. “Stay behind me.”
The emergency lights suddenly flashed on, bathing the hallway in a dim red glow. A shadow appeared outside Ethan’s room. The door handle slowly began to turn…
