Chapter 4
Chapter 4
The Secret Letter
Rain began falling just before noon.
From the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Grand Alcazar Hotel, the city looked blurred beneath sheets of gray. Guests lingered in the lounge, sipping expensive coffee while watching the storm wash over the streets.
Inside Suite 2001, Julian Rossi stood motionless.
He could still feel the tiny kick against his palm.
His son.
For eight long months, he had believed he had lost everything.
Now he knew he had almost lost far more than he could bear to imagine.
But one question overshadowed every other thought.
Why had Elena run away?
Not because she had stopped loving him.
He had seen the tears in her eyes.
He had felt the hesitation when she allowed him to touch their unborn child.
No...
She still loved him.
Which meant someone—or something—had forced her to disappear.
And Julian intended to uncover the truth.
Meanwhile, Elena hurried through the employees' corridor with her head lowered.
Her shift was over, but she refused Maria's offer to stay and rest.
"I just want to go home."
Maria studied her worried face.
"You shouldn't be walking alone."
"I'll be fine."
"You know he won't stop looking for you."
Elena smiled sadly.
"I know."
"And that's exactly what frightens me."
Maria squeezed her shoulder.
"If you need anything..."
"I know where to find you."
Elena nodded and slowly left through the staff entrance.
She never noticed the black sedan parked across the street.
Inside, a man wearing dark sunglasses lowered a camera.
Click.
Another photograph.
He typed a message.
She just left the hotel. Alone.
The reply came almost instantly.
Don't lose her.
Julian didn't wait long.
The moment Elena finished her shift, he left through a different exit and followed at a distance.
Not because he wanted to frighten her.
Because he needed answers.
She walked for nearly twenty minutes, avoiding the city's busy avenues.
Gone were the luxury boutiques and designer storefronts.
The streets grew narrower.
The buildings older.
Paint peeled from cracked apartment walls.
Children played soccer in small courtyards.
Laundry hung between balconies.
Julian had invested millions in districts like this.
Yet he had never actually walked through one.
Not until today.
He watched as Elena stopped before an aging apartment building with a faded blue door.
She climbed three flights of worn concrete stairs before disappearing inside.
Julian waited another five minutes.
Then quietly entered.
Apartment 3B.
The paint around the doorframe had chipped away years ago.
A tiny paper butterfly had been taped beside the number.
Julian's chest tightened.
Butterflies.
Elena had loved them.
Their wedding invitations had carried a small butterfly embossed in silver.
The nursery they had once planned was supposed to have butterfly wallpaper.
He gently knocked.
No answer.
He knocked again.
Silence.
The elderly woman from Apartment 3A opened her own door.
"Looking for Emma?"
Julian turned.
"Emma?"
"The young pregnant woman."
Julian forced a polite smile.
"Yes."
"She just went to the pharmacy."
The woman looked him over curiously.
"You're not the landlord, are you?"
"No."
"You her brother?"
Julian swallowed.
"I'm..."
He hesitated.
"...her husband."
The woman's eyes widened.
"Husband?"
She looked genuinely confused.
"She told everyone she didn't have any family."
Julian's heart sank.
Why would Elena tell strangers she was completely alone?
The elderly neighbor sighed.
"Poor thing."
Julian looked at her.
"She works too hard."
"Leaves before sunrise."
"Comes home after dark."
"Hardly eats."
The woman lowered her voice.
"Last week she fainted on the stairs."
Julian clenched his fists.
"And nobody called me."
The neighbor frowned.
"We didn't know there was anyone to call."
She disappeared briefly inside her apartment and returned carrying a spare key.
"She asked me to keep this."
Julian stared at it.
"I shouldn't..."
"You look more worried than dangerous."
The woman placed the key in his hand.
"Just don't steal my casserole dish if you see it."
For the first time that day...
Julian smiled.
"I won't."
The apartment was painfully small.
A single bedroom.
A tiny kitchenette.
A worn sofa.
A folding dining table.
Everything was spotless.
Everything was modest.
Nothing resembled the life Elena had once lived.
The woman who had shared a mansion with twenty rooms now lived in a place barely larger than one of its walk-in closets.
Julian slowly walked through the apartment.
On the kitchen counter sat prenatal vitamins.
A half-empty carton of milk.
Medical appointment cards.
Every receipt had been carefully folded.
Every expense counted.
He opened the refrigerator.
Almost empty.
A few vegetables.
Eggs.
Bottled water.
Nothing else.
His chest tightened.
Had she really been living like this?
While he had searched the world...
She had been struggling only a few miles away.
The bedroom was even simpler.
A narrow bed.
A small wardrobe.
Beside it stood a neatly assembled crib.
Hand-painted.
Clearly secondhand.
A tiny blue blanket rested inside.
Julian reached down and touched it.
Soft.
Carefully stitched by hand.
He imagined Elena sitting alone at night, sewing it for their son.
The thought broke something inside him.
Then he noticed a wooden box beneath the bed.
Inside were baby clothes.
A stuffed rabbit.
Tiny socks.
And beneath them...
An envelope.
His name was written on the front.
Julian.
His hands trembled.
He carefully opened it.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
The letter began in Elena's handwriting.
My dearest Jules,
If you are reading this, then everything has already gone terribly wrong.
Please believe one thing before you hate me.
I never left because I stopped loving you.
Julian's vision blurred.
He continued reading.
Every day away from you has felt like losing my heart all over again.
But if I stayed...
You would have died.
He stopped breathing.
His eyes rushed to the next lines.
Only...
Half the page was missing.
It had been torn away.
The remaining words ended abruptly.
There is someone close to you...
Someone you trust...
They know everything.
They said—
Nothing.
The rest had been ripped away.
Julian searched the box frantically.
Nothing.
The missing half was gone.
His pulse raced.
Someone close to him?
Someone he trusted?
Who?
He turned the envelope over.
A second folded note slipped onto the floor.
Unlike the first, it wasn't written by Elena.
The handwriting was unfamiliar.
Jagged.
Aggressive.
Only one sentence appeared.
If you stay with Julian Rossi, he will die.
Julian stared at the words.
The ink had smeared slightly, as if someone had written them in a hurry.
His hands clenched until the paper crumpled.
This wasn't a misunderstanding.
It was a threat.
A deliberate one.
Elena hadn't abandoned him.
She had been driven away.
A floorboard creaked behind him.
Julian spun around.
No one.
The apartment stood silent.
Still...
His instincts screamed that something was wrong.
He walked toward the window.
The curtains were slightly open.
Across the narrow street stood an abandoned building.
Its broken windows faced directly toward Elena's apartment.
Something glinted briefly in the darkness.
A lens.
Binoculars.
Or...
A camera.
Before Julian could react, the reflection vanished.
Whoever had been watching had already disappeared.
At that exact moment, Elena climbed the apartment stairs carrying a small paper bag from the pharmacy.
She smiled faintly when she thought about the baby's heartbeat from that morning's checkup.
For the first time in weeks...
Everything had looked healthy.
As she reached the third floor, her smile disappeared.
Her apartment door was slightly open.
She never left it open.
Her heart skipped.
Slowly, she pushed the door wider.
"Hello?"
Silence.
She stepped inside.
Nothing appeared out of place.
Until she saw the open wooden box on the bedroom floor.
The letters.
Gone.
Her face turned white.
She whispered only one word.
"Julian..."
Across the street, inside the abandoned building, a man lowered a high-powered camera.
He smiled as he watched Elena panic.
Then he picked up his phone.
"The husband found the letter," he reported calmly.
A familiar cold voice answered.
"I expected he would."
"What now?"
The man looked through the camera one last time.
His smile widened.
"Now..."
"We make sure he never finds the missing page."
The call ended.
The stranger reached into his coat pocket.
There, carefully folded, was the torn half of Elena's letter.
The piece Julian had never seen.
The piece that revealed the name of the person responsible for destroying their lives.
He struck a lighter.
The flame danced against the paper.
For a brief moment, one name became visible in the firelight.
Then...
May you like
The page turned to ash.
End of Chapter 4
