Chapter 2 - THE SECOND ACCOUNTRyan had never pointed a gun at Lisa before.
That was what frightened her most.
Not the weapon.
Not the fact that her husband, the man who used to kiss her forehead before leaving for work, was standing ten feet away with a loaded pistol.
It was how calm he looked.
Lisa slowly raised both hands.
"Ryan."
He stared at the laptop.
"You shouldn't have opened that."
Her heartbeat accelerated.
"What?"
"The old system."
"The investigation portal?"
Ryan's jaw tightened.
"You were told to leave that part of your past alone."
Lisa almost laughed.
"What part of my past?"
He didn't answer.
That silence was an answer.
Lisa moved one step toward him.
Ryan raised the gun.
"Don't."
She stopped.
"Did you know about the account?"
He looked at her.
"Which one?"
"The one with three hundred eighty-seven thousand dollars."
His expression changed.
Only for a second.
But Lisa caught it.
He knew.
"You've been tracking me."
"No."
"Then how did you know what I opened?"
Ryan glanced toward the ceiling.
Lisa understood.
Cameras.
Not security cameras.
Hidden cameras.
Her own house.
He had been watching her.
"How long?"
Ryan said nothing.
"How long have you been recording me?"
"I never wanted this."
Lisa felt the room tilt.
"You never wanted what?"
Ryan's eyes softened.
And somehow that was worse.
"You weren't supposed to find out."
"Find out what?"
He took a step forward.
Then his phone vibrated.
He checked it.
Lisa saw the screen.
One name.
EVELYN.
Ryan immediately locked the phone.
"What does she want?"
"Nothing."
"Then answer."
He didn't.
Lisa studied him.
Her husband was decorated for service overseas.
He had survived combat.
He had been trained to remain composed when everyone else panicked.
But his left hand was trembling.
Not from fear.
From anger.
Someone else was controlling the situation.
Lisa lowered her hands.
"You're not going to shoot me."
His eyes narrowed.
"How do you know?"
"Because if you wanted me dead, you wouldn't be standing here talking."
Ryan looked away.
That was when Lisa noticed the reflection in the window.
A tiny green light.
A camera.
Mounted inside the bookshelf.
She smiled.
"You put cameras everywhere."
Ryan's face went blank.
Lisa continued.
"You've been documenting my life."
"You don't understand."
"No."
She took another step.
"I understand perfectly."
Ryan raised the gun again.
"Give me the laptop."
Lisa stared at him.
Then she deliberately glanced at the clock.
9:24.
"You can have it."
Ryan didn't move.
"But first," she said, "tell me where my brother is."
Everything stopped.
Ryan's expression went completely still.
Lisa had her answer.
She had been twenty-two when her younger brother Daniel disappeared.
The official story was simple.
He had gone overseas.
Then his unit reported him missing.
Years passed.
No body.
No confirmed sighting.
No explanation.
Lisa's parents died believing he had been killed.
Lisa had stopped asking questions because every investigator eventually told her the same thing.
There was not enough evidence.
But tonight, the moment she mentioned Daniel, Ryan looked like a man who had been struck.
"Why would you ask that?"
"Because the message I received tonight mentioned him."
"Who sent it?"
Lisa smiled.
"So you do know."
Ryan stepped backward.
His phone vibrated again.
This time Lisa heard the notification.
Ryan looked at it.
His face drained of color.
"What?"
Lisa watched him.
He slowly turned the phone toward her.
A photograph.
Daniel.
Older.
Bearded.
Alive.
Standing outside a train station.
Taken less than forty minutes earlier.
Lisa stopped breathing.
"Where is that?"
Ryan whispered:
"I don't know."
"Who sent it?"
He shook his head.
Then every light in the house went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Lisa heard Ryan curse.
A sound came from downstairs.
Glass breaking.
Then Evelyn screamed.
Ryan lowered the gun.
"Stay here."
Lisa almost smiled.
He was giving her orders now?
She waited two seconds.
Then kicked the office door open.
The hallway was black.
Emergency lights flickered red.
Someone was moving downstairs.
Fast.
Ryan disappeared over the staircase.
Lisa followed.
When she reached the foyer, she found Evelyn lying beside the broken display cabinet.
The ceremonial baton was gone.
Ryan stood over her.
And on the marble floor beside Evelyn was a piece of paper.
Lisa picked it up.
Four words were written in black ink.
SIX MONTHS. FOUR ACCOUNTS. ONE DEAD MAN.
She turned the paper over.
There was a photograph.
Daniel.
Standing behind a man Lisa had seen many times.
Ryan's commanding officer.
A man who had officially died eleven years earlier.
Lisa looked up.
Ryan was staring at the photograph.
"Who took this?"
Ryan swallowed.
"I don't know."
Lisa walked closer.
The photograph had one more detail.
A handwritten time and location.
MIDNIGHT. ABANDONED ARMORY. COME ALONE.
Below it was a sentence.
Bring your wife. She deserves to know why you married her.
Lisa looked at Ryan.
"What does that mean?"
Ryan didn't answer.
He looked toward the dark hallway.
May you like
Then he whispered:
"Because I wasn't the one who chose you."
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