Chapter 6 - The Memory Beneath the Red DoorThe car stopped near an abandoned industrial complex.
Adrian dragged Clara into a concrete building.
She fought every step.
“Where's Alexander?”
Adrian laughed.
“You still trust him?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He shoved her into a chair.
“You shouldn't trust anyone.”
He placed a glass of water on the table.
“You were six years old when it happened.”
Clara stared.
“What?”
“The murder.”
She shook her head.
“I don't remember.”
“That was the point.”
Adrian opened a drawer.
Inside were medical reports.
“Your father took you to a private doctor.”
Clara read one line.
Memory suppression treatment.
Her stomach twisted.
“They drugged me?”
“After the incident.”
“What incident?”
Adrian pressed a button.
A projector lit up.
Security footage.
A mansion.
Rain.
A little girl.
Clara.
She watched herself walking down a hallway.
Six years old.
Holding a stuffed rabbit.
Then she stopped in front of a red door.
The door opened.
Inside stood Jonathan.
And another man.
The man was bleeding.
He fell.
Little Clara screamed.
Jonathan turned.
The footage ended.
Clara stared at the screen.
Her hands shook.
“I saw him kill that man.”
Adrian nodded.
“What happened after?”
“I don't know.”
“You were locked in the room for six hours.”
She looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because you weren't supposed to be there.”
Clara slowly remembered something.
A red door.
A scream.
Her father's voice.
And another voice.
A woman.
Her mother.
Eleanor had shouted:
“RUN!”
Clara gasped.
The memory hit her like lightning.
“There was someone else.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“Who?”
“A woman.”
“What woman?”
“I don't know.”
Clara closed her eyes.
“She was holding something.”
“What?”
“A black box.”
Adrian's face changed.
“What did she do?”
“She gave it to me.”
Clara opened her eyes.
“What is it?”
Adrian stood.
“We've been searching for it for eleven years.”
A gunshot shattered the window.
Adrian dropped to the floor.
Clara ducked.
Another shot.
Then the door exploded inward.
Alexander entered.
His face was bruised.
His suit covered in blood.
Clara stared.
“You came.”
Alexander looked at her.
“Of course.”
Adrian raised his weapon.
Alexander fired first.
Adrian collapsed.
Alexander rushed to Clara.
“Are you hurt?”
She pulled away.
“Did you know about the memory treatment?”
His silence was answer enough.
“You knew.”
“I knew they had done something to you.”
“You knew everything!”
“No.”
His eyes were desperate.
“I knew enough to spend years trying to uncover the rest.”
Clara stared at him.
“Why?”
Alexander reached into his coat.
He pulled out a small black box.
Clara's blood ran cold.
“This?”
He nodded.
“I found it the day I decided to destroy my family.”
Clara touched the box.
A tiny symbol was engraved on the lid.
An orchid.
Her breathing stopped.
She remembered.
The woman had placed this exact box into her hands.
Then another memory emerged.
A voice whispering:
“Your father didn't save you.”
Clara looked at Alexander.
She opened the box.
Inside was a single photograph.
Her mother.
Standing beside...
Evelyn Vale.
Both women were smiling.
May you like
On the back was a date.
The date was one day after Eleanor had supposedly died.
