The Man Behind The Door

Lina could not take her eyes off the photograph.

The man in it was standing between their fathers.

She had seen him before.

She was sure of it.

“I remember him,” she whispered.

Fames looked at her.

“Where?”

“At my father's office.”

“What did he do?”

“I don't know. I was young.”

Fames studied the photograph again.

“There is something else.”

He turned it over.

Lina saw another message written on the back.

ASK YOUR FATHER'S DAUGHTER WHAT SHE KNOWS.

Lina frowned.

“My father's daughter?”

“You.”

“I don't understand.”

“Neither do I.”

A loud knock came from outside the study.

Both of them turned.

“Mr. Fames?”

It was the housekeeper.

Fames opened the door slightly.

“What happened?”

“We found the back door open.”

“Did you see anyone?”

“No, sir.”

Fames looked toward Lina.

“Check every room. No one leaves the house.”

The housekeeper nodded and hurried away.

Lina looked at Fames.

“Someone broke into your house just to leave a photograph?”

“Apparently.”

“Why?”

“Because they want us to find something.”

“What?”

Fames looked at the photograph.

“That is what we are going to find out.”

He walked toward his desk.

Lina followed.

“Where are you going?”

“To the place in the photograph.”

Her eyes widened.

“Now?”

“Yes.”

“You think that's safe?”

“No.”

He picked up his keys.

“That is why you're staying here.”

Lina crossed her arms.

“You can't be serious.”

“I am.”

“You think I am going to sit here while you go looking for the man who may have destroyed both our families?”

“Yes.”

“Well, you're wrong.”

Fames stopped.

“You don't give orders to me.”

“And you don't give orders to me.”

For a moment, they simply stared at each other.

Then Fames sighed.

“Fine.”

He picked up the photograph.

“But you stay close to me.”

Lina nodded.

They left the study together.

Neither noticed the small camera hidden above the hallway light.

Its red light blinked once.

Then again.

Someone was watching them.

---

Twenty minutes later, they arrived at the old building.

It looked nothing like the place Lina remembered.

The windows were broken.

The sign above the entrance was almost gone.

Fames parked the car.

Lina stared through the window.

“I remember this.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

She stepped out.

The moment her feet touched the ground, a strange feeling passed through her.

She remembered her father's hand.

His voice.

His warning.

Never enter this room alone.

Lina froze.

“What is it?”

“My father said something to me here.”

“What?”

She looked at the building.

“I don't remember.”

Fames walked closer.

“Then we'll help you remember.”

They entered.

Dust covered the floor.

Their footsteps echoed through the empty hallway.

Lina stopped when she saw a black door.

“That one.”

Fames looked at it.

“This?”

She nodded.

“I remember it.”

He tried the handle.

Locked.

Lina looked around.

“Maybe there's another entrance.”

Fames searched the wall.

Then he noticed something.

A small metal plate was attached beside the door.

There were three numbers engraved on it.

317.

Lina's eyes widened.

“What's wrong?”

“My father's old documents always had that number.”

Fames looked at her.

“Why?”

“I don't know.”

He pulled out his phone and searched through the old records he had saved.

After a few seconds, his face changed.

“What?”

He showed her the screen.

A company account had been registered under the number 317.

Lina stared.

“What company?”

Fames did not answer.

He turned the screen toward her.

She read the name.

GOMEZ HOLDINGS.

Her father's company.

Lina stepped back.

“That can't be possible.”

“It is.”

“But my father closed that company years ago.”

“According to public records.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means someone kept it alive.”

A sound came from behind them.

They turned quickly.

Nothing.

“Did you hear that?” Lina whispered.

“Yes.”

Fames moved in front of her.

The hallway remained empty.

Then they heard it again.

A soft click.

The black door opened by itself.

Lina's heart raced.

Fames reached for the door.

“Stay behind me.”

They entered.

The room was small.

There was an old desk in the center.

A chair.

A cabinet.

And a single computer.

Lina stared at the desk.

She recognized it.

“My father used this.”

Fames walked toward the computer.

It was surprisingly clean.

Almost as if someone had been using it recently.

He pressed the power button.

The screen came alive.

A password appeared.

Lina noticed a piece of paper beside the keyboard.

She picked it up.

There was only one sentence.

THE PASSWORD IS THE DATE YOU WERE BORN.

Lina looked at Fames.

“How would they know my birthday?”

“I don't know.”

She entered the date.

The computer unlocked.

A folder appeared on the screen.

PROJECT BLOOD.

Lina's hands went cold.

Fames clicked it.

There were dozens of files.

Most were locked.

One file was open.

It contained two names.

FAMES.

LINA.

Lina stared at the screen.

“What is this?”

Fames clicked the file.

A document appeared.

It was dated twenty years ago.

Lina read the first line.

Then she stopped breathing.

SUBJECTS SELECTED FOR FUTURE CONTRACT.

She looked at Fames.

“A contract?”

He continued reading.

The document said their families had been connected long before the accident.

Their fathers had made an agreement.

An agreement that involved their children.

Lina shook her head.

“No.”

Fames kept reading.

Then he found something that made him go completely still.

“What?”

He turned the screen toward her.

At the bottom of the document was a signature.

Her father's.

And beside it was another name.

FAMES'S FATHER.

Lina covered her mouth.

“They planned this?”

“It looks like it.”

“But why?”

Fames scrolled down.

There was one final sentence.

THE CONTRACT WILL BE COMPLETED WHEN LINA AND FAMES MEET.

Neither of them spoke.

Then the computer screen suddenly went black.

A second later, a video began playing.

An old man appeared on the screen.

Lina stared at him.

She knew that face.

It was the man from the photograph.

The man she had seen outside her father's office.

The man they believed was dead.

He looked directly into the camera.

“If you are watching this,” he said, “then the contract has already begun.”

Lina stepped closer.

The man's expression became serious.

“Lina, there is something your father never told you.”

Fames looked at her.

The man continued.

“You were never chosen because of your family.”

Lina's heart sank.

“You were chosen because of what your father left inside you.”

The screen went black.

Lina turned toward Fames.

“What does that mean?”

Before he could answer, the building lights came on.

Every light.

At the same time.

Then the door behind them slammed shut.

A voice came from the hallway.

“Welcome back, Lina.”

She froze.

She knew that voice.

It was her father's voice.

But her father had been dead for years.