Chapter Four: Sounds beneath the ashes.

The candle on the desk was about to go off, its flame shaking like a frightened secret. Shadows trembled along the walls, and right in front of me was the letter. Sealed, with the symbol of a serpent curling around the rose . The wax had cracked under my fingers, but I hadn't opened it yet. Somehow it felt like it was waiting for breath to wake it as I laid on my palms. 

My heart rumpled as I tried to open it. 

Then.... 

"Audrey!" 

Benjamin's voice broke through the silence, sharp enough to cut through air. 

I turned. He stood by the doorway, hardly noticed. His eyes were wide, not in anger but in fear. A deep, old fear that seemed to know what I was about doing. 

"What are you doing?" His voice was low, trembling. 

I swallowed in hard. "Why not tell me Benjamin. What am I doing in a house where every single truth is hidden away from me?" 

He took a gradual step forward. "You don't have to read that letter." 

"Why? Because it's from Melanie?" I snapped. " Because it has one more hidden secret I'm not supposed to know of?".

Anyways I didn't open it, I reassured him. 

He turned, his eyes dark. He gave a tired smile. Not a cruel one, just a faint one. That kind of smile that shows one who has already accepted defeat. 

" Some things are better left unopened, Audrey".

I folded my arms." And yet it found us"?. 

He kept his gaze on me, looking for an answer to best suit my current mood. And in that silence, it gave me time to just realize how little I knew the man I had just married. 

An arranged marriage had made us partners, but definitely not equals. I bore his name, not his truth. 

" These are things," he finally said." That belongs to the past. "Things that should never interfere with the present."

" Then what are they doing here? " I asked quietly. 

He hesitated. His jaw muscles tightened.

I decided to break the silence. "Does this have to do with Helen?". 

He flinched. "Don't start guessing." 

That wasn't a guess."

"Audrey, please !."

Too late. Spilling the truth won't hurt. 

He sank into a chair. His elbows on his knees, he rubbed his temples just like a man trying to erase his own thoughts. 

"This letter is a threat and that's all you need to know". 

"From who please?. 

He rowed his eyes, and then answered. " Melanie".

Hmmm. " Melanie? My stepmother? ".

Which other Melanie do you know aside from her, he asked. 

" She's not the woman she claims to be. 

She's not kind, she doesn't love you. She's not working alone."

My pulse stumbled. " Helen"?. 

He refused to answer, he didn't actually have to. The silence alone gave me the answer. 

" Why exactly would they do this? ". His eyes darkened. "Because they can, they don't like people having peace of mind." 

He stood abruptly, his movement sharp and unsteady. "Don't worry, I'll handle it. Whatever this is, it will end right now!. 

" Promise me," that this won't destroy us. 

He looked up, something uncertain flickering behind his calm." I'll try," he said. 

When we reached the table, his hand found mine. It wasn't steady — cold, foreign. 

I knew deep down that what connected us then wasn't love, but fear. 

 Fear of the unknown. 

      -------

That night, I was void of sleep. The house roared with secrets, the walls too thin to contain the silence. Even the clock sounded hesitant, like it was afraid to disturb what lingered between us. 

Benjamin had locked himself in the study room after we had dinner. I often heard his restless footsteps, opening and closing of drawers, and papers rustling. I also heard him whisper a name that I told myself I imagined. 

Around midnight, the faint glow under the study door drew my attention. 

I went closer, my heart rumbling. His voice came through — low and cracking in places. 

"No, you listen to me", he said into the phone. "Audrey has no clue about anything. Yes, the photograph is still with me. But if this continues, I'm afraid that I will burn it, Melanie." 

I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. That same name again?. The name stung like salt on raw wounds. 

He paused, paying attention. Then his voice softened, like he was pleading. 

"Tell Helen to stay out of this. She has already done more than enough."

He ended the call and stayed at a particular spot for a long moment, motionless. His reflection in the window presented a man I barely recognized — his expression mixed with guilt and exhaustion. 

To me he looked more like a stranger than a husband. 

I pressed my hands over my mouth and quietly tiptoed back to our room, the half of the bed that pretended to be warm.

     ----------

By morning, Benjamin was gone.

His side of the bed was cold and empty. The wardrobe stood ajar. Most of his clothes missing. The letter that was on the table disappeared.

Instead of the letter lay a note, folded just once, with my name written in his careful handwriting.

 "Don't bother looking for me Audrey, I promise I'll try to fix this."

I couldn't help but just continually stare at it.

Outside our doorway I noticed something — it was resting on the garden bench, gleaming faintly in gray light.

A single red rose.

A small locket hung from it, catching up with the faint morning light.

My fingers trembled as I picked it up. When I opened the locket, my breath caught.

Inside it laid a faded photograph— Benjamin and Helen, standing before the lake house. They were smiling, too comfortable.

And beside them, stood Melanie.

The image hit me hard.

It was quite old.

Definitely before I met him and before the arrangement.

The truth was simple and immediate — he hadn't gone to "

fix things." 

He had gone back to where it all began.

Benjamin was never running from them. He had been running to them instead.