CHAPTER 5

I didn’t move, I couldn’t.

It felt like I’d been caught red-handed at a crime scene, unsure whether to run or stay where I was.

Edris was standing in the doorway as he had always been there for a long time watching, and as if he already knew what I was up to.

My fingers tightened around the photograph in my hand without me even realizing it. I hadn’t even realized I was shaking.

My throat went dry.

“You’ve been watching me,” I said again, slower this time.

This time, it wasn’t confusion; it was an accusation.

Edris stepped inside the room calmly.

He closed the door behind him without breaking eye contact with me, and my body moved to the sound of the lock clicking softly.

“You went through my things,” he said.

I scoffed.

“You’re worried about that right now?”

He didn’t answer.

That silence again.

That frustrating, controlled silence that made it feel like I was always one step behind him.

I turned and slammed the photograph onto his desk.

“What is this?”

Edris looked at it, but there was no reaction—no shock, or anger.

Then he looked back at me.

“That’s a photograph.”

I blinked at him.

My eye twitched.

“Don’t play dumb with me.”

“I’m not.”

“Then explain why you have pictures of me,” I snapped.

I reached down and grabbed another file from the desk.

Then another.

And another.

I didn’t even think, I just threw them down one after the other.

Papers lay scattered across the desk like evidence I didn’t want to make sense of. Photos, notes, fragments of my life spread out in front of me—my face staring back from different places, different moments.

None of it matched my memory. Places I’d never been, moments I didn’t recognize, years I couldn’t place. It was all before everything unraveled, before Julian and before I even knew Edris Veltri existed.

My voice rose without permission.

“You’ve been following me.”

Still no reaction from him.

That calm expression on his face was starting to feel like pressure building inside my skull.

I grabbed the final envelope from the desk.

My hands hesitated for half a second before I turned it over.

“The woman I’ll marry.”

That was it.

Something inside me snapped.

I slammed it down harder than I meant to.

“There!” I pointed at it. “Explain that.”

For the first time, something flickered in his eyes.

It was gone almost instantly.

“I don’t owe you an explanation,” he said.

A sharp laugh escaped me immediately.

“You don’t owe me an explanation?”

I stepped closer to him.

“Edris, you married me.”

“I know.”

“I tried to kill you.”

“I noticed.”

“And you’re standing here telling me you don’t owe me an explanation?”

He tilted his head slightly, like I was the one making no sense.

“You’re the one breaking into my office.”

I pointed at the photos again.

“Because you’re creepy!”

Silence then I said clearly.

“You’ve been stalking me.”

Edris finally moved.

Slowly, he walked toward the desk, picked up one of the photos, and studied it as if it meant something different to him entirely.

Then he placed it back down.

“I didn’t stalk you,” he said.

I let out a bitter laugh.

“Right and I didn’t stab you,” I said with sarcasm.

His eyes lifted to mine calmly and carefully

“I’ve loved you for six years,” he said.

Every thought in my head stopped for a while after hearing the word “Love”.

For a second, I genuinely thought I misheard him.

I blinked once and twice

“…What?” I whispered.

“I’ve loved you for six years.”

I was confused at that moment.

“No.”

I shook my head immediately.

“No, no—don’t say that.”

“That’s not possible.”

Edris didn’t react.

“I think it is.”

I let out a shaky laugh that didn’t sound like mine.

“You’re insane.”

“Am I?”

“Yes, you are.”

I stepped back slightly now, my pulse suddenly loud in my ears.

Six years, that didn’t make sense.

Six years ago, I wasn’t even… I wasn’t even in his world.

Six years ago, I was...

My thoughts stopped abruptly.

Julian.

Six years ago, Julian was still alive.

My voice dropped.

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not.”

“Then prove it.”

That silence again, I hated that silence.

It always felt like he was choosing his words carefully enough to survive them.

Then I whispered, quieter this time,

“If you loved me… why didn’t you say anything?”

Edris looked at me for a long moment.

So long, I almost looked away first.

Then finally,

“Because your brother begged me not to.”

Everything inside me went still.

“…What?”

My voice came out weaker than I intended.

“Julian asked me not to tell you.”

For a second, my mind refused to process it, then it did all at once.

“No,” I shook my head.

“No, you’re twisting it.”

“I’m not.”

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not.”

My breathing started to quicken.

“Why would Julian tell you something like that?” I demanded.

Edris didn’t answer right away.

Instead, he turned slowly and walked back to the desk.

My eyes followed him instantly.

He pulled open the drawer.

The sound felt too loud in the silence.

Then he reached inside. He pulled out an old sealed envelope worn at the edges like it had been handled too many times… or hidden for too long.

He placed it on the desk carefully as it mattered.

My eyes locked onto it immediately.

“What is that?” I asked.

Edris looked at me then.

And for the first time since I met him…

He looked tired of me, completely fed up.

“Tired of this conversation,” he said quietly. “Your brother gave me that.”

“What do you mean by that? My dead brother? Wait! No…”

Edris didn’t flinch.

“Three days before he died,” he said

I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until it hurt.

Edris pushed the envelope slightly toward me.

It slid slowly across the desk, as though it weighed more than paper should.

My hands didn’t move.

I couldn’t reach it, so I just stared at it for a while.

My name was written on the front.

My name was on it with Julian’s handwriting.

“For Juliana.”

“No,” I whispered again.

My voice cracked this time.

“That’s not possible.”

Edris didn’t respond.

He just watched me, waiting for me like he already knew I would break before I opened it.

I finally looked up at him.

My voice shook.

“What did you do to my brother?”

That question changed the air instantly.

Something shifted in his expression.

“I didn’t do anything to Julian,” he said quietly.

I let out a bitter laugh.

“You expect me to believe that?”

He stepped forward slightly.

“One thing at a time, Juliana.”

“No,” I snapped immediately.

“No more games.”

My hand finally reached for the envelope, but I stopped.

My fingers hovered over it, trembling slightly; I hated that they were trembling.

I swallowed hard.

“If I open this…” I whispered.

Edris finally spoke.

“Then everything you think you know about your brother will change.”

My heart dropped slowly, not from fear but from something worse, because for the first time since all of this started…

I wasn’t sure if I wanted the truth.