Chapter Nine

The train was gone, leaving the platform exposed once more and all around me, life moved in a blur,businessmen checking their watches, tourists dragging luggage, and children chasing parents through the terminal but the one person I cared about was nowhere to be seen.

"Grandmother!" I shouted but no answer came. I walked forward Marcus followed immediately on my heels. "Elena, wait."

But I was already moving, reaching the exact spot where Grandma had been standing less than thirty seconds earlier. 

There was nothing, no sign of her, no sign of the man, and no proof that either of them had ever been there.

"It's impossible," I breathed.

Marcus looked through the crowd, pointing toward a nearby staircase. "They didn't disappear, but there are multiple exits here." My stomach twisted me, a busy station offered hundreds of escape routes the perfect place to stage a meeting, or a warning. 

We searched for nearly an hour, but found completely nothing. Eventually, Marcus persuaded me to stop. "Whoever arranged this wanted us to see them."

I folded my arms. "Why?"

"That's the question," Marcus replied, his expression was thoughtful. "If they wanted to hide Esther completely, they would have never brought her here, someone wanted you to see her, maybe not to talk to her but to prove she was alive."

*******

Back in Manhattan, Nathaniel Vance was having a worse day than he expected his assistant placed a folder on his desk. "Sir, the security footage you requested."

Nathaniel looked up, looking upset and worried. After the restraining-order disaster and the fire, he had quietly begun reviewing records connected to my recent movements. It wasn't anything official, just questions that needed answers.

He opened the folder, and several photographs stared back at him,one caught his attention immediately ... .a parking garage late at night, with my car and Marcus's car parked side by side.

His eyes widened while he flipped through the rest. Images of the abandoned building with me entering and Marcus arriving later, followed by photos at the hospital and the train station,leaning back slowly, a realization came over him. Elena wasn't acting randomly…she was investigating something,the question was what, and why she hadn't told him.

Elsewhere, Elora was becoming so nervous. She sat inside a luxury salon, pretending to scroll through the social media, but her attention remained fixed on her messages and specifically a conversation with an unknown number. 

Her fingernail tapped the screen repeatedly until a new message arrived, making her heart jump….Nathaniel is asking questions.

Elora cursed under her breath,that wasn't good at all then she typed quickly….Keep him distracted.

The response came immediately..That won't work forever, for the first time in years, genuine fear crawled into her chest because things were slipping and tiny cracks were forming, and Elora hated being uncomfortable.

********

That evening, I finally returned to Marcus's apartment, feeling so exhausted and tired of the whole thing. The train station had proved Grandma was alive, but it had created ten more questions.

I sat on the couch, and Marcus handed me a cup of coffee. "Thank you."

For several moments, neither of us spoke, then I broke the silence. "What if she's in danger" Marcus didn't answer immediately because we were both thinking the same thing because the fear in Grandma's eyes and the man's heavy hand on her shoulder, It didn't look voluntary.

Marcus exhaled "Then we'll find her."

The simple certainty in his words eased the knot in my chest but just as I began to relax, my phone buzzed it was an unknown number.

I opened it immediately, my breath seizing Marcus leaned closer, a photograph appeared showing a recent image of Esther sitting at a table, looking directly into the camera. On the back of the photo, someone had written a message….Some truths should stay buried.

Immediately two to four images followed, each showed Grandma at different times, places, and dates, as though someone had been tracking and documenting her every move for years.

Then, the final image arrived, and everything changed, the photograph wasn't of Esther but it was me, taken three days ago outside the hospital. A cold dread spread through my body, someone was watching me, too.

Marcus tried to trace the number, but found nothing, It was a ghost trail,professional and entirely without mistakes.

They wanted me frightened, but not enough to run but enough to keep me moving like a chess piece. Someone was controlling the board.

The next morning brought another surprise. When Marcus opened the apartment door, he froze,Nathaniel Vance stood outside in the hallway,neither man looked happy to see each other. 

Nathaniel's gaze shifted past Marcus, finding me immediately. "What are you doing here" I asked, my heart beating 

Nathaniel stepped inside, his expression was unreadable. "We need to talk, I know you've been investigating something

the fire, the abandoned building, the train station. What is going on"

For a moment, the room was silent then I laughed, not because anything was funny, but because the situation was absurd, for two years, Nathaniel hadn't cared where I went, and now he suddenly wanted answers,Nathaniel's jaw tightened at my bitterness. 

"I deserve an explanation."

"No," I said firmly, standing up to face him "You don't. Every time I needed you, you looked away,when my parents treated me like I didn't matter, when Elora humiliated me, and when I sat alone in that house,you said nothing."

Nathaniel stared at me as if he was looking at a stranger because the woman standing before him now wasn't the person who had spent two years begging for scraps of attention,that version of me was disappearing, piece by piece for the first time, he had no response because I wasn't wrong.