Startseite / Romance / UNTIL YOU REMEMBER ME / The Man With The Camera

Teilen

The Man With The Camera

last update Veröffentlichungsdatum: 21.03.2026 20:20:11

The photo is grainy.

Taken from across the hospital driveway.

I’m in it.

Hair disheveled.

Hospital bracelet still clinging to my wrist.

Face swollen from crying.

Adrian’s arm is around me. But it’s loose. Hesitant. Like he doesn’t know how to hold something already broken.

The timestamp reads: 11:47 PM.

The night we lost our son.

I stare at it for a long time, unable to breathe.

“I didn’t see anyone,” I whisper.

“You wouldn’t have,” Adrian replies. His voice is controlled. Too controlled. “We were barely standing.”

He enlarges the image. Zooms into the reflection on a parked SUV behind us. A silhouette. A person holding a phone. Watching. Recording.

My stomach turns.

“That wasn’t paparazzi,” I say quietly.

“No.”

“There was no press that night.”

“No.”

This wasn’t exposure. It was collection.

“Send it to IT,” Adrian orders.

Within an hour, Reyes Holdings’ cyber team is dissecting the metadata. They don’t just look at the image. They tear it apart. File signature. Upload pattern. Transmission route.

It wasn’t recently taken. It was archived. Stored. Then sent from a masked relay server two days ago.

“Who had access to hospital exterior footage?” Adrian asks.

“Security,” the IT lead replies.

“And?”

“They purge every thirty days.”

“So this wasn’t from hospital CCTV.”

“No.”

It was personal. Which makes it worse.

“Track the sender,” Adrian commands.

“They’re using layered VPN.”

“Break it.”

“It’ll take time.”

“Take it.”

I watch him work. Not as my husband. As a CEO under attack. Sharp. Relentless. Focused.

And suddenly—

A thought hits me.

“Adrian.”

He looks up instantly. “What?”

“The timestamp.”

“Yes?”

“It was almost midnight.”

“Yes.”

“Who else was there?”

He goes still. Because that night wasn’t just us.

Marcus was there.

My breath catches. “He arrived after the ambulance.”

“Yes.”

“He drove separately.”

“Yes.”

“He stayed until discharge.”

Adrian’s jaw tightens.

“You think—”

“I don’t know what I think.”

But Marcus knew which hospital. Marcus knew when we left. Marcus stood across the driveway smoking while Adrian signed paperwork. I remember that now. He wasn’t near us. He was… watching.

The room feels smaller.

Adrian’s phone buzzes. IT update.

“They broke one relay,” the lead says. “The upload originated from a prepaid device purchased in Queens.”

“Recently?”

“Three days ago.”

“And before that?”

The line goes quiet. Then—

“We found something else.”

Adrian straightens. “What?”

“There was a test upload.”

“When?”

“Three years ago.”

The same night.

My heart stops.

“They took multiple photos,” I whisper.

“Yes.”

“And archived them.”

“Yes.”

“For three years.”

Waiting.

Not impulsive. Not emotional. Strategic.

“Can we trace the device purchaser?” Adrian asks.

“Cash purchase.”

Of course.

“But,” the IT lead continues carefully, “the SIM activation pinged near Valez Urban Development headquarters.”

My father’s company.

My breath falters.

“That doesn’t mean it’s them,” Adrian says immediately.

“No,” the IT lead agrees. “It means someone activated it in that area.”

Marcus works there. So does half of Manhattan. This isn’t proof. But it’s proximity.

“Pull staff movement logs from that week,” Adrian says.

“That’s not our company.”

“Find a way.”

He hangs up. Silence swallows the study.

“I don’t want this to be my father,” I whisper.

“I don’t either.”

“And I don’t want it to be Marcus.”

His eyes darken slightly. “But if it is?”

I swallow. “Then he didn’t just betray business. He betrayed grief.”

The next morning, Adrian requests hospital access logs under legal review. Anyone who entered after 10 PM that night. Names populate. Doctors. Nurses. Security. And—visitors.

Marcus Dela Torre.

Time in: 9:18 PM.

Time out: 12:02 AM.

I stare at the screen. He left fifteen minutes after we did.

“Adrian…”

He already sees it.

“He walked out after us.”

“Yes.”

“Which means he was behind us.”

“Yes.”

The driveway photo angle matches. Across the road. Left side. Near the smoking area. Exactly where he stood.

My pulse roars in my ears.

“It could still be coincidence,” I say weakly.

“It could.”

But neither of us believes that fully anymore.

Then Adrian’s phone buzzes again. IT.

“We enhanced the reflection in the SUV window.”

“And?”

“There’s a ring on the photographer’s hand.”

My breath stops. “What kind of ring?”

“Signet.”

My stomach drops. Marcus wears a family signet ring. Gold. Heavy. Distinct. Engraved with the Dela Torre crest.

Adrian looks at me carefully. He doesn’t say it. He doesn’t need to.

The image loads on his tablet. Blurry. Distorted. But unmistakable. A thick gold ring. With a crest.

I feel something inside me fracture. Not from pain. From realization.

“Why would he keep it?” I whisper.

“Leverage,” Adrian says coldly.

“For what?”

“For a day like today.”

Three years. He held that photo for three years. Waiting for the right moment to release it. Not when we were broken. But when power was shifting.

That’s not emotional revenge. That’s strategy. And strategy is premeditated.

---

An hour later, Marcus calls. Calm. Measured.

“I hear you’re investigating something,” he says lightly.

My heart pounds.

“You should be careful, Adrian. Digging into old grief can reopen wounds.”

He pauses. Then—

“Especially when they weren’t accidents.”

Lies dieses Buch weiterhin kostenlos
Code scannen, um die App herunterzuladen

Aktuellstes Kapitel

  • UNTIL YOU REMEMBER ME   The Man Who Stayed

    The rain hasn’t stopped since afternoon.It drums against the tall windows of the Reyes penthouse, turning the city outside into a blur of gray lights and restless shadows. The sound is relentless, like the city itself is reminding me that storms don’t end just because you want them to.I stand near the window with my arms wrapped around myself. My phone screen glows faintly in my hand.The message.The video.The humiliation.Marcus Dela Torre and I.In a parking garage.Too close.Too intimate.Too convincing.Anyone watching it would believe the same thing. That I betrayed Adrian Reyes.My stomach twists.I should leave.That thought has been circling my mind for the last hour. Leave before Adrian sees it. Leave before he looks at me with disappointment. Leave before he confirms what everyone already believes.The elevator door opens behind me.My breath stops.Adrian has arrived.I don’t turn around. I can hear his footsteps crossing the marble floor. Slow. Measured. Calm. Always

  • UNTIL YOU REMEMBER ME   An Offer of Alignment

    The words refuse to settle.The call came from inside Reyes Holdings.I stare at Adrian’s phone as if the message might change if I look long enough. But it doesn’t. The investigation team’s report remains on the screen.Call origin traced to internal Reyes Holdings routing hub.My pulse beats harder.“That’s impossible,” I say quietly.Adrian doesn’t respond immediately. “Is it?” he asks.I look up sharply. “You think someone inside your company tried to run me off the road?”“I think someone inside the building used our network.”“That’s not the same thing.”“No.”“But it narrows the field.”The room feels colder suddenly.“How narrow?” I ask.Adrian picks up the phone again. “Daniel’s team is tracing which internal access point routed the call.”“How many people have access to those systems?”“Hundreds.”“That’s not narrow.”“It will be.”“How?”“Security badge logs.”The realization creeps slowly into place.“You’re checking who was in the building that night.”“Yes.”“And compari

  • UNTIL YOU REMEMBER ME   Lines Of Loyalty

    The words sit between us like a crack in glass.The driver works for your father.For a moment, I’m not sure I heard Adrian correctly. The penthouse office feels suddenly smaller, the air tighter, the silence louder.“My father,” I repeat slowly.“Yes.”Adrian’s voice remains calm, but there’s something measured in it now. Careful. Controlled.I walk slowly toward the desk. “Who exactly?”He turns the phone toward me. A name fills the screen.Rafael MendozaExecutive Security – Valez Urban DevelopmentMy stomach tightens.“That’s… not possible.”“You recognize him?”“I’ve seen him before.”“Where?”“At my father’s corporate events.”The memory is faint but clear enough: tall, quiet, always standing near the exits with an earpiece. Security. Not an executive. Security.“That doesn’t mean he was acting under orders,” Adrian says.“I know.”But the possibility presses heavily against my ribs.“What does he do exactly?” I ask.“Head of executive transport security.”“So he manages company

  • UNTIL YOU REMEMBER ME   The Space Between Us

    Sleep refuses to come.The city is quieter tonight, but my mind refuses to follow its rhythm. Every time I close my eyes, I see the same thing:Headlights.Rain on the windshield.A dark SUV closing the distance behind my car.And then—Nothing.A missing moment. A piece of time someone erased.I exhale slowly and sit up in bed. The digital clock beside the nightstand glows 2:13 AM.Across the penthouse, a faint strip of light spills from beneath Adrian’s office door.Of course he’s awake.I slip out of bed and pull on a soft sweater before walking quietly through the living area. The penthouse feels different at night—less like a luxurious space and more like a quiet observatory suspended above the city.Adrian’s office door is half open.Inside, he sits behind his desk, sleeves rolled to his forearms, a tablet glowing in front of him. Several printed documents are spread across the dark wood surface. Investigation reports.He looks up the moment he hears me.“You should be asleep,”

  • UNTIL YOU REMEMBER ME   Pressure Points

    By the time we leave the boardroom floor, the building already feels different.Tighter.Charged.Word travels fast inside Reyes Holdings, and nothing travels faster than fear. Directors who avoided looking at me earlier now glance quickly when I pass, their curiosity barely concealed.My accident.The footage.The possibility that someone tried to force my car off the road.Rumors spread like electricity through glass hallways.Adrian walks beside me, calm as ever, his stride measured and unhurried. If he feels the shift in atmosphere, he doesn’t show it. But I know him a little better now. Enough to recognize the signs. He’s already planning three moves ahead.---The InvestigationHis office is larger than I expected.Minimalist. Dark wood, steel accents, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Hudson. The room feels less like an office and more like a command center.Adrian closes the door behind us. Then he picks up his phone.“Daniel,” he says calmly.A pause.“Yes. I want the

  • UNTIL YOU REMEMBER ME   The Aftermath

    The boardroom empties slowly.One chair scrapes against the marble floor. Another director gathers his tablet with deliberate calm, as though the room has not just watched a video suggesting my accident might have been deliberate.No one looks directly at me.Not out of respect.Out of calculation.Board members file out in quiet clusters, murmuring low enough that their words dissolve into the hum of the air-conditioning system. Their footsteps echo along the glass corridor outside, fading one by one until the heavy doors swing shut.Silence finally settles.Only Adrian and I remain.The city spreads behind him through the floor-to-ceiling windows, Manhattan glowing under the late afternoon sun. Traffic moves in slow silver lines below. From this height everything looks controlled. Ordered. Predictable.Nothing like the chaos inside my mind.Adrian stands at the head of the table, one hand resting against the polished obsidian surface, the other in his pocket. His posture is composed

Weitere Kapitel
Entdecke und lies gute Romane kostenlos
Kostenloser Zugriff auf zahlreiche Romane in der GoodNovel-App. Lade deine Lieblingsbücher herunter und lies jederzeit und überall.
Bücher in der App kostenlos lesen
CODE SCANNEN, UM IN DER APP ZU LESEN
DMCA.com Protection Status