All Chapters of I Died Once to Become Her Nightmare: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

"Vanessa?"Elena could barely breathe.The voice coming through the speakers was unmistakable.Soft.Familiar.Cruel.She had heard it countless times before.Vanessa had been her best friend.The person she trusted with her secrets.The person who had held her hand when she cried over Adrian.The person who had hugged her after every argument with her family.And now that same voice was telling her to remember who she had killed.Elena's stomach twisted."No," she whispered.Adrian looked at her."You know that voice?"Elena nodded slowly."Vanessa."Marcus glanced toward the speakers."Are you sure?""I'd recognize her anywhere."A quiet laugh echoed through the house.Then Vanessa spoke again."I knew you would remember eventually."Elena's hands curled into fists."Show yourself."The speakers crackled."Still giving orders.""Where are you?""Closer than you think."Elena looked around the room.Nothing.Only broken furniture, shattered glass, and the armed men surrounding them.

Richard's hand slipped from Elena's.For several seconds, she couldn't move.Her father's blood stained her fingers.His last words kept repeating inside her head.Don't let them open the door.Elena stared at him."Father?"Nothing.She touched his face.It was already becoming cold."No."Her voice cracked."No, no, no..."Adrian crouched beside her."Elena, we have to go."She pushed him away."He's dead.""I know.""You said you would protect me."Richard wasn't listening anymore.Elena looked at Adrian."You all promised to protect me.""I know.""And look where that got him."Adrian's expression tightened."We can't stay here."Another bullet struck the wall.Marcus grabbed Elena's arm."He's right."She looked at him."What?""The sniper is still outside."Marcus pointed toward the window."We're exposed."Elena looked down at her father's body one last time.She wanted to stay.She wanted to cry.She wanted to hold his hand and demand answers from a man who could no longer giv

The gates of the old Blackridge facility were supposed to be locked.They weren't.Elena stared through the windshield as Adrian slowly drove the car toward the abandoned building.The place looked nothing like the Blackridge Manor.There were no guards.No cameras.No expensive walls.Just an old concrete structure surrounded by overgrown grass and dead trees.The windows were broken.The walls were covered with cracks.A rusted sign hung above the entrance.BLACKRIDGE RESEARCH FACILITY — CLOSED.Elena looked at it for several seconds."This is where it started?"Adrian nodded."Yes.""How long has it been abandoned?""Six years."Elena's stomach tightened.Six years.The same amount of time she had been dead.She looked at Adrian."Coincidence?""No."Marcus turned around from the passenger seat."Nothing about Blackridge is a coincidence."Adrian stopped the car.The engine went quiet.Nobody moved.Elena looked at the building.Something about it felt familiar.Not frightening.Fa

"I'm you."The woman's words echoed through the laboratory.Elena couldn't move.She stared at the stranger standing only a few meters away, searching her face for something that would prove this was a trick.A scar.A difference in the eyes.Anything.There was nothing.The woman looked exactly like her.Same dark eyes.Same lips.Same small scar beneath the collarbone.Even the tiny mark near her left eyebrow was there.Elena slowly shook her head."No."The woman smiled faintly."I said the same thing when I first saw her.""Who are you?""You already know.""I don't.""That's the problem."Adrian stepped between them."Stay away from her."The woman looked at him."Still protecting her?"Adrian's jaw tightened."You should be dead.""So should she."Elena looked sharply at Adrian."You know her."He didn't answer.The woman laughed softly."Of course he knows me."She looked at Elena."He was there when I died."Elena's chest tightened."You died?"The woman's expression changed.

"Welcome back, daughter."Elena stared at the security monitor.Her father's face remained on the screen.Older than she remembered.But unmistakable.The same sharp jaw.The same dark eyes.The same expression he wore whenever he knew something everyone else didn't.Her father was alive.For six years, Elena had believed he was dead.She had mourned him.She had hated him.She had blamed herself for losing him.Now she was standing in an abandoned Blackridge facility while watching him speak to her as if the past six years had never happened."Turn it off," Elena whispered.Adrian didn't move."Elena—""Turn it off."Marcus reached for the keyboard.The screen went black.For a moment, nobody spoke.Then Elena laughed.It wasn't a happy laugh.It was the kind that came when reality became too ridiculous to accept."My father is alive."Adrian nodded."Yes.""And you knew he might be.""I suspected."Elena turned toward him."Stop saying that."Adrian frowned."Stop saying you suspect