Alle Kapitel von The Past Between Us: Kapitel 161 – Kapitel 170

The figure kept the weapon steady, and none of us moved, the room was so quiet I could hear the sound of my own breath and the faint tremble in the person’s voice when they finally started to talk. The story came out in pieces, broken and uneven, years earlier the mastermind had taken their family, taken them to a place no one else could find, a place that did not exist on any map we knew, and from that day the threats never stopped. Their voice shook, but the gun did not move, it stayed pointed at all of us, and they told us the threats had started long before we understood there was a mastermind, long before we realized our lives were tied to this, their family had been taken and hidden away, and we were told there was no way to reach them, no way to even know if they were still alive. The only way to keep them alive was to give up everything we had, every location, every plan, every quiet decision we made when we thought we were safe, each piece of information they passed on

I woke to the feel of rough cord around my wrists and ankles, and for a second I thought I was still dreaming until the pain of it settled into my skin. The room around me carried a stillness I recognized from everything Damien had described to me in late nights when he couldn’t sleep. This was the very place where our earliest memories were made, and the old family estate felt so quiet, like it was holding its breath, waiting to see what we would do next.I tested the bindings and found no give, no slack, no way to work my hands free, and I understood then that the mind behind all these had wanted me here and he had succeeded. His voice came from the darkest corner, deliberate as if he had been sitting there for hours just watching me wake. He told me Damien would come alone. That was the only condition that mattered, he said, any other approach, any sirens, any breach, would end the chance of walking out. I stayed silent and kept my eyes on the door, because if I spoke he wo

The number on the screen stayed fixed in front of me long after the rest of the records had been closed.One billion dollars was more money than I could imagine ever needing. After everything we had survived, the amount did not make me feel safe… it made me suspicious. That money now sat under my name, I told Damien at once that it felt like another careful arrangement. Too many gifts in the past had carried hidden costs. Every time someone had offered me something during the darkest years of my life, there had always been another reason behind it. A favor became a demand, protection became control and information became a trap. I had learned not to accept anything simply because it looked generous.I wanted nothing that might open a new door into the same dark rooms we had just left. I had spent too long fighting to get away from people who believed they could decide my future for me. The thought of becoming connected to another hidden thing made me feel sick. I wanted the life ah

My father sat with his hands folded and his eyes on the floor for a long time before he began. Damien sat to my right and did not move, the photograph from earlier lay face down on the table between us. When my father finally spoke, the words came smoothly like he had practiced them and hated every one. “On the night you entered the world,” he said, “your mother and I learned that the mastermind already had plans for the child we held.” He stopped and looked up at me, his eyes were tired in a way I had never seen before. “He intended to take you before the first full day had passed. He had people inside the hospital, people watching the exits and people waiting for the exact hour we would be most vulnerable.” I kept my hands in my lap without interrupting. “The reasons belonged to the larger design he was building even then,” my father continued. “You were not just a child to him. You were a piece… a name, a bloodline he could use to open doors that were closed to him. He b

I sat with the four words still open in front of me and tried to make them fit the man I had known. “Keep the girl alive.” The ink was deep, and the handwriting was crisp. The signature above it belonged to Damien’s father. Damien’s father had ordered my removal from the hospital that night and Damien’s father had also ordered that I remain alive. The two instructions sat side by side on the same page without easy peace. One pulled me into danger the other pulled me out of it. The contradiction sat in my chest like a rock. I could not make it settle. I asked the question aloud because silence only made the puzzle a lot more for me. “Why?” I said. “Why go to such lengths to preserve a child he never claimed?” Damien did not answer, his eyes were still on the paper. My father drew a slow breath… the sound was fragile like he had been carrying it inside his heart for years, afraid to let it go. “When the time comes,” he said, “answers need to be given in full, no more