All Chapters of The Woman I Became After You: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

The voice outside the storage unit made my entire body freeze. Adrian stepped closer to the door and placed himself between me and whoever was standing outside.“Who are you?” he asked.The man laughed softly. “You already know the answer.”I looked at Adrian. “Edward.”The man didn’t respond. Instead, the lights suddenly went out, and I grabbed Adrian’s arm.“Stay close to me,” he whispered.The darkness lasted only a few seconds before the emergency lights came on, but the door remained locked. Adrian examined it. “There has to be another exit.”I looked around the small room. “There.” At the back of the unit was a narrow ventilation opening large enough for someone to crawl through. Adrian pulled away the metal cover.“I will go first.”“No. We go together.”He looked at me and nodded, and we moved through the opening carefully into a narrow service passage. Behind us, I heard the storage unit door being opened. Someone had entered. We moved faster, and the passage led to another c

I could not move. The letter remained in my hands, but I could no longer read the words in front of me. My mother’s real family name was Vale. Vale. The same name that had followed us through every secret. The same name that belonged to Edward Vale, the same man who had been connected to Daniel’s disappearance, my father’s disappearance, and the danger surrounding my family.I looked at my mother. “You are Edward Vale’s daughter?”She lowered her head. “Yes.”The word broke something inside me, and I stepped away from her. “Why did you never tell me?”“I was afraid.”“You were afraid of what?”“That you would hate me.”I stared at her. “How could you think I would hate you for something you did not choose?”“Because I knew what my father was capable of.” Her voice trembled. “I spent my entire life trying to escape him.”My father stepped toward me. “Your mother changed her name before I met her.”“Why?”“Because she was running from Edward.”I looked at my mother again. “Did he know y

The photograph of Amelia stayed in my hand long after everyone else had gone to bed. I kept looking at her face, trying to understand why Daniel had written that she was the key to everything. She looked no older than ten in the photograph, her eyes bright, a small smile on her face as she stood beside him. I wondered where she was now, whether she remembered him, and most importantly whether she knew why she had been hidden.Adrian came into the room carrying two cups of tea. “You are still looking at the photograph.”“I cannot stop.”He handed me a cup. “You think she knows something.”“I think Daniel believed she knew something.”“Or he believed someone would use her to find him.”I looked at him. “That possibility scares me.”He sat beside me. “Then we find her before anyone else does.”I smiled. “You always make everything sound simple.”“I never said it would be simple.”I laughed softly. “Fair enough.”The next morning, my father contacted an old friend who had worked in privat

I could not bring myself to open the letter again. Daniel’s words were already burning inside my mind. If you are reading this, you have already fallen in love with the one man I begged you to stay away from.I looked at Adrian. He was standing a few feet away, watching me with an expression I could not understand. For the first time since I had met him, I did not know whether I was looking at the man I loved or at another piece of the secret I had spent so long trying to uncover.“Did you know about this letter?” I asked.He shook his head. “No.”“Did you know Daniel was afraid of you?”“No.”Amelia stepped closer. “My father does not hate Adrian.”I looked at her. “Then why did he warn me?”“Because he believes Adrian’s family is connected to what happened to him.”Adrian’s face tightened. “My family did not take Daniel.”“My father never said they did.”“Then what did he say?”“He said your father knew more than he admitted.”Adrian went silent, and I turned toward him. “Did your f

I stared at the address my uncle had sent me, and for several minutes I could not bring myself to move. The location was an old warehouse on the edge of the city, a place I had never visited but somehow already knew I should fear.Adrian stood beside me, watching my face carefully. “You are certain you want to go?” he asked.“No,” I admitted, and he looked surprised. I gave him a tired smile before I explained myself. “I am not certain about anything anymore. But I know I cannot keep running from the truth.”He took my hand in his. “Then I will be beside you.”Daniel stepped forward before either of us could move toward the car. “I will come too.”I looked at him and shook my head. “No. If Edward knows you are alive, your presence could make things worse.”Daniel frowned, clearly unhappy with my answer. “You do not understand how dangerous this is.”“I understand.”“Then let me protect you.”“You already did that once,” I said quietly, and he fell silent. “You carried me out of a burn