I couldn’t stop thinking about the photograph.
Seventeen-year-old me.
Adrian.
My father.
His mother.
A night I couldn’t remember.
A secret everyone seemed determined to protect me from.
I sat in front of my bedroom mirror and examined the bracelet.
It was simple.
Thin silver.
A small engraved symbol on the inside.
I’d worn it for years.
My mother had given it to me before everything collapsed.
She had told me only one thing.
“Keep it safe.”
I’d never asked why.
I took it off.
For the first time, I looked closely at the engraving.
It looked like two interlocking lines surrounded by a small circle.
Not a name.
Not a word.
A symbol.
I searched it online.
Nothing.
I tried again.
Still nothing.
I took a photograph.
Then I noticed something.
The bracelet wasn’t perfectly smooth.
There was a tiny seam near the clasp.
I pressed it.
Nothing happened.
I pressed harder.
A small section shifted.
My heart stopped.
There was a tiny compartment inside.
Empty.
Except for a microscopic piece of black paper.
I pulled it out.
Only three letters were visible.
B.I.
I stared at them.
Blackwood International?
Or something else?
A knock sounded.
I quickly closed the bracelet.
“Come in.” Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
Adrian entered.
His eyes immediately went to my hand.
“You found it.”
I froze.
“What?”
“The compartment.”
My heart started pounding.
“How did you know?”
He didn’t answer.
I stood.
“You knew.”
“Elena.”
“You knew there was something inside this bracelet.”
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
“Since I first saw it.”
“When?”
“Ten years ago.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“You saw this bracelet ten years ago?”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother asked me not to.”
I stared at him.
“My mother talked to you?”
“Yes.”
“About this?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
His expression became tense.
“She told me to protect you.”
I laughed.
“Protect me from what?”
He didn’t answer.
“From my family?”
“No.”
“From you?”
His eyes darkened.
“Possibly.”
I didn’t know whether to be angry or frightened.
“You said my mother trusted you.”
“She did.”
“She told me never to trust the Blackwoods.”
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t sound like trust.” The source of this chapter is novelping.com.
“It wasn’t simple.”
I walked toward him.
“Then make it simple.”
He looked at my bracelet.
“That symbol belongs to something that existed before our families became enemies.”
“What?”
“I can’t tell you yet.”
“Why?”
“Because if you know too much too soon, you’re in danger.”
I stared at him.
“You keep using that word.”
“Because it’s true.”
“Then tell me what the danger is.”
His voice became quieter.
“People have killed for less.”
The room went silent.
I swallowed.
“Are you one of them?”
His expression changed.
“No.”
I believed him.
That frightened me more.
Because if Adrian wasn’t the danger— someone else was.
I put the bracelet back on.
He watched me.
“Don’t show anyone the compartment.”
“Not even you?”
“Especially not anyone else.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“You included?”
He looked at me for a long moment.
Then said:
“Yes.”
That night, I received an anonymous message.
You should have left the Blackwood house while you still could.
I stared at the screen.
Another message appeared.
Ask your husband what happened ten years ago.
Then a photograph arrived.
It was the same old photograph I had found.
But someone had circled Adrian in red.
Underneath it were four words.
He was there too.