Chapter 3
Elena's POV: "Secrets in the Past"
The needle jabbed into my neck like a snake bite.
I woke up tied to a chair in a dark room that smelled like old boxes and dust. My head felt like someone had hit it with a hammer. Maya was nowhere to be seen, and Marcus stood in front of me with cold, angry eyes.
"Good, you're awake," he said. "We have a lot to talk about, Emily Watson."
My blood turned to ice. Nobody had called me that name in fifteen years. Emily Watson was the scared thirteen-year-old girl I used to be before my parents changed my name to Elena Cross and moved us across the country.
"How do you know that name?" I whispered.
Marcus held up an old newspaper. The title read: "Missing Witness Could Have Solved Hit-and-Run Case." Below it was a picture of me at thirteen, standing outside the courthouse with my parents.
"I've carried this newspaper clipping for fifteen years," Marcus said. "Every single day, I looked at your face and wondered where you went to. Now I finally found you."
I tried to stay relaxed, but my hands were shaking. "Marcus, I know you're angry about your sister. But I was just a kid. My parents were trying to protect me."
"Protect you from what? Telling the truth?"
"From the man who killed your sister!" I shouted. "Richard Blackwood threatened to hurt my whole family if I testified. My parents got scared and made us run away."
Marcus went very still. "What did you just say?"
"Richard Blackwood. The drunk driver who hit your sister. He had contacts with dangerous people. When the cops said I had to testify, Blackwood's lawyer came to our house and said terrible things would happen to us if I went to court."
"You knew his name," Marcus said slowly. "All these years, you knew who killed Anna."
Anna. His sister's name was Anna. I started crying, thinking about the little eight-year-old girl who died because I was too scared to speak up.
"I tried to tell my parents we should go to the police anyway," I cried. "But they said Blackwood was too powerful and rich. They said nobody would believe a thirteen-year-old girl against a man like him."
Marcus sat down hard in a chair across from me. "Blackwood threatened your family?" " He said if I testified, he would make sure my little brother got hurt at school. He said my dad would lose his job. He said..." I couldn't finish the sentence because it was too terrible.
"What else did he say?" "He said little girls who talked too much sometimes had accidents, just like his sister did. "
For the first time since I'd met him, Marcus looked shocked instead of angry. "He threatened to kill you too?"
"Yes. That's why my parents packed everything and moved us to Portland. They changed our names and made me promise never to tell anyone what I saw that night."
Marcus was quiet for a long time, staring at the newspaper article. "What exactly did you see, Elena?"
I closed my eyes, remembering the worst night of my life. "I was walking home from the library. I saw Blackwood at the charitable dinner, and he was drinking a lot of wine. Like, a scary amount. Then I saw him get in his car even though he could barely walk straight."
"You saw him leave the charity event drunk?"
"Yes. And I followed him because I was worried he might hurt someone. That's when..." I started crying again. "That's when I saw him hit Anna. She was crossing the street with her toy rabbit, and he didn't even try to stop."
Marcus's hands were shaking now too. "You saw the actual accident?"
"I saw everything. After he hit Anna, Blackwood got out of his car and looked around to see if anyone was looking. When he saw me, he smiled this terrible smile and said, 'You didn't see anything, little girl. And if you say you did, you'll end up just like her.'"
"Why didn't you tell the police this part?"
"I tried! But when I went to the police station with my parents, Blackwood's lawyer was already there. He told the cops I was just a confused kid who didn't really see anything. Then he followed us home and made those threats."
Marcus stood up and started walking around the room. "So Blackwood not only killed my sister, he also threatened to kill you to cover it up."
"I've felt guilty about staying silent every single day for fifteen years," I said. "That's why I became a fighter. I help other people find their voices because I couldn't find mine when it meant most."
"But Elena, if Blackwood threatened you, then you're not the guilty one. You were a victim too."
I looked at Marcus with surprise. "What do you mean?"
"I thought you were a coward who chose quiet over justice. But you were just another kid that Blackwood hurt to protect himself."
"Does that mean you're going to let me go?"
Marcus shook his head. "I can't do that. Because there's something else you need to know."
He pulled out his phone and showed me a news story from this morning. The title made me scream: "Businessman Richard Blackwood Found Dead in Office."
"Blackwood is dead?" I gasped.
"I killed him last night," Marcus said simply. "It was meant to feel like justice, but it felt empty. Killing him didn't bring Anna back."
I looked at Marcus in horror. "You're the serial killer! You're The Phantom!"
"I was going to kill you too. You were meant to be victim number thirteen, the final person on my list. But now I don't know what to do."
"Marcus, please. If you know I'm not really guilty, you have to let me go."
Marcus looked at me with sad, confused eyes. "Elena, I've spent fifteen years planning to kill you. I don't know how to stop now."
That's when I heard footsteps outside the room. Someone else was here.
"Marcus," a voice called from the hallway. "Did you get the girl?"
I recognized that voice, and it made my heart stop completely. It was the same voice that had threatened my family fifteen years ago.
The door opened, and a man walked in. He was older now, with gray hair and lines, but I knew exactly who he was.
Richard Blackwood's lawyer. The man who had made us run away and change our names.
"Hello, Emily," he said with that same bad smile. "We have some unfinished business to discuss."
Marcus spun around, his face full of confusion. "Mr. Harrison? What are you doing here?"
"I've been watching you hunt down all the witnesses from the Blackwood case," Harrison said. "You've been very helpful, Marcus. Very helpful indeed."
"Witnesses? What witnesses?"
Harrison laughed. "Did you really think Emily was the only person who saw your sister's accident? There were twelve other people who could have testified against Blackwood. Twelve people who all mysteriously vanished or refused to talk."
I felt sick. "The thirteen victims on your list..."
"Weren't random guilty people," Harrison ended. "They were all witnesses to Anna's death. Marcus has been killing everyone who could have put Blackwood in jail."
Marcus dropped his phone. "No. That's not possible. I studied each person. They were all crooks who escaped justice."
"Because I gave you false information about each of them," Harrison said. "I made you believe they were guilty of other crimes so you would kill them for me."
"Why?" Marcus whispered.
"Because even though Blackwood is dead, there's still proof of our conspiracy to cover up the hit-and-run. If any of those witnesses had ever chosen to come forward, they could have exposed everything. But now they're all dead, thanks to you."
I discovered the horrible truth. "Marcus, you've been killing innocent people. All this time, you thought you were getting justice, but you were just cleaning up Harrison's mess."
Marcus looked at his hands like he'd never seen them before. "I killed innocent people?"
"Twelve of them," Harrison said happily. "And now you're going to kill the thirteenth witness, and then I'll make sure you get blamed for all the killings. The grieving brother who went crazy with payback. It's a beautiful story."
Marcus suddenly lunged at Harrison, but the older man was ready. He pulled out a gun and shot Marcus in the shoulder.
As Marcus fell to the ground bleeding, Harrison turned the gun toward me.
"Goodbye, Emily Watson. You should have stayed hidden."