“Were you following me?”
“No.”
“Watching me?”
“No.”
“Then explain this!”
The words echoed through the shed.
“I can.”
“Then do it!”
“I just…”
He rubbed both hands across his face.
“I don’t know where to begin.”
I looked again at the walls.
Every photograph suddenly felt different.
Moments I had always believed belonged only to my family…
Now hung before me like evidence.
One picture showed me laughing with my mother outside the county library.
Another captured me buying lemonade at a summer festival.
One showed me walking across my college campus carrying a stack of books.
My stomach twisted.
“I don’t understand.”
“I know.”
“You’ve known me for barely three years.”
“I know.”
“So why…”
My voice broke.
“…does it look like you’ve known me my entire life?”
Before he could answer…
The old doorknob suddenly rattled.
Both of us froze.
Someone pushed the door open.
A familiar voice broke the silence.
“I told you she’d find it eventually.”
I turned sharply.
Victor stood in the doorway.
He was still wearing the perfectly tailored black suit he’d apparently worn to some evening fundraiser.
His tie had been loosened.
His hair was damp from the cool night air.
Despite the late hour…
He looked strangely calm.
Almost prepared.
My confusion deepened.
“Victor?”
For illustrative purposes only
His eyes met mine.
“I was afraid this would happen.”
Ethan immediately stepped between us.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
Victor looked around the room with slow, deliberate eyes.
Then he gave a humorless laugh.
“I disagree.”
His gaze swept across the walls.
“I think this is exactly where I belong.”
I looked from one man to the other.
“You two know each other?”
“Not the way he’s about to make you think,” Ethan answered immediately.
Victor folded his arms.
“I don’t need to say much.”
He nodded toward the walls.
“The room says enough.”
I stared at Ethan.
Then back at Victor.
“Someone tell me what’s happening.”
Victor spoke first.
“I followed you.”
My head snapped toward him.
“You what?”
“I saw Ethan take an old key from his jacket after the reception.”
His expression never changed.
“I recognized it.”
“You recognized…”
My voice faltered.
“…the key?”
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