Chapter 2 ā The Woman Who Should Have Been Dead
Chapter 2: The Woman Who Should Have Been Dead
The fog thickened.
The three men stood frozen.
Victoria Hayes should have been dead.
There was no question about it.
They had watched her fall.
They had heard her body crash through branches as she disappeared into the abyss below.
Nobody survived a thirty-meter drop onto solid rock.
Nobody.
Yet there she stood.
Calm.
Uninjured.
Watching them.
The leader felt sweat running down his neck despite the cold mountain air.
"This isn't funny," he snapped.
Victoria said nothing.
She simply stared at him.
The youngest thug suddenly pointed into the fog.
"There!"
Everyone turned.
For a split second, a dark figure stood between the trees.
Tall.
Motionless.
Then it vanished.
The flashlight beam found nothing.
The forest was empty.
"Did you see that?" the young thug whispered.
No one answered.
Because they had all seen it.
Victoria slowly stepped closer.
Crunch.
A twig snapped beneath her shoe.
The sound seemed unnaturally loud.
The second thug reached for the knife at his belt.
His hands were shaking.
"Stay away from us."
Victoria stopped.
Then smiled.
"You were brave on the cliff."
The man swallowed.
"But now?"
Another step.
"You don't seem so brave anymore."
The youngest thug suddenly broke.
"Who are you?!"
His voice echoed through the ravine.
Victoria's eyes softened.
For the first time, she looked almost sad.
"You really don't remember me, do you?"
The men exchanged confused glances.
Remember her?
They had never met her before this job.
Then Victoria reached into her jacket pocket.
She pulled out something small.
Metallic.
A silver pendant.
The moment the leader saw it, his face drained of color.
"No..."
Victoria tilted her head.
Recognition.
Finally.
The pendant belonged to a woman.
A woman who had disappeared eight years earlier.
A woman whose body had never been found.
A woman connected to one of the leader's old crimes.
His breathing became ragged.
"That's impossible."
Victoria's expression hardened.
"That's exactly what she said."
The leader stumbled backward.
The other two stared at him.
"What is she talking about?"
But he couldn't answer.
Because memories were flooding back.
A rainy night.
A screaming woman.
A bridge.
A river.
And that same silver pendant.
Victoria watched the terror spread across his face.
Then she quietly said:
"Her name was Anna."
The man's knees nearly buckled.
The other thugs looked at him in horror.
"You know her?"
He didn't answer.
Because suddenly he understood something.
Victoria wasn't talking randomly.
She knew.
Somehow...
she knew everything.
The fog shifted again.
This time the figures were closer.
Much closer.
At least six of them.
Standing silently among the trees.
Watching.
The youngest thug dropped his flashlight.
"What are those?"
No one moved.
No one breathed.
Then a deep voice echoed through the ravine.
A voice that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once.
"Confess."
The men spun around.
Nothing.
Only fog.
Then again.
Closer.
"Confess."
The second thug crossed himself.
The leader's face was ghostly white.
Victoria remained perfectly calm.
As if she had expected the voice.
As if she had heard it before.
The youngest thug suddenly started running.
"I don't care about the money!"
He sprinted toward the trail.
Toward the path leading out of the ravine.
Toward safety.
Or so he thought.
Five seconds later, a terrified scream echoed through the forest.
Then silence.
Complete silence.
The remaining two men stared into the fog.
Waiting.
The young thug never returned.
Victoria looked toward the darkness.
Then back at them.
"You should have told the truth years ago."
The leader backed away.
"What are you?"
Victoria's eyes seemed almost distant now.
Like someone remembering a dream.
"The woman your boss tried to kill."
A cold wind swept through the ravine.
"And the last mistake your employer ever made."
Then her phone rang.
The sound shattered the silence.
Victoria looked down at the screen.
A name appeared.
Daniel Hayes.
Her husband.
The man who believed she was dead.
Slowly, Victoria answered the call.
Neither thug dared move.
Her husband sounded relaxed.
Confident.
Victorious.
"Did they find the body yet?"
Victoria smiled.
A terrifying smile.
Then she calmly replied:
"No, Daniel."
A long pause followed.
Because on the other end of the line...
her husband instantly recognized her voice.
And for the first time that day...
May you like
it was Daniel Hayes who became afraid.
TO BE CONTINUED...
