The air in the room was suffocating. Millie sat on the edge of the bed, her robe falling slightly off one shoulder. Alex and his frequebt phone calls had started pulling him away again with barely an explanation, and now she was left alone in a house that suddenly felt less like a haven and more like a puzzle box.

Her eyes drifted to the dresser across the room.

Alex’s drawer.

She had never opened it before. Never felt the need to. But now there was something gnawing at her, something whispering that maybe she needed to look.

Millie pushed herself up, her bare feet padding softly against the cold floor. Her fingers hovered over the drawer’s handle for a second before she tugged it open.

At first, all she saw were the expected things: a few papers, black leather gloves, a money clip with crisp bills, a pair of sunglasses. She reached to push some papers aside, and that was when she saw it.

A manila envelope. Thick. Sealed with a red wax emblem pressed on the flap.

Millie’s fingers trembled as she lifted it from the drawer. The wax had been broken, and it opened without resistance.

Inside were photographs. Dozens of them.

And not just of her.

Her mother.

The first photo was a grainy surveillance shot of Roselyn Thompson walking into a building she did not recognize. Another showed Roselyn getting into a black car with tinted windows. Then another one was of her mother sitting across from a man with a blurred face, handing over what looked like a sealed package.

The fourth photo made Millie’s heart stop.

It was her.

She looked much younger. Maybe eleven or twelve. Her younger self was standing outside the alley behind their old house, staring wide-eyed at a man being dragged into a van. Her face was small, terrified, but unmistakable.

What the hell was this?

The last document in the envelope was worse than the photos.

It was a scary report.

And it was typed with her name at the top.

Subject: Millie Thompson. Possible Witness. Operation Crimson Lily. 2012.

Her chest rose and fell quickly, panic building inside her. Operation Crimson Lily? That sounded like some kind of government or undercover file. How could Alex have this? Why would he have it?

She turned to the back page, where there was a scribbled note.

In handwriting she did not recognize.

“Ask Mateo if she remembers anything. Dan said she blacked out after that night. If the truth surfaces, we burn it all.”

Millie stood up too fast, her legs wobbling. The room spun. The note did not make sense. None of this did. And the way her name was being passed around between Mateo and Dan in a file that Alex had hidden made her stomach twist.

But it was not just confusion anymore. It was fear.

How long had Alex known about this?

Was he keeping it from her to protect her? Or was he part of something darker she was only beginning to scratch the surface of?

And then the thought hit her like a slap.

Maybe someone planted it there.

Not Alex.

She had lived with him long enough to know how meticulous he was. If this file was his, it would have been in a locked cabinet, not in an easily accessible drawer right beside his cufflinks.

No. Someone had put it there.

And it was meant for her to find.

Her eyes scanned the room slowly, her heart thudding loud in her ears.

Had someone been in the house?

She raced to the window and pulled the curtains back. She saw nothing.

Still, her mind ran through every possibility.

Mateo? He had a significant motive.

Or Dan? He was unlikely to risk coming into the lion’s den himself.

Or maybe it was someone else entirely.

Millie bit her lip hard, trying to keep her head from spinning.

The envelope now lay open on the floor like a wound. She stared at it for a moment longer, then picked it up and returned it to the exact position she had met it. If Alex came back, she would confront him but not without thinking this through first.

There was a knock at the bedroom door.

Millie almost jumped.

She wrapped the robe tighter around herself and inched toward the door.

Another knock.

“Millie,” came a deep voice from the other side.

Javi was here for his security shift.

She slowly opened the door just enough to see his face.

He was frowning, but calm.

“Just wanted to let you know that I was around. You alright? ,” he said

Millie nodded slowly, her voice dry. “Yes. I'm fine.”

His eyes moved past her, to the bedroom behind.

She saw it then. The briefest flicker of something in his gaze.

His eyes held something similar to recognition. As if he knew something.

She quickly dismissed the thought. Javi couldn't possibly be involved in Dan or Mateo’s tricks.

She forced a smile. “Thank you Javi. You can help yourself to some food in the kitchen.”

Javi nodded.

Then he turned and walked away.

Millie closed the door gently, her hands shaking now as she remembered all the pictures she had just come across.

She leaned her back against the wood and whispered to herself.

“What the hell is going on?”