Nora almost dropped her phone when Julian said, “Don’t turn around.” His voice was quiet, but there was something in it she had never heard before. They had been walking down Mercer Street beneath a row of old trees, laughing about a ridiculous argument over coffee, when he suddenly stopped beside a brick building and looked past her shoulder. The afternoon traffic continued around them, bicycles slipping between parked cars, buses sighing at the curb. Only Julian had gone completely still.
“What?” Nora asked.
“Nothing.”
She looked at him.
Julian gave her the smile he used when he wanted to end a conversation without admitting he was ending it. Usually, she could let that smile pass. They had been together for nearly three years. She knew his habits, his silences, the way he rubbed his thumb against the side of his index finger when he was nervous. This time, though, his hand was shaking.
Nora lifted her phone.
“Come here.”
He frowned. “Why?”
“Because I want a picture.”
“I thought you hated taking pictures.”
“I hate taking pictures when you make that face.”
“What face?”
“The face of a man who has just remembered he owes somebody money.”
That made him laugh.
The tension loosened for half a second.
Julian stepped closer, and Nora leaned against him. She raised the phone, framed their faces, and took the photograph before either of them could pose properly. The trees behind them formed a green tunnel over the sidewalk. Sunlight flashed between the leaves. A row of parked cars stretched toward the intersection.
The picture looked ordinary.
Nora smiled when she saw it.
Julian did not.
She noticed immediately.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You've said that twice.”
He reached for the phone.
“Let me see.”
She pulled it away.
“No. I like it.”
“You haven't even looked at it properly.”
“I have.”
“Then let me.”
Something about his insistence made her stop teasing.
She handed him the phone.
Julian stared at the photograph.
His expression changed.
Not dramatically. That was what frightened her. His mouth tightened. His shoulders lowered. His eyes moved away from their faces toward the far edge of the picture.
Nora followed his gaze.
There was a woman in the background.
She stood across the street near a lamppost.
Nora barely noticed her at first.
The woman wore a dark coat and held a folded newspaper beneath one arm.
“She looks familiar,” Nora said.
Julian handed the phone back.
“She isn't.”
Nora looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“Because I've never seen her.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
Julian started walking.
Nora remained where she was for a moment.
Then she followed.
“You recognized her.”
“No.”
“Julian.”
He kept walking.
“Please don't do this.”
She stopped.
He continued another few steps before realizing she was no longer beside him.
When he turned, she was standing beneath the tree, phone in hand.
“What are you afraid of?” she asked.
Julian looked toward the woman.
The sidewalk between them was crowded now.
The woman was gone.
He exhaled.
“I don't want to talk about this here.”
“Then where?”
“Anywhere else.”
Nora walked toward him.
“You've been strange all week.”
“I've been tired.”
“You canceled dinner with my parents.”
“I apologized.”
“You forgot our anniversary.”
“I didn't forget.”
“You said you did.”
Julian rubbed his forehead.
“I was trying to surprise you.”
Nora's expression softened.
“With what?”
He looked at her.
For one second, she thought he might tell her everything.
Instead, he said, “Let's go home.”
That answer stayed with her through the train ride.
Julian barely spoke.
He kept his phone in his hand but didn't look at it.
At their apartment, Nora went directly to the kitchen.
“Coffee?”
“No.”
“Tea?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Julian removed his coat.
“I need to make a call.”
He disappeared into the bedroom.
Nora stood alone.
She could hear the bedroom door close.
Then the low sound of Julian's voice.
She couldn't make out the words.
She opened the photograph again.
The woman in the background seemed unimportant.
Yet Julian had reacted as if someone had walked into the frame carrying a weapon.
Nora zoomed in.
The image became grainy.
She could see the woman's face more clearly.
There was something familiar about her.
Not from real life.
From somewhere else.
Nora scrolled through old photographs.
Her thumb stopped.
A picture from three years earlier.
Julian standing beside his mother at a family gathering.
Behind them, almost hidden by a doorway, was the same woman.
Nora's stomach tightened.
She searched again.
Another photograph.
A birthday dinner.
The woman appeared through a window in the background.
Another.
A street festival.
The same dark hair.
The same narrow face.
The same posture.
Nora whispered, “Who are you?”
The bedroom door opened.
Julian came out.
He stopped when he saw her phone.
“What are you doing?”
“I found her.”
He went pale.
Nora stood.
“Who is she?”
Julian said nothing.
“Don't tell me you don't know her.”
“I know her.”
“Who?”
He looked at the photograph.
Then at Nora.
“Her name is Elise.”
Nora waited.
Julian swallowed.
“She was supposed to be dead.”
The apartment became completely silent.
Nora stared at him.
“What did you just say?”
Julian sat down.
“I haven't told you everything about my family.”
“You've had three years.”
“I know.”
“And you told me your father died before you were born. You told me your mother raised you alone. You told me you were an only child.”
Julian closed his eyes.
“I lied.”
Nora stepped backward.
“How long have you known she was alive?”
“I didn't.”
“Then how can you recognize her?”
“Because I saw her once.”
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
Nora felt cold.
“You saw her before today.”
Julian nodded.
“She contacted me.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“That's not true.”
He looked at her.
“She said she needed my help.”
Nora stared at the photograph again.
“Your sister?”
Julian nodded.
“Elise is my older sister.”
Nora sat slowly.
She had never heard the name.
Never seen a family photograph with Elise.
Never heard Julian mention a sibling.
And now the woman had appeared in the background of a photograph they had taken by accident.
“What happened to her?” Nora asked.
Julian looked toward the window.
“My family said she disappeared.”
“That's not what you said.”
“No.”
“You said she was supposed to be dead.”
Julian's voice dropped.
“My father told everyone she died.”
Nora stared.
“Why?”
Julian looked at her.
“That is the question I've been trying to answer.”
His phone vibrated on the table.
Both of them looked down.
A message appeared.
Unknown Number.
Stop looking for Elise.
Julian reached for the phone.
Nora caught his wrist.
“Don't delete it.”
He froze.
The message disappeared.
A second one arrived.
Tell Nora nothing. She is already being watched.
Nora slowly released his wrist.
Neither of them spoke.
Outside, a car passed beneath the streetlight.
Julian walked to the window.
Nora stood behind him.
“Are we being watched?”
Julian did not answer.
Then he noticed something across the street.
A black sedan was parked beneath the trees.
Its engine was running.
The headlights were off.
Julian's face changed.
“That car.”
“What?”
“I saw it two weeks ago.”
The sedan pulled away.
Julian grabbed his coat.
“Stay here.”
Nora stood.
“No.”
“Nora—”
“You lied to me about your family. Someone is threatening us. And you expect me to sit in this apartment while you chase whatever this is?”
He looked at her.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
Julian stared at the empty street.
“I think Elise came back because she knows who killed our father.”
Click Here to continue read next: PART2: Julian Finally Told Nora Why His Sister Had Been Erased From Family History, but the Evidence She Carried Made Their Own Relationship Suddenly Dangerous
The Photograph Was Supposed to Be a Simple Memory, Until Nora Noticed the Stranger Behind Them and Realized Julian Had Been Hiding Something
Part 1 of 16
