Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN WHO KNEW VICTORThe voice beneath the stage disappeared.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Lila looked at Marin.
Marin was staring at the ceiling.
Her face had gone completely white.
“Anya,” she whispered.
The voice came again.
“Marin.”
This time, there was no doubt.
It was speaking directly to her.
Marin took one step backward.
“No.”
Elise reached for her.
Marin immediately pulled away.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Marin…”
“You said she was dead.”
Elise's face crumpled.
“I thought she was.”
“You saw a body.”
“I thought it was her.”
“You buried her.”
Elise closed her eyes.
“I buried someone.”
Marin's breathing became uneven.
“And you never checked.”
“I was seventeen.”
“You were old enough to know the difference between a person and a corpse.”
“Marin!”
The voice beneath the stage interrupted them.
“Stop fighting.”
Everyone froze.
The voice was weak.
But it carried through the old theater.
“Come down.”
Lila looked at the ceiling.
“Where?”
A pause.
Then:
“Studio Seven.”
Elise shook her head.
“No.”
Lila looked at her.
“You said nobody was there.”
“I said no one should be.”
“Then we go.”
Elise grabbed her arm.
“Lila, listen to me.”
“No.”
“Your mother warned you.”
“My mother also told me not to trust you.”
Elise released her hand.
The words hurt.
Lila saw it.
But she could not take them back.
Marin stepped toward the ladder.
“I’m going.”
Elise looked at her.
“Marin.”
The younger woman turned.
“If that is really Anya…”
Her voice trembled.
“…I want to see her.”
Noah was already climbing.
Lila followed.
Marin came next.
Elise remained below for several seconds.
Then she climbed after them.
They emerged into Studio Seven.
The room was empty.
The piano stood exactly where they had left it.
The old wooden floor was silent.
Lila looked around.
“Where is she?”
Noah walked to the center of the room.
Then he looked down.
“She is below.”
Marin turned toward him.
“How do you know?”
“She told me.”
“You have been talking to her?”
Noah nodded.
“When?”
“Every night.”
Marin stared at him.
“You have been living beneath the theater?”
Noah shrugged.
“Sometimes.”
Lila looked at him.
“Where do you sleep?”
He pointed toward the piano.
“Behind it.”
Lila remembered the fresh fingerprints.
The music box.
The hidden passage.
“How long have you been here?”
Noah looked at the floor.
“Since I was six.”
Marin's face changed.
“Six?”
He nodded.
“Who brought you here?”
Noah looked at Elise.
Elise froze.
“I did not.”
Noah smiled.
“Not you.”
“Then who?”
He pointed toward the wall.
“Anya.”
Marin took a step toward him.
“Anya was dead.”
Noah said nothing.
Lila walked toward the center of the room.
The final movement.
The markings beneath the floor.
The hidden door.
She looked down.
“Where is the entrance?”
Noah pointed to the old piano.
“Move it.”
Lila and Marin pushed.
The piano barely moved.
Elise watched them.
Then suddenly stepped forward.
“Wait.”
She walked toward the piano.
Her fingers touched the wooden side.
Then she looked at Lila.
“There is another way.”
“Where?”
Elise knelt.
She pressed her hand against the floor.
Then tapped three times.
The wood answered.
A hollow sound.
Lila stared.
“You knew.”
Elise looked away.
“I forgot.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“I did.”
“Why did you lie?”
Elise looked at the floor.
“Because I was afraid.”
The words were barely audible.
Lila said nothing.
Elise tapped the floor again.
This time, a section moved.
A hidden panel opened.
A narrow staircase appeared.
Cold air rose from beneath.
Noah immediately began descending.
Marin followed.
Lila looked at Elise.
“Are you coming?”
Elise hesitated.
Then nodded.
The staircase led deeper than the previous passage.
The walls were wet.
Old pipes ran along the ceiling.
The deeper they went, the quieter the theater became.
Then they heard something.
A heartbeat.
No.
Not a heartbeat.
A machine.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Lila reached the bottom.
The room was larger than she expected.
There were medical machines.
Old beds.
Cabinets.
A generator.
The place looked like a hidden clinic.
Marin stared.
“What is this?”
Elise whispered:
“I have never seen this.”
Lila turned toward her.
“Really?”
“I swear.”
Noah walked toward the far wall.
A curtain hung there.
He pulled it aside.
Behind it was a bed.
An old woman lay beneath a blanket.
Her hair was completely white.
Her face was thin.
But her eyes were open.
Lila stopped breathing.
The woman looked at her.
For one second, she said nothing.
Then she whispered:
“You have Celeste's eyes.”
Lila slowly stepped forward.
“Are you Anya?”
The woman smiled.
“Yes.”
Marin stood frozen behind her.
Anya looked at her.
“My daughter.”
Marin's lips trembled.
“Mother.”
Anya's eyes filled with tears.
Marin moved forward.
Then stopped.
“You were alive.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I had no choice.”
“You had twenty-eight years.”
Anya looked away.
“Not all of them were mine.”
Marin frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Anya looked at Lila.
“Ask Elise.”
Lila turned.
Elise stood near the stairs.
Her face was pale.
“Why does she keep saying my name?”
Anya answered.
“Because Elise was there.”
“Where?”
“The night they took me.”
Lila looked at Elise.
“You said you found her injured.”
“I did.”
“You said you thought she was dead.”
“I did.”
“Then who took her?”
Anya closed her eyes.
“Your mother.”
Lila froze.
“What?”
Anya looked at her.
“Celeste took me.”
Lila felt the world tilt.
“No.”
“Your mother found me.”
“Why would she take you?”
“To save me.”
“From whom?”
Anya's eyes moved toward the medical equipment.
“From the Bellamys.”
Lila looked at the old machines.
“What did they do?”
Anya was silent for a long time.
Then she said:
“They wanted to know whether memory could survive the body.”
Lila felt sick.
“What does that mean?”
Anya looked at Noah.
“Show her.”
Noah walked to the wall.
He pulled down a faded screen.
Then pressed a button.
An old projector came to life.
A film appeared on the wall.
Black and white.
Grainy.
A dance studio.
Four young girls stood in a line.
One of them was Anya.
Another was Elise.
Lila stared.
The girls began to dance.
The movements were familiar.
The same sequence.
The same turns.
The same final gesture.
But something was different.
The girls danced together.
Then one stopped.
Another continued.
A third collapsed.
The fourth looked directly into the camera.
Anya.
The film stopped.
Lila turned toward the woman on the bed.
“What was that?”
Anya whispered:
“The first finale.”
Lila shook her head.
“No.”
“Your mother saw that recording.”
“And?”
“She understood what the Bellamys were doing.”
“What were they doing?”
Anya looked at Elise.
“Tell her.”
Elise's face had gone completely pale.
“I was one of the girls.”
Lila stared at her.
“You knew?”
“I was fourteen.”
“You were part of this?”
“I didn't understand.”
“You danced.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because they told us to.”
“Who?”
“Anya's mother.”
Lila looked at Anya.
“Your mother?”
Anya nodded.
“She believed we could be trained to remember things through movement.”
“That is insane.”
“Yes.”
“But did it work?”
Anya's eyes moved toward Noah.
“Yes.”
Lila looked at the boy.
“What does he have to do with it?”
Anya's expression became sad.
“He is the proof.”
Lila turned toward Noah.
“What?”
Anya whispered:
“He remembers things he never lived.”
The room became silent.
Noah looked at Lila.
“I remember your mother.”
Lila froze.
“You've never met my mother.”
Noah shook his head.
“I have.”
“When?”
“Before you were born.”
“That’s impossible.”
Noah looked toward the old projector.
“I remember the night she brought Anya here.”
Lila's heart began to pound.
“How?”
Noah touched the crescent-shaped birthmark beneath his eye.
“Because I was there.”
Marin stared at him.
“You were a baby.”
Noah nodded.
“I know.”
“Then how could you remember?”
Noah looked at Lila.
“Because Anya gave me her memories.”
Lila took a step backward.
Anya closed her eyes.
“Not all of them.”
“What did she give him?”
“The memories of the final dance.”
Lila stared.
“Why?”
“Because I knew they would come for me.”
“Who?”
Anya looked toward the ceiling.
“The people who are still running the program.”
Lila felt a chill.
“But the Bellamys are gone.”
Anya laughed softly.
“Families disappear.”
“Organizations do not.”
Lila looked at Elise.
“Who is still running it?”
Anya did not answer.
Instead, she said:
“Look at the photograph again.”
Lila pulled out the old photograph from her pocket.
Celeste.
Victor.
Elise.
The hidden man behind the curtain.
Lila studied the image.
Then noticed something.
The man was wearing the black stone ring.
But the face was hidden.
Anya whispered:
“That is not Victor.”
Lila looked up.
“What?”
“Victor stole the ring.”
“From whom?”
Anya stared at Elise.
“From the man who is still alive.”
Elise's face changed.
Lila turned to her.
“Who?”
Elise shook her head.
“No.”
“Who?”
“No.”
Anya said:
“Tell her.”
Elise backed away.
“Don't.”
Lila stepped closer.
“You know who he is.”
Elise began to cry.
“I thought he was dead.”
Anya's voice was quiet.
“He was never dead.”
A sound echoed above them.
A heavy door slammed.
Then footsteps.
Several people.
Approaching the hidden room.
Noah looked toward the staircase.
“They found us.”
Marin moved toward the exit.
“How?”
Anya looked at Lila.
“Because someone told them.”
Lila turned toward Elise.
Elise immediately shook her head.
“No.”
The footsteps grew louder.
Anya reached beneath her pillow.
She pulled out a small silver knife.
Then looked at Lila.
“Your mother did not die because of Victor.”
Lila stared.
“Then who killed her?”
Anya's eyes filled with fear.
“Your mother is not dead.”
Lila stopped breathing.
“What?”
Anya whispered:
“She has been hiding from them for three years.”
The door above them opened.
A man's voice echoed down the staircase.
“Anya.”
Everyone froze.
The voice was old.
Calm.
Familiar.
Lila had heard it before.
At the theater.
At the charity gala.
At Victor Hale's funeral.
It belonged to a man she had never suspected.
Anya looked at Elise.
Then whispered:
“He found us.”
The footsteps stopped at the top of the stairs.
A shadow appeared.
Then the man began descending.
Lila recognized him.
Her heart stopped.
Because the man who had been secretly controlling the theater for decades—
was the person who had helped her expose Victor.
The person she had trusted.
The person who had been standing beside her when the truth was revealed.
Elise's husband.
But Elise had always said she had never married.
The man stopped halfway down the stairs.
He smiled.
“Hello, Anya.”
Anya raised the knife.
May you like
And whispered:
“Run.”
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