WHY WAS HIS PHONE THERE?
I headed to my car when the ambulance arrived.
I couldn't stand that atmosphere anymore.
It reminded me too much of when my father died.
They blamed my mother.
And she couldn't bear it.
Now, Hugo's lover was fighting for her life.
No one knew what had happened.
She had just stepped away for a moment and…
But he was innocent. He had been with me when it happened.
A light drizzle fell while the night spread its claws over that impersonal piece of world.
I wondered if any of this was real or if I was stuck in some kind of loop.
The dress squeezed me for no reason.
Sweat cooled my skin.
I dug my hands into the steering wheel, asking myself what the hell had just happened.
It had been quick… and bizarre.
My gaze fixed on my ring for long seconds.
Why did Sue have an identical one?
Would she survive?
I looked back at the mansion when I heard the siren.
The ambulance sped away.
Hugo's car right behind it.
I stayed still, submerged in a strange calm.
I thought about leaving.
But I didn't.
Hugo was going to need me.
No one could support him like I could.
I rummaged through the glove compartment for another pair of gloves.
My hands felt too exposed.
Cold.
I found nothing.
Shit.
I still hadn't found my phone either.
If I had it, I could relax by playing Solitaire.
After a long while, I decided to go back inside.
When I stood outside, my legs were shaking.
I walked slowly.
The mansion looked elusive, like a ghost.
I entered through the back, as always.
I remained motionless in the middle of the shadows.
Moving disoriented me.
Every step echoed in the emptiness, leaving a sinister reverberation.
Then I took off my shoes and walked aimlessly.
Until I remembered.
An image and a name:
The room of mirrors.
Fragmented ideas of the place flashed through my head.
That's probably where I had left my phone.
A few minutes later I found the room.
As if something had guided me through the corridors.
I didn't remember what had happened there, just flashes.
But I was going to find out.
Or maybe not.
The change in atmosphere and temperature when I entered was abrupt.
But there were no mirrors.
Well, there were… but they were covered with thick black sheets that didn't move, as if they had been carved in stone.
I stood in the middle of the space.
The floor was uneven, scattered with shards of glass.
I took a moment to get my bearings, to recover a memory.
Or something.
Then I saw my purse.
Hanging from a hook embedded between two mirrors.
I approached slowly.
Every step left a disturbing rustle that the silence amplified.
I took my bag and smiled.
I could call my boss and excuse my absence from the office.
I didn't do it there.
I hurried out, clutching it to my chest after one last look at that disturbing place.
Attractive in an indefinable way.
As if I knew it, but without any memory.
When I was far enough away, I reached for my phone.
And my hand froze in the air.
My eyes fixed inside the open bag.
Two cell phones.
One was mine, and the other…
I swallowed while my mind processed the discovery.
It was Hugo's.
But… how had it ended up there?
That was absurd.
He… I had seen him call the ambulance.
I held it between my tense fingers.
The password echoed in my mind.
It was his birthday.
I didn't move. I didn't think.
Until the buzz made me jump.
"Damn it."
With my pulse racing, I looked at the flashing screen.
And my eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
THE GAME JUST LEVELED UP.
"Her."
That damn woman again.
Without answering, I entered the password and checked the call log.
I had to laugh.
A dry, fragmented, unrecognizable laugh.
That idiot was even more toxic and obsessive than me.
Yes, I sneaked into his house.
I followed his car.
I booked tables at restaurants where he had business dinners.
I went up to his floor at the company with excuses just to run into him.
I slipped into his meetings…
But this…
Hundreds of missed calls from that bitch.
Some with short replies.
Why didn't he just block her number if he didn't want to talk to her?
There were no messages.
But the calls bordered on obsession.
I was obsessed with my CEO.
Not at that pathetic level.
When the call repeated, I answered.
But I said nothing.
I just waited.
I didn't even breathe, the phone pressed to my ear.
Someone did breathe on the other side.
"Is that you?"
A whisper that made my skin crawl because it was so familiar.
That voice…
"Don't run from me anymore… what happened between us…"
I threw the phone with a scream when I recognized whose voice it was.
I stared at it as if it were a corpse.
I didn't try to understand.
I just… knew in that instant that the innocent little game had just leveled up.
When it vibrated again, I already knew what to do.
"How…"
"I need you to come to the hospital right now."
I almost fell backwards.
The name "Her" pulsed on the screen.
But…
"Hugo? You…"
"Now, Isabella… fuck!"
"Yes."
I stood up trembling and put the phone back in the bag.
The hospital…
Which fucking hospital?
I ran.
I'd ask him in the car.
And about Sue too.
I didn't know what I felt for her.
Or why Hugo wanted me there.
Much less how he knew I had his phone.
I crossed the foyer.
But before opening the door, a note slid underneath it.
I bent down to pick it up.
I clutched it between my fingers and burst out into the damp, cold night.
A nauseating smell drifted from the garden, barely lit by the dying lights of the spotlights.
There was no one.
Not even the sinister presence I sometimes felt.
Then I unfolded the paper to read it.