One Night in Valeria - Chapter 45: Chapter 45
You are reading One Night in Valeria, Chapter 45: Chapter 45. Read more chapters of One Night in Valeria.
Liam moved fast.
Within the hour, the studio was rewired cameras, silent trip sensors at the entrances, and a hidden mic beneath Jessica’s desk. Celeste installed a motion tracker in the stairwell outside the gallery.
“Whoever left that envelope got close,” Liam said, staring at the grainy security feed. “Which means they know the building. Maybe even the staff.”
Jessica stood at the window again, arms folded, watching the street below.
She hated this part the waiting. The being prey part.
She didn’t come this far to cower.
So she did the one thing they wouldn’t expect.
She left the window open.
The trap was set: the studio dark, the cameras live, Jessica seated quietly beneath the skylight, sketching. Alone, exposed bait.
At 3:18 a.m., the studio door creaked.
Liam, watching from the security office down the hall, stiffened. “We have movement.”
A figure stepped inside.
Slim. Hooded. Graceful like someone used to silence.
Jessica didn’t look up. Her pencil didn’t pause.
“You’re brave,” she said calmly. “But not invisible.”
The figure froze.
Then… dropped the hood.
A girl. Barely twenty. Freckled face, wide dark eyes.
Jessica turned slowly, brows pulling together.
“I know you,” she said. “You were one of the Summit interns.”
The girl nodded, silent. Then reached into her jacket. Liam burst in at that moment gun raised, breath tight.
“Hands where I can see them.”
The girl didn’t flinch. She raised a battered phone and dropped it at Jessica’s feet.
“It’s not what you think,” she said.
Jessica crouched and picked it up.
There, on the screen, was a folder labeled:
> “Dorian. Truth.”
Her name was Miraelle. Not on paper, not on payroll. She had slipped into the Summit staff under a false ID.
“I wasn’t here to hurt you,” she said. “I came because I knew the Velars wouldn’t let you win. I worked for Dorian. I was part of his design team six years ago… until he vanished.”
Liam frowned. “Vanished?”
Miraelle nodded. “He left. No word. Just… disappeared. But before he did, he told me to protect the files in that folder. He said someday, a woman named Jessica Hale would need them more than the world needed his name.”
Jessica’s heart thudded in her ears.
“What’s in them?”
“Designs,” she said. “The last ones he ever made. But also recordings. One in particular… about Klara. About the night she left. He blamed himself.”
Jessica swallowed. “He did love her.”
Miraelle nodded. “He still does. He just didn’t know how to keep her.”
Later, alone, Jessica opened the folder.
The final audio file was marked:
> Dorian_Velar_Confession.wav
She pressed play.
“I never meant to be her ending. But I became it anyway.”
“I loved her. But love isn’t enough when it turns cowardly.”
“If Jessica finds this… I want her to know—I tried to protect her. From Thorne. From August. From the machine that killed Klara slowly. But I was too late.”
“…And if she wants to face me someday, I’ll be waiting. I deserve it.”
Jessica let the silence stretch. She wasn’t angry. She wasn’t ready to forgive.
But for the first time, she understood. And that was something.
Within the hour, the studio was rewired cameras, silent trip sensors at the entrances, and a hidden mic beneath Jessica’s desk. Celeste installed a motion tracker in the stairwell outside the gallery.
“Whoever left that envelope got close,” Liam said, staring at the grainy security feed. “Which means they know the building. Maybe even the staff.”
Jessica stood at the window again, arms folded, watching the street below.
She hated this part the waiting. The being prey part.
She didn’t come this far to cower.
So she did the one thing they wouldn’t expect.
She left the window open.
The trap was set: the studio dark, the cameras live, Jessica seated quietly beneath the skylight, sketching. Alone, exposed bait.
At 3:18 a.m., the studio door creaked.
Liam, watching from the security office down the hall, stiffened. “We have movement.”
A figure stepped inside.
Slim. Hooded. Graceful like someone used to silence.
Jessica didn’t look up. Her pencil didn’t pause.
“You’re brave,” she said calmly. “But not invisible.”
The figure froze.
Then… dropped the hood.
A girl. Barely twenty. Freckled face, wide dark eyes.
Jessica turned slowly, brows pulling together.
“I know you,” she said. “You were one of the Summit interns.”
The girl nodded, silent. Then reached into her jacket. Liam burst in at that moment gun raised, breath tight.
“Hands where I can see them.”
The girl didn’t flinch. She raised a battered phone and dropped it at Jessica’s feet.
“It’s not what you think,” she said.
Jessica crouched and picked it up.
There, on the screen, was a folder labeled:
> “Dorian. Truth.”
Her name was Miraelle. Not on paper, not on payroll. She had slipped into the Summit staff under a false ID.
“I wasn’t here to hurt you,” she said. “I came because I knew the Velars wouldn’t let you win. I worked for Dorian. I was part of his design team six years ago… until he vanished.”
Liam frowned. “Vanished?”
Miraelle nodded. “He left. No word. Just… disappeared. But before he did, he told me to protect the files in that folder. He said someday, a woman named Jessica Hale would need them more than the world needed his name.”
Jessica’s heart thudded in her ears.
“What’s in them?”
“Designs,” she said. “The last ones he ever made. But also recordings. One in particular… about Klara. About the night she left. He blamed himself.”
Jessica swallowed. “He did love her.”
Miraelle nodded. “He still does. He just didn’t know how to keep her.”
Later, alone, Jessica opened the folder.
The final audio file was marked:
> Dorian_Velar_Confession.wav
She pressed play.
“I never meant to be her ending. But I became it anyway.”
“I loved her. But love isn’t enough when it turns cowardly.”
“If Jessica finds this… I want her to know—I tried to protect her. From Thorne. From August. From the machine that killed Klara slowly. But I was too late.”
“…And if she wants to face me someday, I’ll be waiting. I deserve it.”
Jessica let the silence stretch. She wasn’t angry. She wasn’t ready to forgive.
But for the first time, she understood. And that was something.
End of One Night in Valeria Chapter 45. Continue reading Chapter 46 or return to One Night in Valeria book page.