Full Story : THE INJURED WOMAN CLUTCHED THE COLONEL'S UNIFORM AND SAID, “THAT WATCH WAS WITH ME”... THEN VICTORIA WENT PALE
PART 1: THE BROKEN WATCH
Elena opened her eyes beneath the harsh white hospital lights.
For a few seconds, she didn't remember where she was.
Then the pain returned.
Her bruised cheek throbbed.
Her shoulder burned.
One eye was swollen so badly that the room appeared slightly blurred on one side.
She tried to sit higher in the bed.
A senior military officer stood beside her.
Colonel Adriana remained perfectly still in her black formal uniform, gold buttons catching the fluorescent light.
Elena stared at her.
Then, with trembling fingers, she grabbed the front of the colonel's uniform.
"Please..."
Her voice cracked.
"Listen to me."
Adriana looked down at her.
"I'm listening."
Elena swallowed.
"That watch was with me."
The colonel's expression changed.
Only slightly.
But Elena noticed.
Across the room, Victoria stood beside the window.
The elegant older woman wore an ivory-white tailored pantsuit, diamond earrings and a sparkling necklace.
She had been calm until that moment.
Now she wasn't.
Victoria stepped forward.
"She's confused."
Elena turned toward her.
Victoria continued.
"She has suffered a terrible shock. She needs rest, not questions."
Elena stared at her.
"No."
Her voice was weak.
But the word was firm.
"I'm not confused."
Victoria's jaw tightened.
Adriana looked between them.
"Where is the watch?"
Victoria answered immediately.
"There is no reason to make this more complicated than it is."
Adriana's eyes hardened.
"That wasn't my question."
Silence.
A nurse entered carrying a stainless-steel tray.
On it sat a broken smartwatch.
The screen was covered by a spiderweb of cracks.
The pale pink strap was dirty.
The metallic case was scratched.
Elena saw it.
Her breathing changed.
"That's it."
Adriana approached the tray.
She pulled on a pair of black leather gloves.
"Nobody touches it."
Victoria's eyes remained fixed on the watch.
Elena watched her.
There was something in Victoria's face.
Not guilt.
Elena couldn't say what it was.
Fear, perhaps.
Or recognition.
Adriana carefully lifted the watch.
"How did this get here?"
Elena looked at her.
"It was with me."
"Before you were brought here?"
"Yes."
"Do you remember where?"
Elena closed her eyes.
A sharp pain moved through her head.
She tried to think.
There had been rain.
A street.
A doorway.
Someone speaking.
A hand reaching toward her.
Then nothing.
She opened her eyes.
"I don't remember everything."
Victoria exhaled quietly.
Adriana noticed.
"Do you know this woman?"
Victoria looked at the colonel.
"Of course I know her."
Elena stared at Victoria.
"No."
Victoria turned.
Elena's eyes were wet.
"You know me?"
Victoria didn't answer.
"You looked at that watch before you looked at me."
Victoria's expression hardened.
"You're imagining things."
Adriana stepped between them.
"Enough."
She placed the watch into a clear evidence bag.
Elena watched every movement.
Then something unexpected happened.
Her fingers tightened around the hospital blanket.
"Colonel..."
Adriana looked at her.
Elena whispered:
"Don't give it to her."
Victoria's face went completely still.
Adriana slowly turned.
"Give what to whom?"
Elena pointed weakly toward Victoria.
"The watch."
Victoria's eyes widened.
For the first time since Elena had opened her eyes...
she looked genuinely frightened.
Adriana said nothing.
She simply sealed the evidence bag.
Then she looked at Victoria.
"We'll determine what it contains."
Victoria forced a smile.
"Of course."
But the smile disappeared almost immediately.
Because Elena had noticed something.
Victoria wasn't looking at the watch anymore.
She was looking at Elena.
And Elena suddenly understood that the broken device wasn't the only thing someone was afraid of.
Someone was afraid of what Elena might remember.
PART 2: THE WOMAN WHO SAID TOO MUCH
Two hours later, Elena walked slowly through the hospital corridor.
Her face still carried the dark bruising.
Her left eye remained swollen.
She wore a dark navy blazer over a muted gray top.
In her hand was a transparent evidence bag.
Inside it rested the broken smartwatch.
Colonel Adriana walked beside her.
Victoria followed several steps behind.
Nobody spoke.
The corridor was bright and almost painfully quiet.
Doctors and nurses moved through the hallway without paying attention to the three women.
To anyone watching, they might have looked like strangers.
They weren't.
At least, Elena no longer believed they were.
Victoria suddenly stopped.
"Colonel."
Adriana turned.
Victoria walked toward them.
"You cannot keep dragging this out."
Adriana's expression remained calm.
"This isn't being dragged out."
"It's a broken watch."
"We don't know that."
Victoria gave a frustrated laugh.
"Really?"
Her eyes moved toward the evidence bag.
"You're seriously going to build an investigation around that?"
Adriana looked at her.
"Nobody said we're building anything around it."
"Then why is it sealed?"
"Because it may be evidence."
Victoria stared at her.
"Evidence of what?"
Adriana paused.
"That's what we're trying to determine."
Elena watched Victoria carefully.
The older woman suddenly looked toward her.
"Tell her."
Elena frowned.
"Tell her what?"
"That you don't remember."
Elena's expression changed.
"I remember enough."
Victoria's voice became sharper.
"You said yourself that you don't remember."
"I don't remember everything."
"Exactly."
Elena looked at her.
"But I remember you."
Victoria froze.
Adriana looked from one woman to the other.
"What do you mean?"
Elena touched the evidence bag.
"When I woke up, I couldn't remember the street."
She looked at Victoria.
"I couldn't remember who was there."
Her voice trembled.
"But I remembered your face."
Victoria's expression became pale.
"You are mistaken."
"No."
Elena shook her head.
"I saw you."
"When?"
"I don't know."
Victoria stepped closer.
"You were injured."
Elena backed away.
"Don't."
Adriana raised one hand.
"Everyone stays calm."
Victoria looked at Adriana.
"You cannot seriously believe her."
"I'm not here to believe anyone."
The colonel's voice remained steady.
"I'm here to establish what happened."
Victoria laughed bitterly.
"And you think that thing will tell you?"
She pointed at the evidence bag.
Adriana looked down.
"Maybe."
Victoria's eyes locked on the broken watch.
Then she said something she immediately seemed to regret.
"That watch was already broken."
Silence.
Elena slowly raised her head.
Adriana stared at Victoria.
"How do you know?"
Victoria stopped breathing for a moment.
"I..."
She looked away.
"I assumed."
"You said it was already broken."
Victoria swallowed.
"Anyone could assume that."
"No."
Adriana's voice became colder.
"You spoke as though you knew."
Victoria's face tightened.
"You are twisting my words."
Elena stared at her.
Then she noticed something.
A tiny scratch on Victoria's necklace.
A small dark mark.
It looked insignificant.
But Elena suddenly remembered seeing that exact sparkle.
Not in the hospital.
Somewhere else.
Before everything went black.
She closed her eyes.
The memory came in fragments.
A woman's voice.
A perfume.
A necklace catching light.
A sentence.
Then darkness.
Elena opened her eyes.
"Colonel."
Adriana turned.
"I remember something."
Victoria stepped backward.
"What?"
Elena looked directly at her.
"Your necklace."
Victoria instinctively touched it.
That single movement told Elena everything she needed to know.
Not guilt.
Not proof.
But recognition.
Adriana noticed too.
"What about it?"
Elena whispered:
"I saw it before."
"Where?"
Elena looked at Victoria.
"I don't know yet."
Victoria suddenly turned toward the elevator.
Adriana stepped in front of her.
"Where are you going?"
"I have nothing more to say."
"You may."
Victoria's eyes flashed.
"You can't keep me here."
"I'm not keeping you anywhere."
Adriana pointed toward the evidence bag.
"But if you know something about that watch, you should tell me now."
Victoria stared at the colonel.
Then at Elena.
Finally, she said:
"You don't understand what you're doing."
Elena's voice was quiet.
"Then explain it."
Victoria said nothing.
The elevator doors opened.
She stepped inside.
Before the doors closed, she looked at Elena.
There was something strange in her eyes.
Not hatred.
Not anger.
A warning.
Then the doors shut.
Elena turned toward Adriana.
"Why did she look at me like that?"
Adriana didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she looked down at the evidence bag.
Then she said:
"Because she may know something you don't."
Elena swallowed.
"What?"
Adriana looked at her.
"We need to find out where that watch came from."
PART 3: THE FIRST SECRET
The examination room was empty when Adriana returned.
The broken smartwatch sat inside its evidence bag on a stainless-steel table.
Elena stood across from it.
She couldn't stop staring.
"It looks useless."
Adriana shook her head.
"Sometimes damaged things tell us more than perfect ones."
Elena looked at her.
"You think it still works?"
"I don't know."
"Then why keep it?"
"Because we don't know what happened to it."
Elena lowered her eyes.
"I keep remembering pieces."
"Tell me."
"Not yet."
Adriana didn't pressure her.
That surprised Elena.
Most people had spent hours asking what happened.
Who hurt her.
Where she had been.
What she remembered.
Adriana simply waited.
Elena finally spoke.
"I remember walking."
"Where?"
"Somewhere outside."
"Alone?"
"I think so."
"Then?"
Elena closed her eyes.
"I heard a woman's voice."
Adriana remained silent.
"She said my name."
"Do you remember the voice?"
Elena shook her head.
"No."
"Do you remember what she said?"
Elena's breathing became uneven.
"Something about the watch."
Adriana looked at the evidence bag.
"What?"
"I can't remember."
Then Elena opened her eyes.
"But I remember one thing."
"What?"
"The watch wasn't broken when I first saw it."
Adriana stared at her.
"Are you certain?"
"No."
Elena shook her head.
"That's the problem."
She touched her forehead.
"Everything is mixed together."
Adriana nodded.
"That's normal after trauma."
Elena looked toward the evidence bag.
"But what if someone broke it?"
"That's possible."
"What if they were trying to destroy something?"
Adriana didn't answer.
Because that was exactly the question she had been asking herself.
A technician entered the room.
"Colonel."
Adriana turned.
"We've completed the initial examination."
Elena looked up.
"What did you find?"
The technician hesitated.
"Nothing definitive."
Adriana waited.
"But there is something unusual."
"What?"
"The device is physically damaged, but one internal component may still be intact."
Elena's heart began racing.
"What component?"
The technician looked at Adriana.
"We can't know until it's properly opened."
Adriana nodded.
"Then don't open it here."
The technician left.
Elena exhaled.
For the first time, she felt a small piece of hope.
Not because the watch would solve everything.
But because it meant she wasn't imagining the importance of it.
Adriana picked up the evidence bag.
"We'll send it to a proper laboratory."
Elena nodded.
Then her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She stared at the screen.
Adriana noticed.
"Answer it?"
Elena hesitated.
Then pressed the button.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Only breathing.
Elena's face changed.
"Who is this?"
Still silence.
Then a woman's voice whispered:
"Stop looking for the truth."
Elena froze.
The call ended.
Adriana immediately asked:
"What did she say?"
Elena looked at her.
"She told me to stop."
"Did you recognize the voice?"
Elena slowly shook her head.
"No."
Then she looked at the evidence bag.
"I think she was afraid."
Adriana nodded.
"Afraid of what?"
Elena stared at the shattered screen.
"Of whatever is still inside that watch."
At that exact moment, Adriana's phone vibrated.
She checked the message.
Her expression changed.
Elena noticed.
"What is it?"
Adriana didn't answer.
She read the message again.
Then turned the phone toward Elena.
There was one sentence.
THE WATCH WASN'T MEANT FOR ELENA.
Elena stared at it.
"What does that mean?"
Adriana looked at her.
"I don't know."
Then another message arrived.
ASK VICTORIA WHO GAVE IT TO HER.
Elena's blood ran cold.
"Colonel..."
Adriana's eyes remained on the screen.
Someone had just given them a new name.
Victoria.
And whoever sent the message knew far more about the situation than they should have.
PART 4: THE QUESTION VICTORIA COULDN'T ANSWER
Victoria was waiting in the hospital's private consultation room.
She sat perfectly straight.
Her ivory suit remained immaculate.
Her diamond necklace rested against her collarbone.
But her hands were trembling.
When Adriana entered, Victoria immediately looked up.
"I assume this is about Elena."
"It is."
Victoria sighed.
"I already told you everything I know."
Adriana sat across from her.
"No."
Victoria frowned.
"You haven't."
The colonel placed a photograph on the table.
It showed the broken smartwatch.
Victoria looked at it.
Her expression changed.
Adriana noticed.
"You recognize it."
Victoria shook her head.
"No."
"You hesitated."
"I was surprised."
"Why?"
"Because it's damaged."
Adriana leaned back.
"You told us earlier that it was already broken."
Victoria said nothing.
"How did you know?"
"I guessed."
"You said that before."
"Because it's true."
Adriana studied her.
"Who gave you the watch?"
Victoria's eyes widened.
"Nobody."
"Think carefully."
"I have nothing to do with it."
Adriana remained calm.
"We aren't accusing you."
Victoria looked away.
"Then why am I here?"
"Because Elena remembers seeing you before she was injured."
Victoria's face became pale.
"She is confused."
"Maybe."
Adriana placed another photograph on the table.
This one showed Elena's evidence bag.
"The device may still contain recoverable information."
Victoria stared at it.
Her breathing became faster.
Adriana continued:
"We don't know what that information is."
Victoria said nothing.
"We don't know who put it there."
Silence.
"And we don't know why someone tried to destroy it."
Victoria finally looked up.
"You don't understand."
Adriana's eyes narrowed.
"Then help me understand."
Victoria stood.
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because if I tell you..."
She stopped.
Her voice dropped.
"...someone else could get hurt."
Adriana didn't move.
"Who?"
Victoria closed her eyes.
"I don't know."
"You just said someone could get hurt."
"I said I don't know who."
Elena stood outside the door.
She had heard everything.
She slowly entered.
Victoria looked at her.
For several seconds, neither woman spoke.
Then Elena said:
"You know me."
Victoria's face tightened.
"I know of you."
"No."
Elena stepped closer.
"You know me."
Victoria's eyes filled with something Elena couldn't identify.
Regret?
Fear?
Pain?
"I never wanted this to happen."
Elena froze.
"What didn't you want?"
Victoria immediately realized what she had said.
She stepped backward.
Adriana stood.
"Victoria."
Victoria looked toward the door.
"It's too late."
"What is too late?"
She didn't answer.
Elena's voice became firmer.
"Tell me."
Victoria looked directly at her.
Then she whispered:
"The person who broke that watch wasn't trying to destroy the evidence."
Elena's face went pale.
"Then what were they trying to do?"
Victoria looked at the colonel.
"They were trying to make sure Elena would never see what was on it."
Silence filled the room.
Adriana stared at her.
"How do you know?"
Victoria didn't answer.
Elena stepped closer.
"What was on it?"
Victoria shook her head.
"I don't know."
"But you just said..."
"I know what someone was afraid of."
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
"Who?"
Victoria looked toward the hallway.
Her voice became almost inaudible.
"Someone who believed the truth had already disappeared."
Adriana frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Victoria's lips trembled.
Before she could answer, the lights suddenly flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then returned.
Adriana immediately looked toward the hallway.
The hospital remained quiet.
But the evidence bag was gone.
Elena stared at the empty table.
Her face went white.
"The watch..."
Adriana's eyes hardened.
Someone had entered the room.
Someone had taken the only physical clue they had.
And whoever had taken it had known exactly where to find it.
Victoria whispered:
"They found it."
Elena turned toward her.
"Who?"
Victoria didn't answer.
She simply looked at Elena.
Then said the words that changed everything:
"They weren't looking for the watch."
A pause.
May you like
"They were looking for you."
TO BE CONTINUED...
