Chapter 95 - The deeper they dug, the stranger the contents became

Deep inside, she felt something breaking away. Her hands trembled, like aspen leaves, as she reached into the dark of the safe deposit box. The pile weighed heavily in her hands. A weight she could not possibly carry on her shoulders. Her hands curled like claws around the sheets. She could barely hold it, barely wanted to hold it. Her breath was heavy in the air. She wouldn't have suspected. The passports fell out of her hands and crashed onto the glass table. Passports and IDs. She didn't even want to start counting. So many nationalities. Why did Fabien need so many fake documents? What was he involved in?

"Oh, no. Do not make that face!" Nelli shook her head as she reached for one of the passports. A Prussian passport. Lionelle's long fingers brushed across the black eagle on the front of the blue envelope. Her gaze lingered there for a moment before she opened the document. Lily dared not even to glance inside. Always with her gaze glued on Nelli's face. But as her eyes widened in astonishment, Lily's gaze also slipped into the thin book.

Her breath faltered at the sight of her picture. But a completely different name was in the passport. A different date of birth, place of birth, residence and nationality. Immediately she reached for the next document. A passport of the Russian Empire. She opened it. Adrien's picture. Same again, different name, different dates. Forgery. A perfect fake. She reached for the next document. Wine red envelope. United Kingdom. Her picture again. Another name. Different information.

Hectically the girls searched all passports. Silence had settled over the room. Only the rustling of sheets could be heard. But the deeper they dug, the stranger the contents of the safe deposit box became. They found only passports with Adrien's picture or Lily's. Always in a pair from one state was present. Two passports for US citizenship or two passports for France or the Netherlands. Crazy!

Nelli took a black folder from the locker. Birth certificates matching the passports. Property records of the personalities from the documents. But that wasn't the scariest thing at all. Finally, there was a third passport to some states, besides Adrien's and hers. But again her image appeared on this third version of a passport. A little changed. Male. She had to look twice and still couldn't believe it. There were passports where she was identified as a man.

She saw everything blurred, tears were gathering in the corner of her eyes. The last thing she wanted to do was cry. But the sense of foreboding was too heavy on her heart. She hardly dared to raise her eyes as she realized the extent of the found.

Why had Fabien arranged for all these documents to be made? The seed of suspicion grew more and more inside her.

"Did he know?" Nelli was under the same impression. Their eyes met. Suddenly there were as many feelings as an ocean she could drown in. But instead of a definite answer, all those fake identities were on the table.

Lily didn't dare to believe it was actually what she believed. She refused to say anything. Her white hands had clenched into tiny fists. A crushing weight hung in the air.

Now the girl could no longer afford to be squeamish. She had to find out what all this was about. But who could she turn to?

Fabien was a smart man. He knew a lot and had a large circle of acquaintances. But she had never thought that even he was willing to go this far.

In her memories he was always the perfect Male Lead. An upstanding man who fought for his loved ones. Had that wish pushed him so far? To protect Elli and Addy. But then why did he have documents forged for her? Why?

She felt unwell. The more she thought about it, the more suspicious she became.