Chapter 6 - The War Between The Past And The Future
The address on the message belonged to an abandoned building outside Austin.
I knew because I drove there myself.
I knew I was making a mistake.
Every instinct told me not to go.
Ethan told me not to go.
Trevor begged me not to go.
But I had spent my entire life being protected by lies.
I needed the truth.
Even if it hurt.
Especially if it hurt.
Because the person who sent that message knew my mother.
The mother I was told I lost.
The mother whose face I barely remembered.
The mother who was apparently alive.
And waiting for me.
I parked my car several blocks away.
I didn't come alone.
Not exactly.
Ethan had arranged security without telling me.
I knew because one black SUV had been following me since I left the apartment.
At first, I was angry.
Then I realized something.
For the first time in months, someone was worried about keeping me safe.
Not controlling me.
Protecting me.
That difference mattered.
The building stood at the end of a quiet road.
Old.
Empty.
Forgotten.
The kind of place nobody would notice.
I walked toward the entrance holding my phone tightly.
My mother's message was still open.
"Come alone. Your mother is waiting."
I hated those words.
Because they worked.
They made me come.
The door was unlocked.
That scared me more than if it had been locked.
Someone wanted me inside.
I stepped forward.
"Amanda."
I froze.
The voice came from behind me.
I turned.
Trevor stood there.
My anger came before my surprise.
"What are you doing here?"
He looked exhausted.
"I followed you."
"Of course you did."
"Amanda—"
"No."
I held up my hand.
"I am done with people following me."
Trevor looked down.
"I wasn't trying to control you."
"Then what were you trying to do?"
His silence answered.
I walked past him.
But he stopped me.
"Amanda, if she really contacted you, you need to understand something."
I looked back.
"What?"
Trevor swallowed.
"Your mother wasn't the only person who disappeared."
My heart tightened.
"What does that mean?"
Before he could answer, Ethan's voice came through my phone.
"Amanda."
I looked at the screen.
He was calling.
I answered.
"How did you know I was here?"
A pause.
Then Ethan said:
"Because Trevor wasn't the only person who followed you."
I looked at Trevor.
Then toward the building.
Something was wrong.
"Who else is here?"
Ethan's voice became serious.
"Leave."
My body went cold.
"What?"
"Leave now."
"Why?"
Silence.
Then Ethan said:
"Because I found out who sent the message."
My fingers tightened around the phone.
"Who?"
His answer came quietly.
"The same person who paid Trevor's company for years."
I looked at Trevor.
His face changed.
He knew.
"No."
Trevor stepped back.
"No, that's impossible."
Ethan continued:
"Amanda, get out of there."
But before I could move...
The lights inside the building turned on.
Someone was there.
Waiting.
The person standing in the middle of the room was not my mother.
At least, not the way I imagined her.
She was older than I remembered.
Of course she was.
Time didn't stop because someone disappeared.
Her hair was darker than mine.
Her eyes were the same.
I knew immediately.
I didn't need proof.
I didn't need anyone to tell me.
Because some things are recognized by the heart before the mind accepts them.
"Mom?"
The woman covered her mouth.
Tears filled her eyes.
"Amanda."
My legs almost gave out.
Twenty years of believing someone was gone.
Twenty years of missing someone I thought I would never see again.
And suddenly she was standing in front of me.
Alive.
My first emotion wasn't happiness.
It was anger.
"You let me believe you were dead."
Her face broke.
"I had no choice."
"Everyone says that."
My voice shook.
"Everyone always says they had no choice."
She stepped closer.
"I was trying to protect you."
I laughed.
A painful laugh.
"From what?"
She looked at my stomach.
Then at me.
"From them."
I felt cold.
"Who?"
She looked toward Trevor.
And her expression changed.
"You brought him?"
Trevor stepped forward.
"She deserves to know."
My mother looked at him with disappointment.
"You were supposed to stay away from her."
My heart stopped.
"What does that mean?"
Nobody answered.
I looked at Trevor.
Then my mother.
Then Ethan, who had just entered the building.
Everyone knew.
Everyone except me.
Again.
"What is happening?"
My mother walked toward a table.
On it was a folder.
She opened it.
Inside were documents.
Photos.
Records.
And one picture that made me stop breathing.
A picture of me.
As a baby.
But I wasn't alone.
My mother was holding me.
And beside her was another person.
A man.
Someone I recognized immediately.
Because I had seen his face before.
On business magazines.
On television.
At charity events.
Ethan Blackwell.
I looked at him.
"What is this?"
Nobody spoke.
I picked up the photograph.
"Why are you in this picture?"
Ethan looked away.
My mother answered.
"Because Ethan was there when everything started."
My hands shook.
"You knew my family?"
Ethan nodded.
"I knew your parents."
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
His expression was filled with regret.
"Because your father asked me not to."
I froze.
"My father?"
The word felt strange.
I barely remembered him.
My mother looked at me.
"Your father wasn't the man you were told he was."
The room became silent.
"Where is he?"
My mother's eyes filled with fear.
And I knew the answer before she spoke.
"He is alive."
My breath stopped.
For years, I believed I lost both parents.
For years, I believed I was alone.
But now I was standing in a room full of people who knew the truth.
And they had all kept it from me.
"Why?"
My voice cracked.
"Why would everyone lie to me?"
My mother touched the folder.
"Because your father discovered something."
"What?"
She looked at Lily's photo on my phone.
And whispered:
"The reason they wanted your baby gone."
I felt my entire body freeze.
"What does Lily have to do with this?"
My mother looked at Ethan.
Then Trevor.
Then me.
"Your daughter inherited something."
"What?"
She opened another document.
A legal agreement.
A name.
A company.
A fortune.
My eyes widened.
"No."
My mother nodded.
"Your daughter is the rightful heir to your father's entire empire."
The room went silent.
I stared at the papers.
This couldn't be real.
My life had changed overnight.
From a divorced mother struggling to pay bills...
To someone connected to an empire I never knew existed.
But then I noticed something.
A signature at the bottom of the document.
A signature from years ago.
A signature that proved someone else knew.
Someone who had been close to me.
Someone who had watched me suffer.
I looked at the name.
My hands started shaking.
Because the person who had been hiding this secret wasn't Trevor.
It wasn't Jessica.
It was someone I had trusted more than anyone.
My phone suddenly vibrated.
One new message.
From that person.
I opened it.
Three words appeared on the screen.
May you like
"I know everything."
And below it was the name of the person who had just found us.
