Chapter 3 - The Woman Who Was Supposed To Be Dead
The bedroom door moved again.
Slowly.
Carefully.
The handle turned halfway.
Then stopped.
I stood frozen in the middle of the room, holding the old letter from my mother in my hand.
My first instinct was to scream.
My second instinct was to run.
But something inside me told me not to do either.
Because whoever was outside my door wanted me afraid.
And I was tired of being afraid.
I quietly placed the letter back inside the box.
Then I reached for the small metal lamp beside my bed.
The handle moved again.
This time, the door opened.
Only a few inches.
A shadow appeared.
"Relax."
The voice was familiar.
Damian Costa stepped inside.
I lowered the lamp but did not put it down.
"You break into employees' rooms now?"
Damian looked at the phone in my hand.
"I came because I received a security alert."
I laughed quietly.
"A security alert because someone entered my room?"
His eyes became colder.
"Someone entered your room?"
The way he said it made me realize something.
He did not know.
And that scared me more than if he did.
I moved aside and pointed toward the door.
"Your cameras didn't catch that?"
Damian walked closer.
His expression changed from suspicion to concern.
"Nobody entered this hallway."
I stared at him.
"Then someone knows how to avoid your cameras."
For the first time, Damian Costa looked uncomfortable inside his own mansion.
That was when I understood.
The billionaire who controlled every corner of this house did not control everything.
Someone else was moving in the dark.
Damian took me back to the surveillance room.
The same room where he had watched me for eight days.
But this time, I was standing beside him.
Not on the screen.
The monitors showed every hallway.
Every entrance.
Every room.
Damian rewound the footage from the last hour.
Nothing.
The hallway outside my room was empty.
The cameras showed no movement.
No person.
No shadow.
Nothing.
I looked at him.
"Your system missed someone."
Damian ignored the comment.
He switched to another camera.
Then another.
Then another.
His fingers moved faster.
Suddenly, one screen stopped.
The camera showed the employee hallway.
The image was distorted.
A small glitch appeared.
Three seconds.
Then the footage returned.
Damian paused.
"That wasn't there before."
I stepped closer.
"What is it?"
He enlarged the image.
The quality became blurry.
But we could see something.
A person standing at the end of the hallway.
A woman.
Watching my door.
My breathing stopped.
Because even through the poor quality, I recognized something.
The necklace around her neck.
The same necklace inside my mother's old box.
Damian noticed my reaction.
"You know her?"
I could not answer.
Because my entire life had just changed.
"No."
I whispered.
"I don't know her."
But my voice betrayed me.
Damian looked at the screen.
Then at me.
"You are lying."
I looked back at him.
"So are you."
The room became silent.
For years, Damian Costa had built his life around reading people.
But now, for the first time, he was standing across from someone who was reading him back.
The next morning, Damian canceled all employee schedules.
Nobody was allowed to leave the mansion.
Nobody was allowed to enter.
The guards searched every room.
Every closet.
Every hidden passage.
I watched from the hallway as powerful men moved through the house like they were searching for a criminal.
But I knew the truth.
They were not searching for an intruder.
They were searching for someone Damian feared.
Around noon, Damian found me in the library.
The same room where I discovered the photograph.
He closed the door behind him.
"I need answers."
I looked at him.
"So do I."
Damian placed a folder on the table.
Inside were documents.
Old documents.
Birth records.
Medical files.
Police reports.
My name was everywhere.
But not the name Sofia Bennett.
Another name appeared.
Sofia Marquez.
My hands went cold.
"That's not possible."
Damian watched me carefully.
"Why?"
"Because my mother was Elena Bennett."
He said nothing.
That silence told me everything.
"You know that name."
Damian looked away.
"Yes."
"Who was she?"
He remained quiet.
I stepped closer.
"Damian."
For the first time, I said his name without fear.
"Who was my mother?"
He opened the folder.
Inside was an old newspaper article.
The headline was faded.
TECH CEO'S ASSISTANT DISAPPEARS AFTER FAMILY SCANDAL.
Below the headline was a photograph.
Elena Marquez.
The woman from the picture.
The woman everyone believed was dead.
And beside her was Damian Costa.
They were younger.
They were smiling.
They looked happy.
I looked at him.
"You knew my mother."
Damian did not deny it.
"Yes."
"How?"
His jaw tightened.
"Because she worked for me."
"Only worked for you?"
The question stayed between us.
Damian looked away.
That was when I knew.
There was something he was not telling me.
Something bigger than a missing assistant.
Bigger than a fake identity.
Bigger than my entire life being erased.
"What happened to her?"
Damian walked toward the window.
"Twenty years ago, Elena discovered something about my company."
"What?"
He did not answer.
"She found evidence that someone inside my family was stealing from me."
I stared at him.
"And you believed she betrayed you?"
Damian's silence was enough.
"You thought she was the enemy."
His face changed.
A small crack appeared in the emotionless mask he always wore.
"I was wrong."
The words surprised me.
Because powerful people like Damian Costa did not admit mistakes.
Not even privately.
"Then why did everyone say she died?"
He looked at me.
"Because someone wanted everyone to believe that."
That night, I couldn't sleep.
Too many questions.
Too many missing pieces.
My mother.
Damian.
My fake identity.
The woman outside my door.
I opened the old box again.
This time, I searched every corner.
Under the fabric lining, I found something hidden.
A small USB drive.
My hands shook.
Because I had never seen it before.
I took it to the computer in my room.
The drive contained one video file.
Created twenty years ago.
No title.
Only one word.
"Damian."
I clicked it.
The screen went black.
Then a woman appeared.
Elena Marquez.
Older than the photograph.
Tired.
Afraid.
But alive.
I covered my mouth.
Because the woman everyone said was dead was looking directly at me.
Her voice was quiet.
"If you are watching this, then Damian finally found you."
I froze.
She continued.
"I need you to understand something."
She looked behind her.
Like she was afraid someone was listening.
"Damian Costa did not destroy my life."
My heart started beating faster.
"Someone inside his family did."
The video shook.
Elena moved closer to the camera.
"And Sofia..."
She paused.
My name.
My real name.
"Your father is not who they told you."
The screen suddenly flickered.
The video stopped.
A notification appeared.
Someone had remotely accessed my computer.
A new message appeared.
Only four words.
"Don't trust Damian Costa."
Then another message arrived.
From the same person.
"Ask him why he killed your mother."
I stared at the screen.
Then I heard footsteps outside my room.
Slow.
Heavy.
Coming closer.
The door handle moved.
Once.
May you like
Twice.
Then the lock clicked open from the outside.
