Chapter 6 - The Secret My Mother Buried
The video started playing.
My mother's face appeared on the screen.
But it wasn't a memory.
It was recorded tonight.
And the person behind the camera already knew I was coming.
Nobody spoke.
The office felt smaller.
The walls felt closer.
I stared at the monitor as the footage continued.
My mother was sitting at this same desk.
The same room.
The same chair.
But the date on the corner of the video was from three days earlier.
Before I arrived.
Before I received the message.
Before I knew anything.
My hands went cold.
"Why was he recording you?"
My mother didn't answer.
She couldn't.
She just stared at the screen.
Like she was watching something she had spent years trying to forget.
Richard's voice came from behind the office door.
"Because she knew this day would come."
I turned toward the door.
"You were planning this?"
No answer.
Then a sound.
A key turning.
The office door unlocked.
My father immediately moved in front of me.
"Stay back."
The door handle moved.
But it didn't open.
Richard was waiting.
Playing with us.
"Do you want the truth, Rebecca?"
His voice was calm.
Almost gentle.
That was what made it worse.
"I can give you the truth."
I looked at my mother.
She looked terrified.
Not because Richard was outside.
Because she knew what he was about to reveal.
"Open the door," I said.
My father looked at me.
"Rebecca."
"No."
I looked through the small opening.
"I spent twenty years living with his lies."
I took a breath.
"If he wants to talk, let him."
My father didn't move.
My mother whispered:
"Please don't."
I looked at her.
"Mom."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"There is something I never told you."
I felt my stomach tighten.
"What?"
She looked at the screen.
At herself in the recording.
Then she said:
"I helped Richard hide the truth."
The words hit harder than anything else.
I stepped back.
"What?"
My father closed his eyes.
Like he already knew.
"Rebecca..."
"No."
I looked between them.
"No more."
My voice shook.
"I need to hear this."
My mother nodded slowly.
"I thought I was protecting you."
"Protecting me from what?"
She looked down.
"From knowing that your father was alive."
I froze.
I already knew that.
But hearing it again hurt differently.
"That's not what you mean."
She wiped her tears.
"No."
A pause.
"I mean I knew where he was."
The room went silent.
My father's face changed.
Even he looked surprised.
"You knew?"
My mother looked at him.
"I found out years later."
My heart started racing.
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
She looked at me.
Because I was afraid.
Not the kind of fear Richard created.
Something deeper.
A mother's fear.
"I thought if I told you, he would come after you."
I looked at my father.
"But he came back anyway."
My mother nodded.
"Because Richard forced him to."
I turned toward the door.
"What does that mean?"
Richard answered.
"Ask her."
His voice was almost satisfied.
"Ask your mother what she signed."
My eyes moved back.
"What did you sign?"
My mother looked broken.
"I signed a confession."
The room went silent.
My father stared at her.
"What?"
She shook her head.
"It wasn't real."
I stepped closer.
"What confession?"
She walked toward the desk.
Opened another drawer.
And pulled out a document.
Her hands were shaking.
"This."
I took it.
The first line made my heart stop.
Voluntary Statement of Responsibility.
I read further.
The document claimed my father had disappeared because of financial crimes.
It claimed he had abandoned his family.
It claimed my mother had no involvement.
But at the bottom...
There was her signature.
My mother's signature.
Twenty years ago.
"I don't understand."
She sat down.
"Richard threatened me."
My father looked angry.
"He made you sign that?"
She nodded.
"He said if I didn't, he would make sure Rebecca never saw me again."
I looked at the document.
"How?"
My mother looked at me.
"He had someone watching you."
A chill went through me.
"Who?"
She hesitated.
Then whispered:
"Daniel."
The same name from before.
The name my mother reacted to.
The name Richard whispered.
I looked at my father.
"Who is Daniel?"
My father looked toward the window.
"Richard's brother."
I frowned.
"I thought he didn't have family."
My father gave a bitter smile.
"That's what everyone thought."
The video on the monitor suddenly paused.
The screen went black.
Then another file opened.
Automatically.
A new recording.
This time, Richard was on the screen.
Talking to someone.
The camera angle was different.
Hidden.
I moved closer.
The date appeared.
Twenty years ago.
The night I left home.
My heart started pounding.
Because I saw myself.
A younger version of me.
Standing outside the front door with my suitcase.
Crying.
Richard was talking to someone off camera.
"She has to believe he left."
The other voice answered.
Daniel.
"You sure the girl won't ask questions?"
Richard laughed.
"She's seventeen. She'll believe whatever her mother tells her."
I felt sick.
My younger self was right there.
Watching my own life being destroyed.
My mother covered her mouth.
"I didn't know he recorded that."
The video continued.
Richard looked toward the camera.
Then said something that made my blood freeze.
"If Rebecca ever comes back..."
He paused.
"Make sure she never finds the box."
The screen went black.
Nobody moved.
The box.
The lockbox.
The one sitting on the desk.
The one we had just opened.
My father grabbed the flash drive.
"There's more."
I looked at him.
"How do you know?"
"Because Richard never keeps only one copy."
The office door suddenly shook.
Richard slammed his hand against it.
"Give me the drive."
My father ignored him.
He plugged it into the computer.
More files appeared.
Hundreds.
Documents.
Photos.
Audio recordings.
Everything Richard had hidden.
My father opened one folder.
The name made me stop.
Carter Family Incident.
Inside was one video.
No date.
No label.
My father clicked it.
The screen showed a hospital room.
My breath caught.
A younger Richard stood beside a bed.
A man was lying there.
My father.
But younger.
Injured.
Alive.
Richard was talking.
"I gave you a choice."
My father's voice came from the recording.
"You can't do this."
Richard leaned closer.
"Nobody will believe you."
I watched in horror.
Because this wasn't proof of my father's disappearance.
It was proof of what happened to him.
My mother started crying.
"I never saw this."
The recording continued.
Richard walked out of the hospital room.
And someone else entered.
A woman.
I didn't recognize her.
She placed a folder beside my father.
Then whispered:
"Your daughter will find this someday."
I froze.
My father froze.
Because the woman turned toward the camera.
And I recognized her.
It was my grandmother.
The woman who supposedly left me the house.
The woman who died before I understood any of this.
She looked directly into the camera.
And said:
"If Rebecca is watching this, it means Richard failed."
The video ended.
The office went silent.
Then my phone vibrated.
A new message.
Unknown number.
One sentence.
You found the truth, but you still don't know who betrayed you.
I looked at my mother.
Her face had gone completely pale.
Because she wasn't looking at my phone.
She was looking behind me.
At the old bookshelf.
Slowly.
She whispered:
"Rebecca..."
May you like
I turned.
A hidden panel behind the bookshelf was opening.
