Chapter 5 - The Secret Room Behind My Grandmother’s House
"They found me."
Those three words repeated inside my head.
The video stopped.
The screen went black.
Nobody spoke.
Not my father.
Not my mother.
Not Vanessa.
Not even Adrien.
The entire backyard felt frozen.
I stared at the dark screen of his phone, waiting for something else to happen.
Another word.
Another explanation.
Anything.
But there was nothing.
Only silence.
And somehow, that silence terrified me more than the video.
Because Lillian was alive.
My aunt.
The woman my family told me had disappeared.
The woman they told me had walked away from us.
The woman I spent years blaming myself for losing.
She was alive.
And someone had found her.
I looked at my father.
His face told me everything.
He wasn't shocked.
He wasn't confused.
He wasn't trying to understand.
He looked afraid.
"You knew."
My voice was barely above a whisper.
My father looked at me.
"Charlotte..."
"You knew she was alive."
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
That was the answer.
I stepped back.
The person I trusted most growing up.
The man who taught me how to ride a bike.
The man who told me he would always protect me.
He had known.
For ten years.
My mother reached for my arm.
"Charlotte, please."
I moved away.
Her hand stopped in the air.
That small movement hurt.
Because my mother had always been able to touch my arm and make me feel like I was still the child who needed her.
But I wasn't that child anymore.
Not after today.
Not after discovering my entire life had been built around secrets.
"How long?" I asked.
My father looked down.
"How long did you know?"
His silence stretched.
Then he finally answered.
"Since the night she disappeared."
The words hit me harder than I expected.
Since the beginning.
Not recently.
Not by accident.
Since the beginning.
"You let me believe she left."
My father's eyes closed.
"I thought it was safer."
Safer.
That word.
Again.
Everyone always had a reason.
A reason why I couldn't know.
A reason why they had to lie.
A reason why my pain was somehow necessary.
"Safer for who?"
Nobody answered.
Adrien stepped beside me.
Not speaking.
Just there.
And I was grateful.
Because everyone else wanted me to understand them.
Adrien was the only person who understood I needed time to understand myself.
Vanessa suddenly spoke.
"I don't understand."
Everyone looked at her.
She looked at my father.
"You knew all of this?"
My father didn't respond.
"You knew about the company?"
Silence.
"You knew about Lillian?"
Silence.
Her eyes filled with tears.
For once, Vanessa wasn't angry.
She was hurt.
"You let me believe I was the one who deserved everything."
My mother looked at her.
"Vanessa..."
"No."
She shook her head.
"You always told me I was special."
The pain in her voice was strange.
Because I had spent years wishing Vanessa would understand how I felt.
But now I realized something.
Maybe she had been trapped too.
Not the same way.
Not as deeply.
But still trapped.
My father looked exhausted.
"I did what I thought was necessary."
Adrien finally spoke.
"No."
Everyone looked at him.
"You did what protected you."
My father stared at him.
"You don't know anything about my family."
Adrien's expression didn't change.
"You're right."
A pause.
"But I know what it looks like when people hide the truth because they are afraid of losing control."
Nobody answered.
Adrien turned toward me.
"We need to find Lillian."
I looked at the phone.
The frozen image of her face was still burned into my mind.
"How?"
Adrien hesitated.
That scared me.
Because Adrien always had a plan.
"I traced the video."
My heart tightened.
"And?"
He looked toward my father.
"It came from a location connected to your grandmother."
I frowned.
"My grandmother?"
Adrien nodded.
"The old Bennett property."
The old house.
I remembered it instantly.
The place my grandmother lived before she died.
The place my parents sold after her funeral.
Or at least, that's what they told me.
"That house was sold."
My father looked away.
Adrien noticed.
"Was it?"
My father's jaw tightened.
I looked between them.
"What does that mean?"
Nobody answered.
I felt anger rising again.
"Stop doing that."
Everyone looked at me.
"Stop acting like I can't handle the truth."
My voice shook.
"I spent ten years thinking people disappeared because they chose to leave me."
I looked at my parents.
"Do you understand what that does to someone?"
My mother started crying.
But I didn't stop.
"I thought Lillian left because I wasn't important enough."
The words hurt to say.
Because they were true.
That was the belief I carried for years.
My father looked devastated.
But I couldn't let that erase what happened.
Adrien gently took the photograph from my hand.
He turned it over.
"There is something else."
I looked.
Another message had been written beneath the first.
Something I hadn't noticed.
A date.
And an address.
My stomach dropped.
Because I knew that address.
Everyone in my family knew it.
It was the address of my grandmother's old house.
The house everyone told me no longer existed.
My phone suddenly vibrated.
Everyone looked at it.
Unknown number.
Again.
I opened the message.
This time, there was a photograph attached.
I clicked it.
My breath stopped.
It was an image of the old Bennett house.
Taken recently.
Not from the street.
From inside.
Someone was standing near the window.
Someone facing the camera.
Someone who looked exactly like Lillian.
My hands started shaking.
Adrien saw the photo.
"We have to go."
My father immediately reacted.
"No."
Everyone turned toward him.
The fear in his voice was impossible to hide.
Not anger.
Fear.
"Why?"
I asked.
My father looked at me.
And for the first time...
I saw him terrified of what I might discover.
"Because if Lillian wants you to find that house..."
He stopped.
"What?"
He looked toward the old road leading away from my parents' property.
"Then she wants you to find what is underneath it."
My skin went cold.
"Underneath what?"
My father didn't answer.
Instead, he walked quickly toward his car.
Adrien grabbed his arm.
"Richard."
My father pulled away.
"You don't understand."
Adrien stared at him.
"Then explain."
My father looked back at me.
His voice became quieter.
"Your grandmother didn't hide money there."
A pause.
"She hid proof."
The backyard went silent again.
My phone vibrated one more time.
A new message.
From Lillian.
Only five words.
"Charlotte, come alone tonight."
I stared at the screen.
Then another message appeared.
"Don't trust Adrien."
I looked up.
Adrien was watching my face.
And before I could say anything...
The front gate of my parents' house slowly opened.
May you like
A black car entered the driveway.
And the person who stepped out was someone I had never expected to see again...
