Chapter 4 - The Woman Behind the Door
"Elena, you finally remembered me."
The voice came from the darkness.
My entire body stopped moving.
I knew that voice.
Not because I had heard it recently.
Because somewhere deep inside my mind...
I had heard it before.
A memory buried so far away that I had convinced myself it never existed.
Cassian raised his weapon toward the corner of the office.
"Come out."
The person in the darkness did not move.
Instead, she answered softly.
"Still protecting her after all these years?"
Cassian froze.
That sentence changed something.
Not in me.
In him.
I saw it.
The way his eyes shifted.
The way his grip tightened.
The way his anger disappeared and became something else.
Recognition.
"Impossible."
The voice gave a quiet laugh.
"That is what everyone said."
A small light turned on.
A woman stepped forward.
And the first thing I noticed was not her face.
It was her hands.
Because they were shaking.
She looked older than the woman in the photograph.
Her dark hair had strands of gray.
Her face carried years of fear.
But her eyes...
Her eyes were the same.
I knew those eyes.
I had seen them in my dreams.
Every night after my parents died.
"Mom..."
The word escaped before I could stop myself.
The woman looked at me.
Tears filled her eyes.
But she didn't move.
She couldn't.
Neither could I.
Because my brain was fighting against what my eyes were seeing.
My mother was dead.
I had watched them lower the coffin.
I had stood alone at the funeral.
I had cried until I couldn't breathe.
For six years, I had lived with that pain.
And now she was standing ten feet away.
Alive.
Cassian lowered his weapon slightly.
"Marina."
The woman looked at him.
"You knew?"
His silence was the answer.
My heart sank.
I turned toward him.
"You knew?"
Cassian immediately looked at me.
"No."
But his voice was different.
Less certain.
"I knew her name."
My mother looked at him.
"You knew enough."
Cassian stepped forward.
"Where is Isabella?"
The moment he said her name, my mother’s expression changed.
Fear.
Pure fear.
"She tried to protect us."
Cassian's jaw tightened.
"From who?"
My mother looked at the burner phone on the desk.
Then at me.
Then back at Cassian.
"From the people you trusted."
The room went silent.
I stared at her.
"I don't understand."
My mother took a step toward me.
Then stopped.
Like she was afraid she had no right.
"I wanted to come back."
Her voice broke.
"Every day."
I shook my head.
"No."
I could barely speak.
"No, you died."
She closed her eyes.
"I needed you to believe that."
The words hurt more than I expected.
Because they meant one thing.
She had left me.
Even if she had a reason.
She had left me.
"Why?"
My voice cracked.
"Why would you let me think you were dead?"
My mother looked down.
"Because if they knew you were alive and connected to me..."
She stopped.
"Everyone you loved would become a target."
I laughed once.
Not because it was funny.
Because I didn't know what else to do.
"Everyone I loved?"
I looked around the mansion.
"Do you know what my life was like after you disappeared?"
My mother cried silently.
"I know."
"No, you don't."
I stepped back.
"You don't know what it feels like to wake up every day thinking the only people who ever loved you are gone."
She looked like she wanted to reach for me.
But she didn't.
And somehow that hurt more.
Cassian watched us quietly.
Then he asked:
"Who were you running from?"
My mother looked at him.
"The same people who are trying to destroy you now."
Cassian’s expression hardened.
"Names."
She shook her head.
"You still think names are enough."
"Because they usually are."
"No."
Her voice became stronger.
"Not this time."
She walked toward the desk.
She picked up the burner phone.
Her fingers touched the screen.
"You found the files."
Cassian watched her.
"Yes."
"Then you know about the shipment."
He nodded.
"Tell me what it means."
My mother looked at me.
"It means your parents were not killed in an accident."
The room went completely still.
I felt the words before I understood them.
Not an accident.
Six years of believing a lie.
Six years of grieving something that was not what I thought.
My knees almost gave out.
Cassian caught the chair behind me and pushed it forward.
I sat down.
My mother looked devastated.
"I wanted to tell you."
"Then why didn't you?"
She looked at Cassian.
And that answer made my stomach twist.
"Because Isabella stopped me."
Cassian looked surprised.
"My wife?"
"She knew the truth."
The room became colder.
"My wife knew your mother was alive?"
My mother nodded.
"She knew everything."
Cassian stared at the floor.
For a moment, he looked betrayed.
Not as a boss.
As a husband.
"Why?"
My mother whispered:
"Because she was trying to save your family."
Nobody spoke.
Then Rosa appeared beside the doorway.
She had been listening.
"Daddy..."
Cassian turned.
The little girl looked at my mother.
"Are you the lady Mommy talked about?"
My mother’s face changed.
"What did Isabella say?"
Rosa held the edge of her dress.
"Mommy said if Elena ever found the truth..."
She looked at me.
"She should know she was loved."
I looked away.
Because that was the sentence I had wanted to hear for six years.
But hearing it now only made everything hurt more.
Cassian walked toward the window.
His mind was moving faster than anyone else’s.
"What happened six years ago?"
My mother became quiet.
Then she answered.
"Your father."
Cassian looked back.
"My father?"
"Yes."
That was impossible.
Everyone knew Cassian's father had died years earlier.
But my mother continued.
"Before he died, he discovered someone inside the Renzi organization was selling information."
Cassian said nothing.
"He found out the person was connected to your family."
"Who?"
My mother looked at him.
"Someone close."
The lights suddenly flickered.
Everyone looked up.
A second later, the security alarm began.
Cassian immediately changed.
The businessman disappeared.
The survivor returned.
He grabbed his phone.
"What happened?"
A guard answered through the speaker.
"Boss, someone entered the east wing."
"How many?"
A pause.
"One."
Cassian looked toward the door.
"Only one?"
The guard sounded nervous.
"Yes."
Cassian understood.
A single person entering his mansion was not a mistake.
It was a message.
My mother stepped closer.
"No."
Cassian looked at her.
"You know who it is."
She shook her head.
"Not who."
Then she looked at me.
"Why."
My blood ran cold.
Because she wasn't looking at Cassian.
She was looking at me.
Footsteps echoed outside the office.
Slow.
Calm.
Confident.
Someone was walking toward us.
Cassian raised his weapon.
Rosa moved behind him.
My mother whispered:
"He's here."
Cassian looked at her.
"Who?"
My mother did not answer.
The footsteps stopped outside the door.
The handle moved.
Once.
Twice.
Then the lock clicked open from the outside.
May you like
And a familiar voice said:
"Elena... I finally found you."
