Chapter 5 - The Name Hidden In The Records
The voice came from behind us.
"Dominic..."
Nobody moved.
The hidden room became completely silent.
I could hear my own breathing.
I could hear the small vibration of the lights above us.
But nobody turned around.
Because everyone already knew.
Someone else was inside.
Dominic slowly looked toward the darkness near the doorway.
"Show yourself."
No answer.
Adrian stepped closer to me.
"Stay away from the door."
His voice was different now.
Not calm.
Not controlled.
Afraid.
That frightened me more than the person hiding in the shadows.
Because Adrian was the man who had walked into a secret room after being declared dead.
He was not someone who scared easily.
The bodyguard raised his weapon.
"Last warning."
A quiet laugh came from the darkness.
Then footsteps.
Slow.
Heavy.
A figure stepped into the light.
And my entire body froze.
It wasn't a stranger.
It was someone I had seen before.
Not in person.
In photographs.
The man standing in front of us was older.
His hair was gray.
His face had deep lines.
But the resemblance was impossible to ignore.
Dominic stared at him.
"No..."
The man smiled.
"Hello, son."
The room exploded with silence.
I looked at Dominic.
Then at the stranger.
Then back at Dominic.
Son.
The word stayed in my mind.
Because there was only one person who could make Dominic Caruso react that way.
His father.
The man everyone believed was dead.
Dominic took one step forward.
"You died."
The man smiled slightly.
"Apparently, that happens often in this family."
Nobody laughed.
Because it wasn't a joke.
It was a warning.
Adrian looked furious.
"You weren't supposed to be here."
The older man turned toward him.
"And you weren't supposed to survive."
The tension between them was immediate.
Like they had been waiting years for this moment.
I looked at Dominic.
He was staring at both men.
His father.
And the uncle he believed was dead.
Two impossible people standing in the same hidden room.
Two people connected to the biggest secret of his life.
"What is this?" Dominic asked.
Nobody answered.
His voice became louder.
"What is this?"
The older man looked at him.
"You opened the room."
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
"Because Clara found it."
The man looked at me.
And the way he looked at me made my skin crawl.
Not because he hated me.
Because he recognized me.
"You look exactly like her."
My stomach tightened.
"Like who?"
The man didn't answer.
Dominic stepped between us.
"Don't talk to her."
His father ignored him.
"Your mother was right."
Dominic froze.
"What did you say?"
"Your mother knew the truth before anyone else."
Adrian stepped forward.
"Stop."
The older man looked at him.
"You don't get to protect him anymore."
The words hit harder than a threat.
Because they sounded personal.
Dominic looked between them.
"What truth?"
The older man walked toward the desk.
He picked up the folder Adrian had opened earlier.
The family records.
"The truth that your mother discovered."
He opened the folder.
"Your family was never protecting the Caruso name."
He looked at Dominic.
"They were protecting what happened before it existed."
I didn't understand.
But Dominic did.
At least partially.
His expression changed.
"My mother knew about this room."
The man nodded.
"She created it."
A cold feeling moved through me.
"What?"
Everyone looked at me.
The man continued.
"Your mother knew someone would eventually need to find the truth."
He reached inside the folder.
And removed a photograph.
A photograph that looked newer than everything else in the room.
He placed it on the desk.
My heart stopped.
Because the picture showed a young woman.
Holding a baby.
The woman's face was familiar.
Too familiar.
I had seen her before.
Not in a photograph.
In my own memories.
"No..."
The word escaped my mouth.
Dominic looked at me.
"Clara?"
I stepped closer.
My hands started shaking.
"That woman..."
The older man watched me carefully.
"Do you recognize her?"
I couldn't speak.
Because I did.
She was the woman from my childhood.
The woman I barely remembered.
The woman my parents told me I had imagined.
"My mother."
The room went silent.
Dominic stared at me.
"Your mother?"
I nodded slowly.
But my eyes stayed on the photograph.
There was something written on the back.
A message.
The older man turned the picture around.
Three words.
"She was alive."
My entire body went cold.
For years, I believed my mother disappeared.
For years, I believed nobody knew where she went.
But now...
A stranger was telling me she had been alive.
And Dominic's family knew.
"Where is she?" I asked.
The older man looked away.
That scared me.
Because people only looked away when the answer hurt.
"Clara..."
Dominic's voice was softer.
I turned toward him.
He looked confused.
Almost angry.
Not at me.
At the world.
"Why didn't anyone tell you?"
I laughed quietly.
But there was no humor in it.
"Because apparently everyone in this room knew more about my life than I did."
Nobody argued.
Because it was true.
Adrian looked at Dominic.
"Your mother tried to protect her."
Dominic looked at him.
"From who?"
Adrian didn't answer.
The older man did.
"From us."
The room went still.
Dominic stared at his father.
"What?"
His father looked at him.
"Your family destroyed everything to protect a mistake."
"A mistake?"
"Your mother discovered that Clara's identity was connected to the original Caruso empire."
I felt confused.
"I don't understand."
The older man looked at me.
"You were never hired to clean this mansion."
The words hit me.
"You were brought here because your mother left something behind."
"What?"
He pointed toward the hidden shelves.
"Something she hid before she disappeared."
Dominic immediately started searching through the room.
"What are we looking for?"
His father watched him.
"A file."
"What file?"
"The one that proves who ordered your mother's disappearance."
Everyone stopped.
Dominic looked up.
"Who?"
His father didn't answer.
Instead, he walked toward the oldest shelf in the room.
He removed three books.
Then pressed against the wall behind them.
A small compartment opened.
Inside was a black envelope.
Nobody spoke.
Dominic reached for it.
But before he touched it, his phone rang.
The screen lit up.
A new message.
From his mother.
Again.
Everyone stared.
Dominic opened it.
His face changed.
I stepped closer.
"What did it say?"
He slowly turned the phone around.
Only one sentence appeared:
"Don't open the envelope. Your father is the reason I disappeared."
Dominic looked up.
May you like
His father was standing beside the hidden compartment.
And the black envelope inside suddenly began to move.
