Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Was Never Gone
The voice came from inside the hidden room.
"Adrien... you finally brought her back."
I stopped breathing.
Not because someone was there.
But because of the way Adrien reacted.
The color disappeared from his face.
For the first time since I had met him, Adrien Moretti looked completely powerless.
His hand remained on the door handle.
Frozen.
"Who is that?" I whispered.
He didn't answer.
The voice came again.
Closer this time.
"She has your mother's eyes."
My heart dropped.
I looked at Adrien.
He was staring into the darkness like he was seeing a ghost.
"Maya, step back."
His voice was quiet.
But there was something underneath it.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For me.
I should have listened.
I should have walked away.
But my entire life had been built on unanswered questions.
And now the person with the answers was standing behind that door.
I couldn't leave.
I stepped forward.
Adrien immediately reached for my arm.
"No."
I looked at him.
"Six years ago, my mother disappeared."
His grip loosened slightly.
"You knew her."
He didn't deny it.
"You knew what happened."
Still nothing.
"And now someone is inside that room saying my name."
My voice shook.
"I deserve to know why."
For several seconds, Adrien stared at me.
Then he slowly released my arm.
"Stay behind me."
It wasn't an order.
It was a request.
That scared me more.
Because Adrien Moretti didn't ask people for anything.
He opened the door.
The hidden room was nothing like I expected.
It wasn't a storage room.
It wasn't an office.
It was a private investigation room.
The walls were covered with photographs.
Documents.
Notes.
Files.
A large board stood in the center.
And on that board...
was my mother's face.
I stopped.
My entire body went cold.
There were dozens of photographs.
My mother entering the mansion.
My mother speaking with Adrien.
My mother holding documents.
My mother looking terrified.
I walked closer.
"No..."
The word escaped my mouth.
Adrien watched me carefully.
"This is impossible."
I touched one of the photographs.
It showed my mother standing outside the mansion.
The date was written underneath.
Six years ago.
The same year she disappeared.
"Why do you have these?"
Adrien walked inside.
"Because I was trying to find out who was following her."
I turned.
"You knew she was in danger?"
"Yes."
"And you didn't tell me?"
His expression changed.
"I tried."
I laughed bitterly.
"When?"
"When I found out someone had erased your mother's records."
I stared at him.
"What records?"
"Everything."
He looked at the board.
"Her employment history. Her bank accounts. Her medical information. Every trace of her existence."
I felt sick.
"Someone erased my mother?"
Adrien nodded.
"Someone powerful enough to make a person disappear without killing them."
That sentence made me freeze.
Without killing them.
I looked back at the photographs.
"Then she's alive?"
Adrien didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
My heart started racing.
"My mother is alive?"
Before Adrien could respond, a sound came from the other side of the room.
A chair moving.
Slowly.
Everyone turned.
A woman stepped out from behind a bookshelf.
I couldn't move.
She was older.
Her hair was darker with streaks of gray.
Her face looked tired.
But I knew those eyes.
I knew them before my mind could accept it.
Because I had spent years looking at them in old photographs.
"Maya."
The woman's voice broke.
My knees almost gave out.
No.
It wasn't possible.
It couldn't be.
"Mom?"
The room became silent.
The woman covered her mouth.
Tears filled her eyes.
"I'm sorry."
I couldn't hear anything else.
Six years.
Six years of believing she left me.
Six years of wondering if I had done something wrong.
Six years of waiting for a phone call that never came.
And she was standing right in front of me.
Alive.
I stepped backward.
"No."
The woman moved closer.
"Maya..."
"No."
My voice became louder.
"You don't get to say my name like nothing happened."
Her face collapsed.
"I know."
"You disappeared."
"I know."
"You let me think you abandoned me."
"I know."
"Then why?"
The question came out broken.
"Why did you leave me?"
She looked at Adrien.
Then back at me.
"Because someone was going to kill you."
The room went silent.
I stared at her.
"What?"
She walked closer.
"When I discovered what they were planning, I knew they would come after you."
"Who?"
She looked afraid.
Not nervous.
Terrified.
"The people inside Adrien's organization."
I turned toward Adrien.
He immediately shook his head.
"No."
My mother looked at him.
"Not you."
She looked back at me.
"Someone close to him."
Adrien's expression changed.
"Who?"
My mother didn't answer.
Instead, she walked toward the investigation board.
She removed a photograph.
A photograph I hadn't noticed before.
She placed it on the table.
"This is why I disappeared."
I looked down.
It showed several people standing inside the mansion.
Adrien.
My mother.
Three men I didn't recognize.
And one woman.
The woman from the security camera.
The woman who had left the folder.
My mother pointed at her.
"She found out what I knew."
Adrien looked at the photograph.
"Elena..."
My mother's eyes filled with fear.
"She was never trying to expose you, Adrien."
The room became colder.
"She was trying to warn you."
I looked between them.
"About what?"
Nobody answered.
Because suddenly, the hidden room lights turned off.
Again.
Darkness surrounded us.
Then a phone rang.
Not mine.
Not Adrien's.
My mother's.
Everyone froze.
She slowly reached into her coat pocket.
Her hands were shaking.
The screen lit up.
Unknown number.
She looked at it.
And whispered:
"They know I'm here."
Adrien stepped forward.
"Don't answer."
But she already had.
For three seconds, nobody heard anything.
Then a voice came through the speaker.
A man's voice.
Calm.
Familiar.
A voice that made Adrien go completely still.
"Hello, Adrien."
Adrien's face changed.
Because he recognized it.
The voice continued.
"I see you finally found Elena's daughter."
My mother dropped the phone.
I looked at Adrien.
"Who is that?"
He didn't respond.
The voice came again through the speaker.
And this time, it said my name.
"Maya Collins..."
I felt every hair on my body rise.
Because the man on the phone knew exactly where I was.
May you like
And then he said the words that made Adrien reach for his weapon.
"Ask Adrien why he let your father die."
