Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Never Died
"My mother is alive."
Elena's voice was barely above a whisper.
But those four words hit harder than any threat I had ever received.
I had spent fifteen years believing my family was gone.
My father.
My mother.
Everything connected to the life I had before becoming Cassian Voss.
I had buried those memories because they were painful.
Because grief was easier than uncertainty.
But now Adrian Cole was standing in front of me, alive after fifteen years.
He was telling me my father's death was not an accident.
He was telling me my family's history was built on lies.
And now Elena was telling me the woman I buried in my mind had never truly left.
I looked at Adrian.
"Explain."
He didn't answer immediately.
That bothered me.
People who carried the truth usually protected it.
They chose their words carefully.
But I had spent my life around people who lied.
And I knew the difference between hesitation and fear.
Adrian was afraid.
Not of me.
Of what would happen when the truth came out.
"My mother died in front of me," I said.
My voice became colder.
"I saw the funeral."
Elena looked at me.
"I know."
"Then how?"
She looked down.
"My mother wasn't the person they buried."
The room felt smaller.
I stared at her.
"What are you saying?"
Elena walked toward the wall of photographs.
She stopped in front of an old picture.
A woman stood beside a young girl.
The woman looked different from the person I remembered.
Older.
Tired.
But the eyes were the same.
My mother's eyes.
"Her name was Isabella Marlow after she disappeared," Elena said.
I froze.
"After she disappeared?"
Elena nodded.
"Your mother found out what your father was involved in."
I felt anger rising.
"My father wasn't involved in anything."
Adrian looked at me.
"He was."
The answer was calm.
Too calm.
I turned toward him.
"You expect me to believe that my own father was a criminal?"
"No."
Adrian stepped closer.
"I expect you to accept that your father was not the man you thought he was."
I wanted to argue.
I wanted to destroy every word coming out of his mouth.
But I couldn't.
Because deep down, I had always known something was wrong.
My father was powerful.
But power did not explain everything.
The locked rooms.
The secret meetings.
The men who disappeared after doing business with him.
The fear in people's eyes when they said his name.
I had ignored those signs because he was my father.
And children always wanted to believe their parents were heroes.
Even when the truth was standing in front of them.
"What happened that night?" I asked.
Adrian looked at the flash drive in his hand.
"The night your father died was the night Isabella tried to expose Victor Raines."
The name made the room quiet again.
Victor.
The man who had controlled my father's world from the shadows.
The man who had survived every investigation.
The man nobody could touch.
"Why didn't she go to the police?"
Elena gave a bitter smile.
"Because the police were already bought."
That answer didn't surprise me.
It only confirmed what I had spent years suspecting.
"Then why fake her death?"
Adrian looked at Elena.
"Because Victor found out."
A cold feeling moved through me.
"What did he do?"
Adrian looked away.
"Your mother had two choices."
I waited.
"Disappear."
He paused.
"Or watch everyone she loved disappear."
The words stayed in the air.
I thought about my mother.
The woman who used to read books beside my bed.
The woman who told me kindness was not weakness.
The woman who vanished from my life without explanation.
I had spent years believing she abandoned me.
Now I wondered if she had been protecting me.
A sudden sound came from outside.
A car engine.
Then another.
Adrian immediately moved toward the window.
His entire body changed.
The tired old man disappeared.
The survivor returned.
"They found us."
Elena looked terrified.
"Already?"
Adrian nodded.
"They were waiting."
I looked between them.
"Who?"
Nobody answered.
That was when I became angry.
I hated secrets.
I hated being the last person to know the truth about my own life.
"Enough."
My voice filled the room.
Both of them looked at me.
"For fifteen years, everyone has decided what I can handle."
I stepped closer.
"My father."
"My enemies."
"Even you two."
I pointed at Adrian.
"You knew the truth."
Then at Elena.
"You had evidence."
I lowered my voice.
"But nobody trusted me enough to tell me."
Elena's expression softened.
"We were trying to keep you alive."
I stared at her.
"And now?"
She didn't answer.
Because she knew.
Now the danger had already arrived.
The lights outside the apartment building suddenly went dark.
Not flickering.
Not broken.
Cut.
Someone had turned them off.
Adrian moved toward the door.
"No one moves."
I almost smiled.
That was something people said when they were scared.
But then I saw his face.
He wasn't scared.
He was calculating.
Someone dangerous was outside.
I quietly reached inside my jacket.
Elena noticed.
"You carry a gun?"
"I carry insurance."
She looked at me differently.
Not with fear.
With understanding.
She was finally seeing the person everyone else knew.
Not the lonely man behind the penthouse glass.
Not the businessman in a suit.
The man who survived.
A knock came from the door.
Three slow knocks.
Everyone froze.
Adrian's face changed.
"That's impossible."
I looked at him.
"Who is it?"
He didn't answer.
The knocking came again.
Three times.
Slow.
Patient.
Like whoever stood outside knew exactly who was inside.
Elena whispered:
"No..."
I turned toward her.
"Who?"
Her eyes filled with fear.
Then she said the name.
"The person who raised me."
The door handle moved.
Slowly.
The lock clicked.
I stepped forward.
Adrian grabbed my arm.
"Wait."
I looked at him.
"Why?"
His voice dropped.
"Because if that door opens..."
He stopped.
A shadow appeared beneath the doorway.
A woman's silhouette.
And then a familiar voice spoke from the other side.
"Cassian."
My blood went cold.
Because I knew that voice.
I had heard it every night in my memories.
May you like
The door opened.
And my mother was standing there.
