Chapter 6 - The Truth Hidden Beneath the Name
I stared at the message from Marcus until the screen went dark.
"Boss is not who you think he is."
The words should have made me afraid.
Instead, they made me angry.
Because after everything that happened, everyone seemed to know pieces of my life except me.
Elena.
Dale.
Massimo.
Marcus.
Everyone had secrets.
Everyone had explanations.
And somehow, I was the only person standing in the middle of the storm without knowing why.
I looked at Massimo through the phone.
"Is it true?"
Silence.
That was the worst answer he could have given.
"Massimo."
His voice came slowly.
"What did Marcus send you?"
I looked at the screen.
"That you aren't who I think you are."
Another silence.
Then I heard something in his breathing.
Pain.
Not anger.
Not surprise.
Pain.
"Cecilia, listen to me."
"No."
My voice shook.
"I'm done listening to people tell me they are protecting me while they hide everything."
Elena looked at me.
She understood.
Because she had lived through the same thing.
Dale lowered his eyes.
Nobody defended Massimo.
That scared me.
Finally, Massimo spoke.
"There are things about my past you don't know."
I laughed quietly.
"Apparently there are things about my entire life I don't know."
The room went silent.
Then Dale stepped forward.
"Cecilia."
I turned toward him.
"You knew."
He didn't deny it.
"I knew part of it."
"How long?"
He looked at the floor.
"Seven years."
My chest tightened.
Seven years.
The same amount of time as the photograph.
The same amount of time since everything started.
"Why was I being watched?"
Dale looked at Elena.
Then at the files around us.
"Because Richard Vale believed you were the last piece of something he lost."
I frowned.
"I don't understand."
"You will."
I hated those words.
Everyone kept saying them.
You will understand.
Soon.
Later.
When it's safe.
But my life was already falling apart.
I didn't want protection anymore.
I wanted the truth.
I grabbed the folder with my name on it.
"Tell me everything."
Nobody spoke.
Then Elena moved closer.
"Cecilia."
Her voice softened.
"The name Richard Vale gave you wasn't your real name."
I looked at her.
"What?"
She swallowed.
"Your mother changed it."
The room became quiet.
"My mother?"
Elena nodded.
"She knew Richard would find you."
I stared at the documents.
"My mother never told me anything."
"Because she wanted you to have a normal life."
I almost smiled.
A normal life.
Working at a train station.
Living alone.
Believing I was nobody important.
Meanwhile, someone had created a secret room in my apartment filled with information about me.
"Who was my father?"
Nobody answered.
Then Massimo did.
"Cecilia."
His voice was different.
Like he had been carrying the answer for years.
"Your father was my brother."
I stopped breathing.
The words didn't make sense.
"My what?"
Massimo continued.
"Richard Vale and I grew up together."
I looked at him through the phone.
"You said he raised you."
"Yes."
"And now you're saying he was my father?"
"Not Richard."
A pause.
"My real father was Adrian Vale."
The name meant nothing to me.
But the way Massimo said it meant everything.
"Adrian was Richard's older brother."
Elena stepped closer.
"He was the person who knew Richard better than anyone."
"What happened to him?"
Massimo became quiet.
"Richard killed him."
The words hung in the room.
I looked at the three people around me.
Everyone looked exhausted.
Like they had been carrying this secret too long.
"Why?"
Dale answered.
"Because Adrian found out what Richard was planning."
"What was he planning?"
Dale looked at the files.
"Control."
That wasn't an answer.
But somehow it was.
"He built a network."
Dale continued.
"Companies. Connections. Information."
Massimo added:
"He believed knowing people's weaknesses meant owning them."
I looked at the photograph again.
Me standing behind Massimo seven years ago.
"Why was I there?"
Elena touched the picture.
"Because Adrian left something with Massimo."
"What?"
Her eyes met mine.
"You."
The room became silent.
I stepped back.
"No."
"Cecilia—"
"No."
I shook my head.
"You are telling me my entire life was arranged?"
"No."
Massimo's voice interrupted.
"For the first time in years, someone chose something for you."
I looked at him.
"You mean you?"
Silence.
That was enough.
My anger rose.
"Did you know who I was when I met you at the station?"
"No."
The answer came immediately.
Too quickly.
I believed him.
But that didn't make things better.
"When did you know?"
Massimo didn't answer.
Elena did.
"The first Friday you saw him."
I turned.
"What?"
She looked at the photograph.
"He recognized you before you recognized him."
I looked back at Massimo.
"Is that true?"
A long pause.
Then:
"Yes."
The room felt like it moved.
"You knew?"
"I knew you looked familiar."
"Familiar?"
My voice became louder.
"I was the daughter of the man your brother killed, and you thought I looked familiar?"
"I didn't know the truth."
"But you suspected."
He didn't argue.
That hurt more.
Before I could say anything else, Dale's phone rang.
Everyone turned.
He looked at the screen.
His face changed.
"What?"
I watched him answer.
Then his expression became terrified.
"How?"
Nobody spoke.
Dale slowly lowered the phone.
"What happened?" Elena asked.
Dale looked at me.
"They found the apartment."
My stomach dropped.
"What?"
Dale looked toward the entrance.
"The people who have been watching you."
Massimo's voice became sharp.
"Get Cecilia out."
Dale moved immediately.
Elena grabbed my hand.
"There's another exit."
I looked at the hidden passage.
"No."
Everyone stopped.
I looked at the files.
At the photographs.
At the secrets.
"I'm done running."
Elena stared at me.
"Cecilia."
"No."
I picked up the folder.
"For seven years, everyone decided what I could know."
I looked at the hidden room.
"Not anymore."
Then we heard it.
A sound from outside.
The front door.
Someone was trying to open it.
Once.
Twice.
Slowly.
Dale reached for his weapon.
Elena moved in front of me.
And then Massimo said something through the phone that made everyone freeze.
"Do not open that door."
I looked at him.
"Why?"
His voice became almost a whisper.
"Because the person outside isn't here to find you."
A pause.
"They're here because they know what you are."
The door handle moved.
The lock clicked.
Everyone became silent.
Then a voice came from the other side.
A familiar voice.
A voice I had heard every day at Hawthorne Junction.
"Cecilia."
Dale went pale.
Elena whispered:
"No..."
May you like
The door slowly opened.
And standing there was the one person nobody expected to see.
