Chapter 4 - The Mother Who Was Supposed To Be Gone
The woman at the gate raised her hand toward the security camera.
She knew we were watching.
She knew Adrian Voss was standing in that room.
And she knew I was there.
For a moment, nobody moved.
The entire mansion felt frozen.
I stared at the screen.
At the woman who was supposed to be impossible.
The woman who was supposed to be gone.
My mother.
My mind refused to accept it.
A person can prepare for bad news.
A person can prepare for loss.
But nobody prepares for a miracle that feels like a threat.
"Open the gate."
My voice sounded different.
Adrian looked at me.
"No."
I turned.
"No?"
His eyes stayed on the screen.
"You don't know who she is."
I almost laughed.
"She's my mother."
"You think she is."
The words hit me harder than they should have.
I stepped closer.
"I know what my own mother looks like."
Adrian finally looked at me.
And the sadness in his eyes scared me.
Because he wasn't doubting me.
He was afraid for me.
"Maya, listen to me."
"No."
I shook my head.
"Everyone keeps telling me to listen."
I pointed at the photograph on the table.
"My father left secrets."
I pointed at Elena.
"She knows things about my family."
Then I pointed at the security screen.
"And now my mother is standing outside after fifteen years."
My voice broke slightly.
"I am done being the last person to know the truth about my own life."
Nobody spoke.
Then Adrian pressed a button.
The mansion gates opened.
Elena immediately stepped forward.
"You shouldn't have done that."
Adrian didn't look away.
"She deserves answers."
Elena's expression changed.
"Answers can kill people."
I heard that.
And I knew she wasn't talking about information.
She was talking about someone coming after it.
The front doors opened.
Footsteps echoed through the mansion.
Slow.
Careful.
A few seconds later, the woman from the camera entered the room.
I forgot how to breathe.
She looked older than the woman in my memories.
Of course she did.
Fifteen years had passed.
There were lines around her eyes.
Silver strands in her hair.
But some things never changed.
The way she tilted her head.
The way she looked at me.
The way her eyes filled with tears before she even spoke.
"Maya."
That voice.
I knew that voice.
A child can forget faces.
A child can forget details.
But a child never forgets the voice that once made them feel safe.
My knees almost gave out.
"Mom?"
The word left my mouth before I could stop it.
The woman covered her mouth.
Tears filled her eyes.
And for one second, everything else disappeared.
Not Adrian.
Not the secrets.
Not the danger.
Just me and my mother.
The person I had spent years missing.
She stepped forward.
I didn't move.
I wanted to.
I wanted to run to her.
I wanted to ask why she left.
Why she never called.
Why she let me believe she was dead.
But my body remembered love before my mind remembered pain.
When she reached me, I let her hug me.
And the moment she touched me, I felt like I was six years old again.
But then Adrian spoke.
Quietly.
"Where have you been, Sarah?"
My mother's arms tightened around me.
I slowly pulled away.
The name hit me.
Sarah.
Not Mom.
Not the woman from my childhood memories.
Sarah.
I looked at Adrian.
"You know her?"
Nobody answered.
My mother's face changed.
A small moment.
A tiny reaction.
But I saw it.
She was afraid.
"Adrian," she whispered.
He stared at her.
"You told me you would never come back."
"I had no choice."
"You always had a choice."
The tension between them felt personal.
Older than me.
Older than tonight.
I looked between them.
"Someone explain."
My mother looked at me.
"I'm sorry."
That was all she said.
I'm sorry.
The two words people used when they didn't know how to repair something.
"What happened?"
She looked down.
"Your father found something."
I already knew where this was going.
"He found the people Adrian mentioned?"
She nodded.
"But he didn't know how far it went."
"How far what went?"
My mother looked at Adrian.
Then Elena.
Then back at me.
"The people who wanted your father silent were not outside your family."
A cold feeling moved through me.
"What does that mean?"
She reached into her coat.
Pulled out an envelope.
And placed it on the table.
My name was written across the front.
MAYA.
My hands became cold.
Another file.
Another secret.
Another thing everyone had hidden from me.
"Your father left this for you."
Adrian looked surprised.
"You had it?"
My mother didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
"You had this for fifteen years?"
She looked at me.
"I was protecting you."
I stared at her.
"Everyone says that."
My voice became quieter.
"Everyone says they were protecting me."
The silence afterward hurt.
Because nobody could deny it.
My mother looked broken.
"I thought staying away would keep you alive."
"Did it?"
She looked down.
And that told me everything.
I picked up the envelope.
It was heavier than paper should be.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
I unfolded it.
The first line was enough to make my heart stop.
Maya,
If you are reading this, then Adrian failed to keep you away from the truth.
I looked up.
Adrian went completely still.
"You know this letter?"
He didn't answer.
I continued reading.
My hands shook.
Your mother will tell you she left to protect you.
She will tell you she had no choice.
Some of that is true.
But not all of it.
I looked at my mother.
Her face had gone pale.
"What does this mean?"
She whispered:
"Your father knew."
"Knew what?"
She looked at Adrian.
"He knew Adrian wasn't the only person searching for the truth."
The lights flickered again.
Everyone froze.
Not because of the lights.
Because Adrian's security system made a sound.
A warning.
Someone had entered another part of the mansion.
Adrian immediately moved toward the control screen.
His fingers moved quickly.
Then he stopped.
"What?"
Elena asked.
Adrian didn't respond.
I walked closer.
The camera feed appeared.
The hallway outside the meeting room.
Empty.
Then another camera.
The library.
Empty.
Another.
The basement.
My eyes narrowed.
"The basement?"
Adrian looked at me.
"What?"
"Why do you have a camera in the basement?"
Nobody answered.
Then the screen changed.
A person was standing inside the basement.
Not entering.
Already there.
My heart started racing.
The figure turned toward the camera.
It was a man.
Older.
Holding something in his hand.
A photograph.
The same photograph of me and my father.
Then he lifted it closer to the camera.
On the back, written in black ink, were three words:
"Ask your mother."
My mother stepped backward.
Her face lost all color.
Because she recognized the man.
May you like
And she whispered the name of the person she believed had been dead for fifteen years...
"Your father."
