Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Was Supposed To Be Dead
I couldn't move.
I couldn't breathe.
I stared at the photograph on Adrian's phone.
The woman standing outside my car wasn't a stranger.
She wasn't someone who looked like my mother.
She was my mother.
Victoria Bennett.
The woman I had been told died twelve years ago.
The woman whose funeral I attended as a teenager.
The woman whose voice I had slowly forgotten because everyone told me I had to move on.
She was standing outside the ballroom.
Alive.
Watching me.
My fingers started shaking.
"No."
The word escaped my mouth before I even realized I had spoken.
Adrian looked at me carefully.
"You know her."
I looked at him.
I wanted to say no.
I wanted to believe my eyes were wrong.
But I couldn't.
Because there were things a daughter never forgot.
The shape of her face.
The way she stood.
The small scar near her eyebrow.
Even after twelve years.
Even after everyone told me she was gone.
I knew her.
"That's my mother."
The room went silent.
Daniel looked confused.
Emily looked terrified.
But my father...
My father looked like a man who had just watched his biggest secret walk back into his life.
"You said she was dead," I whispered.
He didn't answer.
"Dad."
My voice cracked.
"You said she died."
My father looked down.
And that hurt more than any lie Daniel had ever told me.
Because Daniel was someone I chose.
But my father was someone I trusted without question.
"Why is she alive?"
Nobody answered.
Then Adrian took the phone back.
"Because someone wanted you to believe she wasn't."
I looked at him.
"Who?"
His eyes moved toward my father.
And I understood.
The answer had been standing beside me the entire time.
My father stepped forward.
"Adrian, this isn't the time."
"No."
Adrian's voice remained calm.
"This is exactly the time."
The tension in the room became unbearable.
I looked at my father.
"Tell me."
He closed his eyes.
For a moment, he looked older.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
Like carrying this secret had exhausted him.
"I was trying to protect you."
I almost laughed.
Everyone said that.
Daniel.
My father.
Every person who hid something from me always used the same excuse.
Protect you.
But nobody ever asked if I wanted to live inside a lie.
"Protect me from what?"
My father didn't answer.
"From my own mother?"
His expression changed.
And that told me everything.
There was more.
Something worse.
I turned toward Adrian.
"You knew."
It wasn't a question.
He didn't deny it.
"I suspected."
"How?"
He looked at the photograph.
"Because twelve years ago, I was involved."
The words hit me harder than I expected.
"What does that mean?"
Adrian was silent.
Then he walked toward the table and placed his phone down.
"You need to understand something."
His voice was low.
"Your mother's disappearance was not an accident."
I felt cold.
"Everyone told me she died."
"Because that was the story they created."
My heart started racing.
"Who is they?"
Adrian looked at Daniel.
Then at my father.
Then finally at me.
"People who believed your family had something they wanted."
I shook my head.
"No."
I stepped back.
"This is impossible."
But deep down, I knew it wasn't.
Because impossible things didn't explain why everyone looked afraid.
Impossible things didn't explain why my dead mother was standing outside.
Impossible things didn't explain why Daniel had entered my life eight years ago.
Eight years.
The same amount of time this mystery had been buried.
I looked at Daniel.
"You knew about her."
He looked away.
That was enough.
"You knew."
His silence was an answer.
"How long?"
Daniel swallowed.
"I didn't know everything."
"How long?"
His face tightened.
"Since before I met you."
The pain came back.
Different this time.
Not because he loved someone else.
Because I realized my entire relationship with him might have started from a secret.
"You were sent to me."
Daniel looked shocked.
"No."
"Then why?"
He couldn't answer.
Emily suddenly spoke.
"Because of me."
Everyone turned toward her.
She looked terrified.
"What?"
Emily wiped her tears.
"I didn't want to tell you like this."
My stomach dropped.
"Tell me what?"
She looked at Daniel.
Then at me.
"Daniel wasn't the only person who was looking for information about your family."
The room became silent.
"What information?"
Emily hesitated.
Then she whispered:
"Your mother left something behind."
My heart stopped.
"What?"
"A file."
I frowned.
"A file?"
Emily nodded.
"Something she created before she disappeared."
My father immediately stepped forward.
"Enough."
Emily flinched.
And I noticed.
My father had never spoken to her like that before.
Not once.
"Why are you stopping her?"
He didn't answer.
"Why?"
His silence became unbearable.
Then Adrian spoke.
"Because he knows what happens if she tells you."
My father looked at him.
"You don't understand the danger."
Adrian's expression hardened.
"I understand more than anyone."
Something about the way he said it made the room change.
Like this wasn't just business.
Like Adrian had his own history connected to my mother.
I looked at him.
"What happened twelve years ago?"
For the first time, Adrian hesitated.
Only for a second.
But I saw it.
A memory.
A painful one.
"Your mother trusted the wrong person."
My father looked away.
"Who?"
Adrian didn't answer.
Instead, he looked toward the ballroom entrance.
One of his men had appeared.
The man leaned close.
"Mr. Vale."
Adrian listened.
Then his expression changed.
"What?"
The man whispered something else.
Adrian immediately looked at me.
And my stomach tightened.
"What happened?"
He didn't respond.
He took his phone.
Opened something.
Then showed me the screen.
A security camera image.
Outside.
Near the parking area.
My mother was no longer standing there.
But someone else was.
A person wearing a dark coat.
Holding a small black box.
My breathing stopped.
Because I recognized the box.
I had seen it before.
In my childhood.
It belonged to my mother.
"What is that?" I whispered.
Adrian looked at me.
"Something your mother hid twelve years ago."
My hands became cold.
"Why does that person have it?"
Adrian didn't answer.
Because at that exact moment...
The ballroom lights went out.
Everyone screamed.
The room fell into darkness.
Then my phone vibrated.
One new message.
Unknown number.
I opened it.
Only four words appeared:
She never died alone.
I looked up.
May you like
And in the darkness...
Someone whispered my name.
