Chapter 4 - The Man Who Was Buried Alive
A man stepped into the emergency room and whispered: "Mara, you were never supposed to find out." When Adrian opened the hidden drawer beneath the old operating table, he found a sealed envelope marked with Daniel Vale’s name. Three words were written on the front: "Give this back." Adrian finally realized the secret was never buried.
I couldn't move.
I couldn't breathe.
The man standing in front of me looked exactly like the photographs I had never seen.
The same dark eyes.
The same sharp jawline.
The same expression my mother had worn whenever someone asked about him.
Fear.
Not sadness.
Not grief.
Fear.
My hands started shaking.
"No."
The word came out before I could stop it.
The man stared at me.
His eyes filled with something I didn't understand.
Pain.
"Mara."
I stepped backward.
"Who are you?"
Nobody answered.
Not Adrian.
Not the mafia boss.
Not the nurses standing frozen behind me.
The man looked at the patient on the bed.
"You failed."
The mafia boss smiled weakly.
"Not yet."
The stranger's expression hardened.
"You brought her back into this."
Adrian moved between us.
"Enough."
The stranger looked at him.
"Still protecting her after all these years?"
Adrian's face changed.
Like those words had reopened an old wound.
I looked at him.
"Who is he?"
Adrian didn't answer.
The stranger did.
"I'm your father."
The room disappeared.
Everything became silent.
The machines.
The voices.
The footsteps outside.
Everything.
I stared at him.
The man I had spent my entire life believing was dead.
The man my mother never allowed me to talk about.
The man whose face I had imagined thousands of times.
Standing right in front of me.
Alive.
"You died."
My voice was barely audible.
He lowered his eyes.
"I know."
"My mother buried you."
"I know."
"You let me believe you were gone."
His expression broke.
"I had no choice."
I laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because I didn't know what else to do.
"No choice?"
I looked around.
"Do you know how many nights I waited for someone to tell me the truth?"
He stayed silent.
"Do you know what it felt like growing up thinking my father abandoned me?"
His eyes filled with regret.
"I watched you."
That sentence made me stop.
"What?"
"I watched you grow up."
My anger turned into confusion.
"You watched me?"
He nodded.
"From a distance."
"Why?"
He looked at Adrian.
"Because if they knew I was alive, they would come after her."
I looked at the mafia boss.
"And him?"
The patient closed his eyes.
"He knows what happened."
I turned toward him.
"Then tell me."
Nobody spoke.
I stepped closer.
"Tell me everything."
The mafia boss looked at Adrian.
Then at my father.
Finally, he looked at me.
"Twenty years ago, your father discovered something."
"What?"
"A system."
I frowned.
"What does that mean?"
My father answered.
"A network of powerful people who controlled information."
Adrian continued.
"People who could erase identities."
"Change records."
"Make someone disappear."
I stared at them.
"And my mother?"
My father looked down.
"She found out."
The room became cold.
"What happened to her?"
His silence answered before his words did.
"She wasn't killed in a robbery."
My heart stopped.
"Then what happened?"
My father closed his eyes.
"She was protecting you."
I felt tears forming.
"No."
"I'm sorry."
"No."
I shook my head.
"You don't get to say that."
My voice became louder.
"You don't get to disappear for twenty years and come back with apologies."
Everyone became silent.
Because I wasn't speaking to a stranger anymore.
I was speaking to the man who had haunted my entire life.
"I needed you."
My father looked at me.
"I know."
"No, you don't."
The words broke.
"You weren't there."
His face changed.
Because he knew I was right.
Adrian quietly walked away.
He opened a cabinet near the old medical storage area.
I watched him.
"What are you doing?"
He didn't answer.
A few seconds later, he pulled out a small metal box.
Old.
Damaged.
Covered in dust.
My father's expression changed.
"Where did you get that?"
Adrian looked at him.
"You gave it to me."
The room froze.
"When?"
"The night your wife died."
My father stepped forward.
"You still have it?"
Adrian nodded.
"I was waiting for Mara to be old enough to know the truth."
My hands covered my mouth.
Inside the box was a photograph.
My mother.
My father.
And a little girl.
Me.
I had never seen that picture before.
On the back was a handwritten message.
I recognized the handwriting instantly.
My mother's.
Mara,
If you are reading this, it means they found the truth.
My vision blurred.
I kept reading.
Trust Adrian.
Trust the man who saved your father.
But never trust the person who says they are trying to protect you.
I looked up.
"Who wrote this?"
Nobody answered.
Because everyone already knew.
My father sat down slowly.
"The person who destroyed our family."
The lights flickered again.
This time, nobody moved.
My father looked toward the hallway.
"They're here."
Adrian immediately grabbed the box.
"How?"
The mafia boss tried to stand.
"Because the message wasn't meant for Mara."
Everyone looked at him.
"It was a warning."
I felt my stomach drop.
"What warning?"
The patient looked at the emergency room door.
A small sound came from outside.
A phone ringing.
Not inside the room.
Outside.
Adrian walked toward the door.
"Don't."
My father grabbed his arm.
"If you open that..."
The ringing stopped.
A second later, every phone in the room received the same notification.
Mine.
Adrian's.
My father's.
The mafia boss's.
Four screens.
One message.
I looked down.
My blood went cold.
Because the sender name wasn't unknown.
It was my mother's name.
May you like
And beneath it were three words:
I AM STILL HERE...
