Chapter 5 - The Mother Behind The Door
"Mommy is here."
Emma's voice echoed through the hallway.
For a second, nobody moved.
Not me.
Not Clara.
Not Marcus.
Because those three words were impossible.
My daughter had spent six years believing her mother was gone.
I had spent six years believing the same thing.
And yet my six-year-old child was standing inside my mansion, looking at a woman who wasn't supposed to exist.
I ran.
I didn't think.
I didn't ask questions.
I just ran toward the medical suite.
The door was open.
Emma stood beside the bed.
Her small hands were shaking.
Ethan was awake too, staring toward the entrance.
And behind them...
A woman stood in the shadows.
My heart stopped.
Because I knew that face.
Even after six years.
Even after every photograph I had looked at.
Even after every memory I tried to bury.
I knew her.
"Elizabeth."
The name came out like a whisper.
The woman stepped forward.
Her eyes filled with tears.
"Alexander."
I couldn't breathe.
My mind rejected what my eyes were seeing.
This wasn't possible.
It couldn't be.
I had watched the funeral.
I had watched the coffin.
I had watched them lower my wife into the ground.
I had spent years visiting a grave that suddenly felt like a lie.
I looked at Clara.
She looked away.
She already knew.
She had known this moment would happen.
"Is this real?"
My voice broke.
Elizabeth took one step closer.
"I never wanted you to find out this way."
I laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because nothing about this made sense.
"You never wanted me to find out?"
My voice grew louder.
"You disappeared."
The children became scared.
I immediately lowered my voice.
But the pain remained.
"You let me believe you were dead."
Elizabeth closed her eyes.
"I didn't have a choice."
"No choice?"
I looked around the room.
At our children.
At the machines keeping them alive.
"Do you know what I went through?"
A tear fell down her face.
"Yes."
"No, you don't."
I shook my head.
"You weren't there."
"I was."
The answer froze me.
"What?"
Elizabeth looked at Emma and Ethan.
"I was there."
She swallowed.
"I watched every birthday."
I stopped moving.
"I watched their first day of school."
Her voice trembled.
"I watched you teach Ethan how to ride a bike."
My chest tightened.
"Then why didn't you come home?"
She looked at me.
"Because if I came back, they would have killed all of us."
The room went silent.
A part of me wanted to scream.
Another part of me wanted to believe her.
Because the woman standing in front of me wasn't a stranger.
She was the woman who used to fall asleep beside me.
The woman who knew every scar I had.
The woman who knew exactly how to calm me down.
But she was also the woman who left me alone for six years.
"Who?"
I asked.
"Who was threatening you?"
Elizabeth looked toward the hallway.
Toward the rest of the mansion.
Then she said:
"Richard."
The name felt like a bullet.
I already knew.
But hearing it from her made it real.
"He knew about the children."
Elizabeth nodded.
"He knew before they were born."
My hands tightened.
"Explain."
She walked toward the table and picked up the photograph.
"Richard discovered the genetic research before I did."
"What research?"
"The research connected to your children."
I looked at Emma and Ethan.
Elizabeth's expression changed.
Pain.
Guilt.
Fear.
"They were never sick because of a disease."
I stared at her.
"Then why are they dying?"
She hesitated.
"Because someone activated it."
The words made no sense.
"Activated what?"
Elizabeth looked at Clara.
Then back at me.
"A genetic trigger."
The room became cold.
"You mean someone did this to them?"
She nodded.
"Yes."
My entire body went still.
Someone had hurt my children.
Not by accident.
Not because of bad luck.
Someone chose this.
Someone planned it.
"Why?"
Elizabeth looked down.
"Because Richard wanted something your children carried."
"What?"
"A key."
I frowned.
"A key to what?"
She walked closer.
"Your father."
That stopped me.
"My father?"
My father had been dead for years.
He was the man who built the foundation of Mercer Industries before I expanded it.
He was respected.
Powerful.
But he was also a man with secrets.
"What does my father have to do with this?"
Elizabeth took a breath.
"Everything."
Before she could continue, Marcus entered the room.
"Sir."
I turned.
His expression was serious.
"Something happened outside."
"What?"
"We found the man from the security camera."
My body tensed.
"Where?"
Marcus looked at Elizabeth.
Then at Clara.
"The old Mercer property."
My father's abandoned estate.
Nobody had been there in years.
"Did you catch him?"
Marcus shook his head.
"No."
"Then why are you telling me?"
He handed me an envelope.
"Because he left this."
I stared at it.
Another envelope.
Another secret.
Another piece of a life I thought I understood.
I opened it slowly.
Inside was a single page.
My father's handwriting.
I recognized it immediately.
My fingers shook.
The message was short.
Only one sentence.
"If Alexander discovers the truth, bring him to the place where it started."
I looked at Elizabeth.
"What place?"
Her face changed.
She knew.
"What?"
She stepped back.
"Elizabeth."
She looked terrified.
"The place where your father created the research."
I waited.
But she didn't answer.
Because her eyes moved toward the window.
Toward the darkness outside.
"Alexander..."
"What?"
Her voice became a whisper.
"Your father didn't create it to hurt people."
I stared at her.
"Then why?"
She looked at Emma and Ethan.
"Because he created it to save someone."
The room went silent.
"Who?"
Elizabeth didn't answer.
She walked toward the window.
Then she said something that made my blood turn cold.
"Your father wasn't researching a cure."
I felt my heartbeat slow.
"He was researching a way to bring someone back."
A noise came from the hallway.
A soft click.
Everyone turned.
The medical suite door slowly opened.
Nobody was standing there.
But on the floor was a small device.
A phone.
It was playing a video.
I picked it up.
The screen turned on.
And the person appearing on it was someone I never expected to see.
Someone who should have been dead.
Someone who knew the entire truth.
May you like
The video began with one sentence.
"Alexander, if you are watching this, it means Richard has already found you..."
