Chapter 3 - The Girl Who Was Never Supposed to Exist
The message stayed on Adrian’s phone screen.
Mara Hayes is not who you think she is.
Nobody spoke.
Not even Victoria.
I watched Adrian’s eyes move across those five words again and again.
He wasn't surprised.
That was the part that scared me.
He looked like someone who had just received confirmation of a nightmare he had been trying to deny.
"Who sent it?" I asked.
Adrian locked his phone.
"No one you need to worry about."
I almost laughed.
"No one I need to worry about?"
I pointed around the room.
"I was followed. Someone hid a message inside a necklace. Someone knows my name. And now you're telling me I don't need to worry?"
The security team looked uncomfortable.
Victoria looked guilty.
Adrian remained silent.
That made me angry.
Because silence from powerful people usually meant they already knew more than they wanted to admit.
"I should leave."
I turned toward the door.
Two security guards moved slightly.
Not enough to block me.
Enough to remind me they could.
Adrian noticed.
"Move."
The guards stepped back immediately.
I looked at him.
"You're letting me go?"
"No."
My eyebrows lifted.
"Then what exactly is happening?"
Adrian walked toward the window.
"The person who sent that message wants you scared."
"Maybe they have a reason."
He turned around.
"Do you believe that?"
I didn't answer.
Because I didn't know.
A few hours ago, I was just a waitress.
Now a billionaire was standing in front of me, telling me strangers were watching me.
It felt impossible.
But the necklace was real.
The note was real.
The fear in Adrian's eyes was real.
Victoria walked closer.
"Mara."
I looked at her.
"I need to tell you something."
Adrian immediately said:
"No."
Victoria ignored him.
"I think you deserve to know."
He looked at his sister.
"Victoria."
But she continued.
"Three years ago, my father was investigating someone inside the company."
I listened.
"Someone was stealing money."
Adrian's expression changed.
"Don't."
She looked at him.
"You deserve to know too."
The room became silent.
"My father discovered that someone close to him had been hiding accounts. Fake companies. Secret payments."
She looked at me.
"And then he died before he could reveal the name."
I frowned.
"Why are you telling me this?"
Victoria swallowed.
"Because before he died, he left one final instruction."
"What instruction?"
She looked at the necklace.
"Find Mara Hayes."
My entire body went cold.
"No."
The word came out before I could stop it.
"No. That doesn't make sense."
"I know."
"Your father didn't know me."
Victoria looked down.
"He did."
I shook my head.
"I would remember."
Adrian stepped forward.
"That's why this doesn't make sense."
He looked at Victoria.
"Father never mentioned her."
"Maybe because he was protecting her."
"From who?"
Victoria didn't answer.
Nobody did.
I looked at Adrian.
"Tell me the truth."
He stared at me.
"I don't know the truth."
That surprised me.
For the first time, he sounded honest.
"I spent three years trying to understand what happened to my father. I found missing files. Destroyed records. People who suddenly disappeared."
He paused.
"And now you appear with a necklace that belonged to my mother."
I looked at the necklace.
"I found it."
"Exactly."
The way he said it bothered me.
Like finding it wasn't random.
Like someone had placed it in my path.
A sound came from upstairs.
Everyone turned.
One of the guards immediately reached for his weapon.
Adrian raised his hand.
"Wait."
The guard looked toward the second floor.
"Someone is inside."
My heart started racing.
"This is your house."
Adrian nodded.
"Which is why I know every person who should be here."
The security team moved.
Victoria grabbed my arm.
"Stay behind me."
I almost laughed.
"You want to protect me?"
She looked at me sadly.
"You protected me first."
The footsteps above us became louder.
Slow.
Careful.
Someone wasn't trying to hide.
They wanted us to hear them.
Adrian walked toward the staircase.
"Whoever you are, you have ten seconds to come down."
No answer.
Five seconds.
Four.
Three.
Then a voice came from above.
A woman's voice.
Soft.
Broken.
"Mara?"
I froze.
Because I knew that voice.
But I didn't know how.
My breathing stopped.
The woman appeared at the top of the stairs.
She was older.
Her hair was dark with streaks of gray.
Her face looked tired.
But her eyes...
Her eyes looked exactly like mine.
Victoria covered her mouth.
Adrian stepped backward.
Impossible.
The woman looked at me.
Tears filled her eyes.
"I'm sorry."
I couldn't move.
I couldn't speak.
Because something inside me already knew.
But my mind refused to accept it.
Adrian whispered:
"No."
The woman slowly walked down the stairs.
"I didn't want you to find out like this."
Victoria looked at Adrian.
"Who is she?"
Adrian didn't answer.
He was staring at the woman like he had seen a ghost.
The woman stopped in front of me.
Her hand trembled.
She reached toward my face.
I stepped back.
"Who are you?"
She cried silently.
Then she said the one sentence that broke everything I believed about my life.
"I'm your mother."
The room disappeared.
The sound disappeared.
Everything disappeared.
Because my mother had died when I was six.
At least...
That was what I had been told.
I looked at Adrian.
He looked away.
And that hurt more than anything.
Because he knew.
"You knew?"
My voice shook.
Adrian didn't respond.
"You knew she was alive?"
"No."
The woman answered.
"He didn't."
I looked at her.
"Then why are you here?"
Her expression changed.
Fear.
Pure fear.
She looked toward the windows.
"They found me."
Adrian immediately turned.
"Who?"
The woman grabbed my hand.
Her fingers were cold.
"The people who killed your father."
Everyone froze.
Adrian's face became dangerous.
"What did you say?"
She looked at him.
"Richard didn't die in an accident."
The room went silent.
"He was murdered."
Adrian stepped closer.
"Who killed him?"
The woman looked at me.
Not Adrian.
Me.
And that terrified me.
"Because the person who ordered it..."
She stopped.
A loud crash came from outside.
The mansion windows shattered.
Everyone dropped.
Security rushed forward.
The lights went out.
In the darkness, I felt someone grab my wrist.
Not Adrian.
Not Victoria.
Someone else.
Then a voice whispered directly beside my ear.
"Mara..."
My blood turned cold.
Because I recognized the voice.
It was the same voice from my childhood.
The voice I had spent twenty years trying to forget.
Then the emergency lights turned on.
May you like
And the person standing in front of me was holding a photograph of my past.
A photograph that should have never existed.
