Chapter 5 - The Mother I Thought I Lost
For ten years, I imagined this moment.
Not exactly like this.
Not in a dark kitchen hallway.
Not with Vincent Voss standing beside me like a shield.
Not with armed strangers somewhere outside waiting for us.
But I imagined seeing my mother again.
I imagined what I would say.
I imagined screaming.
I imagined crying.
I imagined asking why.
I imagined a thousand different versions of this moment.
But none of them prepared me for the reality.
Because when my mother looked at me, I didn't see the woman who abandoned me.
I saw the woman I had spent ten years missing.
Her hair was different.
There were more lines around her eyes.
Her shoulders looked heavier.
Like she had been carrying something too big for too long.
But it was still her.
My mother.
"Lena..."
The name escaped my mouth before I could stop it.
Her eyes filled with tears.
"You remember."
I almost laughed.
Remember?
How could I forget?
I remembered the way she sang while cooking dinner.
I remembered how she held my hand when I was afraid.
I remembered the way she promised me that no matter what happened, she would always find her way back to me.
And then one day, she was gone.
I took a step forward.
Then stopped.
Because a part of me was still sixteen years old.
Still standing in an empty apartment.
Still waiting for someone to explain why my mother disappeared.
"Why?"
My voice cracked.
That one word carried ten years of pain.
My mother closed her eyes.
"I know."
"No."
I shook my head.
"You don't."
The hallway was silent.
Even Vincent looked away.
Because this wasn't his moment.
This wasn't about him.
This was about everything I had lost.
"You left me."
The words hurt as soon as they came out.
But they were true.
Or at least they were the truth I had lived with.
My mother took a shaky breath.
"I didn't."
I stared at her.
"Everyone said you did."
"They were lying."
"Then why did you let me believe it?"
She looked down.
And that hurt more than anything.
Because I saw the answer before she said it.
Fear.
"I thought I was protecting you."
I laughed quietly.
"Protecting me?"
My voice rose.
"You let me hate you."
A tear moved down her cheek.
"I know."
"You let me think I wasn't enough."
"I know."
"You let me spend ten years wondering why my own mother didn't want me."
Her face broke.
And for a second, I saw the pain she had been hiding.
"I wanted to come back every day."
I looked away.
"Then why didn't you?"
Because that was the question.
The only question.
My mother looked toward Vincent.
Then Adrian.
Then back at me.
"Because every time I got close, they found me."
The hallway seemed colder.
"Who?"
She didn't answer.
She didn't have to.
Everyone in that hallway already knew.
Marcus Vale.
The man from the photograph.
The man who was supposed to be dead.
I looked toward the doorway.
He was still there.
Watching.
Calm.
Almost amused.
And somehow, that scared me more than if he had been angry.
My mother saw where I was looking.
Her entire expression changed.
"No."
The word came out immediately.
Fearfully.
"Riley, don't look at him."
I frowned.
"Why?"
Because everyone had secrets.
Everyone knew things I didn't.
And I was tired of being the only person in the room without answers.
My mother stepped closer.
"Because he knows how to make people believe him."
Marcus smiled slightly.
"Still warning her against me, Lena?"
My mother's face turned pale.
"You should be dead."
The words hung in the hallway.
Nobody moved.
Marcus looked almost offended.
"That's a cruel thing to say to someone who survived."
Vincent stepped forward.
"You should have stayed hidden."
Marcus looked at him.
"Interesting."
He smiled.
"The great Vincent Voss protecting the daughter of the woman who ruined everything."
My eyes moved between them.
"Someone explain."
Nobody did.
I felt the anger rising again.
"No."
My voice became sharper.
"Not another secret."
I pointed at Marcus.
"Who are you?"
Then Vincent.
"What happened between you two?"
Then my mother.
"Why did everyone decide I wasn't allowed to know my own life?"
Nobody answered fast enough.
So I did something I had never done before.
I walked toward Marcus.
Every person in the hallway reacted.
Vincent grabbed my arm.
"Riley."
I pulled away.
"No."
I looked at Marcus.
"If you know so much about me, then tell me."
He studied me.
Then smiled.
"You really are your mother's daughter."
I hated that sentence.
Everyone kept saying it.
Like I was a reflection of someone else.
Like I wasn't my own person.
"What does that mean?"
Marcus reached inside his coat.
Vincent immediately moved.
"Don't."
Marcus stopped.
Slowly.
Then smiled.
"You still think you can control every situation."
Vincent's expression darkened.
"I know exactly what you are capable of."
Marcus looked at me.
"Your mother never told you what happened the night she disappeared."
My heart tightened.
"What night?"
My mother whispered.
"Marcus."
He ignored her.
"The night your life changed."
I looked at my mother.
She couldn't meet my eyes.
That was enough.
"Tell me."
My mother shook her head.
"Riley, please."
"No."
I stepped back.
"I spent ten years wondering if I mattered to you."
My voice trembled.
"Now you want me to stop asking questions?"
Nobody spoke.
Marcus reached into his coat again.
This time, Vincent didn't stop him.
Because he knew.
Whatever was coming was already too late.
Marcus pulled out a small object.
A necklace.
My necklace.
The one my mother gave me when I was twelve.
The one I lost the night she disappeared.
My breathing stopped.
"Where did you get that?"
Marcus looked at me.
"Your mother gave it to me."
My mother looked horrified.
"That's not true."
Marcus smiled.
"Isn't it?"
He turned the necklace over.
On the back was a small engraving.
Something I had never noticed.
Three letters.
R.M.L.
My initials.
But underneath them was another mark.
A symbol.
Vincent saw it.
And his face changed.
"What is that?"
I asked.
Nobody answered.
Then my mother whispered:
"The reason you were never safe."
The lights above us flickered again.
But this time, they didn't come back.
The hallway fell into complete darkness.
Then a phone rang.
Not one of the restaurant phones.
Not one of the staff phones.
Mine.
I looked down.
The screen showed an unknown number.
A message appeared before I answered.
One sentence.
One sentence that made my blood turn cold.
"Riley, if you are seeing this, it means Marcus found you."
May you like
Then another message arrived.
And this one had my mother's name attached to it.
