Chapter 4 - The Mother Who Was Never Gone
I stared at the phone screen until the words stopped looking real.
My father's number.
The same number I had deleted years ago.
The same number that belonged to a man I had buried in my memories.
A man who was supposed to be gone.
Forever.
"No."
The word came out before I could stop it.
I shook my head.
"This is impossible."
Nobody spoke.
Not Adrian.
Not Chloe.
Not the man standing near the door.
Because everyone in that room understood something I refused to accept.
The impossible had already happened.
I grabbed the phone from Adrian's hand.
The message was still there.
The sender name.
The number.
Everything.
My fingers moved across the screen.
I pressed call.
For a moment, there was silence.
Then...
A connection.
My heart stopped.
The phone rang.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then someone answered.
But nobody spoke.
I held my breath.
"Hello?"
Nothing.
I looked at Adrian.
His expression changed.
He reached for the phone.
I pulled it away.
"No."
My voice was shaking.
"I need to know."
I listened harder.
And then I heard it.
A sound.
A small sound in the background.
A clock.
The same old wooden clock my father kept in his office.
The one that made a loud clicking noise every ten seconds.
I remembered it because I used to sit beside his desk as a child and count every sound.
My hand covered my mouth.
Because suddenly, I wasn't just hearing a stranger.
I was hearing a place from my past.
Then the call ended.
I stared at the screen.
The number disappeared.
Blocked.
I looked at Adrian.
"Who was that?"
He didn't answer.
"Adrian."
His eyes stayed on me.
"Your father was involved with people who disappear."
I felt anger rise inside me.
"Don't talk about him like he's a criminal."
Adrian didn't react.
"I didn't say he was."
"Then what are you saying?"
He looked at the screen.
"I'm saying someone wanted you to believe he was dead."
The room felt smaller.
I thought about my childhood.
The funeral.
The photographs.
My mother's crying face.
Everyone telling me the same thing.
My father was gone.
But now a dead man's phone number had just contacted me.
I turned toward Chloe.
"You knew about this."
She immediately shook her head.
"No."
"Don't lie to me."
"I'm not."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"I knew Ethan was hiding something. I knew he wasn't honest about why he came into your life. But I didn't know this."
I looked at her.
"You knew he was using me."
The guilt on her face answered before she did.
"I suspected."
That hurt more than I expected.
"Suspected?"
I laughed bitterly.
"You watched me fall in love with him while you suspected?"
Chloe looked down.
"I was trying to find proof."
"You could have told me."
"I tried."
I froze.
"What?"
She swallowed.
"I tried to tell you six months ago."
I stared at her.
"When?"
"The night you showed me the ring."
My heart tightened.
That night.
I remembered.
Chloe had seemed distant.
She barely smiled.
She had asked me strange questions.
"Do you know where Ethan lived before he met you?"
"Do you know his family?"
I thought she was just being protective.
I thought she was jealous.
I was wrong.
"What stopped you?"
Chloe looked at Adrian.
Then back at me.
"Someone threatened me."
The room went quiet.
"Who?"
She whispered:
"Ethan."
I felt cold.
"Ethan threatened you?"
She nodded.
"He told me if I said anything, he would make sure everyone believed I was obsessed with him and trying to ruin your relationship."
I couldn't breathe.
Because suddenly, Chloe wasn't the villain in the story I created.
Maybe she was another person trapped inside it.
Adrian walked toward the desk and opened another folder.
"I found something else."
I looked at him.
"What now?"
He placed a photograph on the table.
A photograph of Ethan.
But this time, he wasn't hiding.
He was standing beside someone.
An older woman.
The same woman from the security camera.
The woman Chloe recognized.
My supposed dead mother.
I stared at the image.
My mind refused to process it.
"That's not possible."
Adrian said nothing.
I picked up the photo.
The woman looked older.
Different.
But I knew those eyes.
I knew that face.
Because every night as a child, I looked at that face before going to sleep.
"My mother."
The word barely left my mouth.
Chloe stepped closer.
"I'm sorry."
I looked at her.
"For what?"
"Because I think she knew."
"Knew what?"
Chloe's voice became quieter.
"That your father wasn't really gone."
My entire body went numb.
I looked at Adrian.
"How much do you know?"
He didn't avoid my question.
"I know your father was investigating something before he disappeared."
"Disappeared."
I repeated.
"You keep using that word."
"Because it's accurate."
I stared at him.
"What was he investigating?"
Adrian looked at the documents.
"A network of people who used wealthy families, businesses, and relationships to gain control."
I frowned.
"Control?"
"Money. Information. Influence."
I laughed.
"So Ethan dated me for money?"
Adrian shook his head.
"No."
That answer surprised me.
"Then why?"
He looked at me.
"Because your father left something behind."
"What?"
"A key."
I waited.
But Adrian didn't continue.
"What key?"
He walked to the window.
"The kind of key that opens something people would kill to find."
A chill went through me.
"Where is it?"
Adrian looked back.
"We don't know."
Then his phone rang.
He answered immediately.
"Yes."
The expression on his face changed.
"What do you mean she's gone?"
I looked at him.
"Who?"
He ended the call.
"Your mother."
I froze.
"What?"
"The security team went to your apartment."
My heart dropped.
"Why?"
"Because Ethan was there."
I stood up.
"And?"
Adrian looked at me.
"They found Chloe's apartment empty."
I turned toward Chloe.
She looked confused.
"I don't understand."
Adrian continued.
"They also found something waiting for us."
"What?"
He opened a photo sent to his phone.
A picture of a table.
On the table was an old envelope.
My name was written across it.
HARPER QUINN.
My hands started shaking.
"Where did that come from?"
Adrian looked at me.
"Your childhood home."
I stared at the envelope.
That house had been sold after my father's death.
Nobody should have access to it.
Nobody.
Then Adrian zoomed into the corner of the picture.
There was a small symbol drawn in black ink.
A symbol I recognized.
Because my father used to draw it on every birthday card he gave me.
A circle.
With a line through the middle.
My father's secret mark.
I stepped closer.
"Open it."
Adrian didn't move.
"Harper."
"What?"
His eyes met mine.
"Your father wrote this letter fifteen years ago."
My breathing stopped.
"How would he know my name?"
Adrian looked at the envelope again.
Then he said:
"Because the letter wasn't written after he disappeared."
A pause.
"It was written before he died."
I felt my chest tighten.
"Then why are you hesitating?"
Adrian looked at Chloe.
Then at me.
"Because there is one thing you need to understand first."
"What?"
His voice became quiet.
"The person who delivered this letter is still alive."
I stared at him.
"Who?"
Adrian slowly turned the envelope around.
There was another name written underneath mine.
A name I had never expected to see.
A name that made Chloe step backward.
Because she recognized it.
And then the office lights suddenly went out.
A second later, Adrian's security alarm started ringing.
May you like
Someone had entered the building.
And the elevator stopped on our floor.
