Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Raised MeMy aunt Elena lived in Connecticut.
She had raised me after my mother died.
She had been the one who packed my school lunches.
The one who sat beside my bed when I had nightmares.
The one who told me my father had abandoned us.
The woman who had cried at my graduation.
And now Ethan was telling me she had just moved forty million dollars.
I refused to believe it.
“She wouldn’t.”
Ethan looked at me.
“Everyone says that about family.”
We drove to her house.
The mansion looked exactly as I remembered.
White columns.
Perfect gardens.
A fountain in the center.
My childhood.
I knocked.
No answer.
Ethan’s security team checked the property.
Nothing.
Then I noticed the front door was unlocked.
We entered.
The house was silent.
Too silent.
A glass of wine sat on the kitchen counter.
Still cold.
I walked into the living room.
There was a photograph on the mantel.
My mother.
My father.
Aunt Elena.
And a fourth person.
A man I had never seen.
“Who is that?” I asked.
Ethan stepped closer.
His face went pale.
“That’s Victor Kane.”
“Who?”
“My father’s former business partner.”
“Is he alive?”
“No.”
“When did he die?”
“Twenty years ago.”
I stared at the photograph.
Three dead people.
One mystery.
Then Ethan spotted something behind the frame.
A small key.
He pulled it out.
There was a number engraved into it.
317.
“Locker?” I asked.
“Probably.”
We found the locker in Grand Central.
Inside was a steel box.
My hands trembled as I opened it.
There were passports.
Fake IDs.
Bank cards.
Photos.
And a birth certificate.
I pulled it out.
The name was mine.
But under “mother,” there was a name I had never seen before.
Not my mother.
Not Elena.
Another woman.
I looked at Ethan.
“Who is she?”
He read the name.
Then looked at me with an expression I had never seen before.
“You know this woman.”
“I don’t.”
“Yes.”
He pointed to the photograph inside the box.
It showed a younger version of the woman.
Standing beside my mother.
My heart stopped.
Because I recognized her.
It was my grandmother.
A woman I had been told died before I was born.
“That’s impossible.”
Ethan shook his head.
“She didn’t die.”
I stared at the certificate.
“What are you saying?”
“Your grandmother was alive when you were born.”
“Then why did everyone tell me she was dead?”
“We need to find her.”
A voice came from behind us.
“You already did.”
We turned.
A woman stood in the doorway.
Old.
Pale.
Holding a gun.
I stepped backward.
She looked directly at me.
“You have your mother’s eyes.”
My heart pounded.
“Who are you?”
She lowered the gun.
“You’ve been asking the wrong questions.”
Ethan moved in front of me.
“Who are you?”
The woman looked at him.
“Daniel told me you would come.”
Ethan froze.
“You knew my brother?”
She nodded.
“He came here the night before he died.”
“What did he tell you?”
Her eyes returned to me.
“He said the girl must never know.”
I swallowed.
“What girl?”
The woman answered softly.
“You.”
“Know what?”
She looked at Ethan.
Then back at me.
“Your mother was not murdered because of the money.”
“Then why?”
The woman’s eyes filled with fear.
“Because she knew who your father really was.”
I whispered:
“My father?”
She nodded.
“Your father was not abandoned.”
“He was taken.”
“By whom?”
The woman looked toward the hallway.
Then she said:
“By the man who now controls your life.”
A gunshot exploded.
The woman collapsed.
I screamed.
And from the darkness came a voice.
“Run, Mara.”
May you like
It was my father.
End of Chapter 5.
