Chapter 4 - The Woman In The SmokeI ran toward the apartment.
Ethan grabbed my arm.
“Maya, wait!”
“I heard her!”
We pushed through the smoke.
Inside, flames had started along the kitchen curtains.
Then I saw a figure near the balcony.
Lauren.
She was on the floor.
Someone had tied her wrist to a chair.
I dropped beside her.
“Lauren!”
She looked at me, coughing.
“You came.”
“Who did this?”
“I don't know.”
Ethan cut the restraint with a nearby kitchen knife.
We pulled her away as firefighters rushed in.
Outside, the hallway filled with alarms and shouting.
Lauren was shaking.
Her hair was wet from the sprinkler system.
Her expensive suit was ruined.
She looked nothing like the woman from the restaurant.
She looked broken.
An ambulance took her to the hospital.
We followed.
For two hours, she refused to speak.
Then she finally said,
“Daniel is alive.”
I stared at her.
“You said he disappeared.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
“Because he came back.”
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
Ethan leaned forward.
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“What does he want?”
Lauren closed her eyes.
“Revenge.”
“For your father?”
“For everyone.”
I looked at her.
“Why am I involved?”
She whispered,
“Because your mother knew.”
I froze.
“What?”
“Your mother knew about the money.”
“No.”
“She worked at one of the businesses connected to my father's company.”
I shook my head.
“My mother cleaned hotel rooms.”
“Yes.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
Lauren looked at me.
“Your mother wasn't just a cleaner.”
I couldn't speak.
“She discovered records.”
“What records?”
“The ledger.”
I remembered the photocopy.
The repeated initials.
M.P.
My mother.
Maya Pierce.
I felt dizzy.
“You said those were my initials.”
Lauren nodded.
“Your mother used your name for some accounts.”
“Why?”
“To protect herself.”
Ethan took my hand.
“Let's slow down.”
I stood.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“I want everything.”
Lauren swallowed.
“Your mother found out that my father was transferring money through fake companies. She copied the records.”
“Then what happened?”
“My father found out.”
“He threatened her?”
“He did worse.”
The room went silent.
“What?”
“He destroyed the evidence.”
My voice became colder.
“And my mother?”
“She was fired.”
“That’s it?”
Lauren looked away.
“No.”
“What happened?”
“She was followed.”
I felt my heart pound.
“By whom?”
“Daniel.”
“Why would Daniel follow my mother?”
“Because he was trying to protect her.”
I laughed once, without humor.
“This is insane.”
Lauren reached into her bag.
She pulled out an old envelope.
“This is why.”
She handed it to me.
Inside was a photograph.
My mother stood outside a hotel.
Beside her was Daniel.
Both were looking directly at the camera.
On the back was a date.
August 14, 2009.
I stared.
My mother had never mentioned Daniel.
Not once.
There was another photograph.
This time my mother was sitting at a restaurant table.
Across from her sat a man.
I recognized him.
Marcus Vale.
Lauren watched my reaction.
“He wasn't working for my father anymore,” she said.
“He was working with your mother.”
I looked at the photograph.
A small envelope sat on the table between them.
Stamped with the words:
BENNETT FAMILY TRUST
I raised my eyes.
“Why is my husband's family's name on this?”
Lauren didn't answer.
Ethan took the photograph from me.
His expression changed.
“My family never had a connection to your mother's workplace.”
Lauren shook her head.
“You did.”
“How?”
“Because your father's firm financed one of my father's companies.”
Ethan stared at her.
“That account was closed years ago.”
“Not according to the ledger.”
Silence.
I stood there, hearing my own heartbeat.
The restaurant humiliation.
The forged invoices.
The ledger.
Daniel.
My mother.
Ethan's family.
None of it was random.
Someone had spent years building a web around people who believed the past was dead.
Then Ethan's phone rang.
He answered.
His face went pale.
“What?”
He listened.
Then looked at me.
“Maya...”
I knew something was wrong.
“What?”
He ended the call.
“The Bennett family archive was broken into last night.”
“What was stolen?”
May you like
He stared at the photograph in my hand.
“Your mother's file.”
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