Chapter 2 - The Woman Who DiedNeither of us moved.
Three knocks.
Slow.
Precise.
Someone was standing outside.
Dad grabbed my wrist.
"Don't answer."
I pulled away.
"Who is it?"
He didn't speak.
Another three knocks.
This time harder.
I glanced at the deadbolt.
My pulse hammered.
"How did they know where I live?"
Dad stared at the door.
"They didn't."
"What does that mean?"
He looked at me.
"They followed me."
A shadow passed beneath the doorway.
Then the hallway went quiet.
Dad whispered, "Back window."
My apartment was on the fourth floor.
"Are you insane?"
He ignored me.
He crossed the room and pulled the curtains aside.
Across the street, a black SUV sat beneath a broken streetlamp.
Someone was sitting inside.
Watching.
Dad's voice dropped.
"There's another thing you need to know."
I turned.
"Maya didn't just survive."
He hesitated.
"She disappeared."
"From where?"
"From a hospital."
"When?"
"The night she was supposed to die."
I stared at him.
"You knew?"
His silence answered for him.
"You knew she was alive for ten years?"
"No."
"You just said you saw her three weeks ago."
"I didn't know who she was at first."
"What does that mean?"
Dad rubbed his forehead.
"After you left, things happened."
"Things?"
"Your mother..."
He stopped.
The mention of Mom hit me like a slap.
"What about Mom?"
He looked away.
"She got sick."
"When?"
"Two years after you left."
"And you never told me."
"I tried."
"No."
My voice rose.
"You never tried."
His face crumpled.
"Your mother told me not to contact you."
That stopped me.
"Why?"
"Because she knew someone was watching the family."
I shook my head.
"You're lying."
"I wish I were."
He pulled another photograph from his pocket.
This one showed Mom.
Standing beside Jake.
Older.
Very alive.
My knees nearly gave out.
"Where was this taken?"
"Six months ago."
I couldn't speak.
Dad stared at the floor.
"Your mother never died."
The entire world seemed to shrink to those five words.
For ten years, I had believed she was gone.
For ten years, I had never visited a grave.
Because Dad told me there wasn't enough money for the funeral.
Because he said Mom wanted to be cremated privately.
Because Jake never talked about her.
And now...
Mom was alive.
I looked at the photograph.
She was standing beside a house I'd never seen.
And Jake was smiling.
Not the fake smile he'd worn around Dad.
A real one.
"What have you done to them?"
Dad looked offended.
"Nothing."
"Liar."
"I was trying to protect them."
"From who?"
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Then my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
I answered.
No one spoke.
"Hello?"
A woman's breathing filled the line.
Then a whisper.
"Evan?"
My blood turned cold.
I knew that voice.
Maya.
"Maya?"
She breathed shakily.
"Don't trust your father."
The line clicked dead.
I stared at Dad.
He was already moving toward the door.
"What are you doing?"
"Leaving."
"Why?"
He looked at the locked door.
"Because if Maya called you, they know she did."
The hallway outside suddenly filled with footsteps.
Several people.
Running.
Dad grabbed the phone from my hand.
"Evan, listen to me."
"What?"
"Your brother didn't disappear."
I stared at him.
"He was taken."
"By who?"
Dad looked at the floor.
"The same people who tried to kill Maya."
He lowered his voice.
May you like
"And the same people who have been trying to find your mother for ten years."
Then the apartment door exploded inward.
