Chapter 6 - ELENA MARLOWEElena had spent nearly three years inside the Vance mansion.
She had cleaned bedrooms.
Cooked meals.
Carried packages.
Watched Leo grow.
She had never once imagined that her own identity was connected to the family she served.
Yet now every detail seemed to shift.
Her memory.
Her childhood.
The old scars she never understood.
The strange nightmares she had carried since she was young.
A woman singing.
A red door.
A little girl hiding beneath a table.
A man's voice saying:
“Forget her.”
Elena sat across from Detective Mason.
“What are you saying?”
Mason placed the photograph on the table.
“You may be connected to Claire Vance.”
Arthur stared at Elena.
“No.”
Victoria looked away.
“You know something,” Elena said.
Victoria remained silent.
Elena stood.
“Tell me.”
Victoria's voice finally broke.
“Claire had two daughters.”
Arthur looked at Elena.
“One disappeared.”
“And the other?”
“Was declared dead.”
Elena shook her head.
“Then who am I?”
Victoria whispered:
“Mara.”
The word seemed to strike Elena physically.
“No.”
“You were five years old when you disappeared.”
“I don't remember.”
“They made sure you wouldn't.”
Arthur stepped toward her.
“Why would they do that?”
Victoria looked at him with exhausted eyes.
“Because your father wanted control.”
Arthur's face hardened.
“What did my father do?”
“He arranged for Mara to be taken away.”
“Why?”
“Because Claire was preparing to expose him.”
Arthur stared.
“Expose him for what?”
Victoria lowered her voice.
“For stealing money from the family trust.”
Mason interrupted.
“That doesn't explain a kidnapping.”
Victoria shook her head.
“There was more.”
She looked at Elena.
“Claire discovered that Arthur's father had been laundering money through several companies.”
Arthur stared.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“And Claire knew?”
“Yes.”
“She threatened to expose him?”
“She did.”
“And he took Mara?”
“He took both girls.”
Elena felt sick.
“Where is Evelyn?”
Victoria's face changed.
“I don't know.”
Arthur stepped forward.
“You do.”
“I swear I don't.”
Then Elena remembered something.
A tiny scar near her shoulder.
She had always had it.
A crescent-shaped mark.
Arthur noticed.
His face went pale.
Claire had told him about that mark.
“That's Mara.”
Elena backed away.
“You knew me?”
Arthur's eyes filled with regret.
“When you were five.”
“Then why didn't you recognize me?”
“You had a different name.”
“What was it?”
Arthur whispered:
“Maria.”
Elena stared.
“Why did I become Elena?”
Victoria answered.
“Because someone changed your records.”
Mason received a message from an officer.
His expression tightened.
“We found a birth record.”
He placed the document on the table.
It listed:
MARIA VANCE
Born seventeen years ago.
Mother: Claire Vance.
Father: Arthur Vance.
But beneath the original information was another name.
ELENA MARLOWE.
The identity had been legally constructed.
Mason looked at Arthur.
“This wasn't an accident.”
Arthur's phone vibrated.
A new message appeared.
A photograph.
It showed Elena as a small child.
Standing beside Claire.
Under the image was a sentence:
ASK HER WHAT SHE SAW THE NIGHT SHE DISAPPEARED.
Elena closed her eyes.
And suddenly remembered.
A red door.
A man carrying gasoline.
Claire screaming.
And someone dragging her away.
She opened her eyes.
“It was Victoria.”
Victoria froze.
Elena pointed at her.
“You were there.”
Victoria's face collapsed.
“Yes.”
Arthur stared.
“You kidnapped my daughter?”
Victoria whispered:
“I was trying to save her.”
Elena shook her head.
“From whom?”
May you like
Victoria answered:
“From you.”
Related Stories
