Chapter 7: The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
My fingers went numb around the phone.
For several seconds, I couldn’t even understand what I was seeing.
The name at the top of the message remained unchanged.
*Mom.*
Not a stranger.
Not an unknown number.
Not someone pretending.
My mother.
The woman I had buried fifteen years ago.
The woman whose funeral I remembered in painful pieces.
The black dress.
The rain.
My father standing beside me with hollow eyes.
The empty feeling of realizing I would never hear her voice again.
But now she had sent me a message.
*Emma, trust nobody. I’m alive.*
“Emma?””
Daniel’s voice sounded far away.
I couldn’t look away from the screen.
“It’s impossible.””
Mark stared at my phone.
And for the first time since I met him, I saw something I never expected.
Pure terror.
“You need to delete that message,” he whispered.
My head snapped toward him.
“What?””
“Emma, listen to me.””
“No.””
My voice came out stronger than I expected.
“You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore.””
Mark looked like he wanted to argue.
Then he stopped.
Because he knew I was right.
Daniel took the phone from my hand carefully.
“Who sent this?””
I swallowed.
“My mother.””
The silence that followed felt unreal.
Victoria stepped closer.
“Show me.””
Daniel handed her the phone.
Her expression changed immediately.
“She knows.””
“Knows what?”” I asked.
Victoria looked at me.
“That you found the truth.””
I shook my head.
“No. My mother died.””
Victoria’s eyes softened.
“Did you see her body?””
The question hit me like a wave.
I opened my mouth.
Then stopped.
Because the answer was no.
I had seen a closed casket.
I had seen photographs.
I had seen people cry.
But I had never seen my mother.
Daniel noticed my expression.
“Emma…”
“I was told she was gone.””
Nobody said anything.
Because everyone understood the difference.
Being told someone was dead was not the same as knowing.
Mark stepped forward.
“Emma, you need to leave.””
I looked at him.
“Why?””
“Because whoever sent that message wants something.””
I laughed bitterly.
“And you don’t?””
His face tightened.
“That’s not fair.””
“Fair?””
I pointed at my phone.
“My dead mother just texted me, Mark.””
The pain in his expression almost looked real.
Almost.
“Please.””
That word surprised me.
Mark never begged.
Not once.
“I’m asking you to listen to me.””
Daniel moved between us.
“You’ve done enough.””
Mark looked at him.
“You don’t know what you’re protecting her from.””
Daniel’s voice was cold.
“Neither do you.””
The officers approached.
One of them looked at Mark.
“Sir, we need to ask you some questions.””
Mark didn’t resist.
But before he walked away, he looked back at me.
“Emma.””
I didn’t answer.
“There’s a reason your mother stayed hidden.””
My heart stopped.
“What reason?””
His eyes moved toward Victoria.
“Because she wasn’t hiding from us.””
A chill ran through me.
“Then who was she hiding from?””
Mark opened his mouth.
But before he could answer, the officer touched his shoulder.
“Now.””
Mark walked away.
And somehow, seeing him leave didn’t make me feel safer.
It made me feel like the biggest danger had just stepped out of sight.
Three hours later, I sat in Daniel’s SUV outside a quiet apartment building.
The city lights reflected against the window.
I held the old photograph Victoria had given me.
My mother.
My father.
Mark.
Three people connected by a story I never knew existed.
“I should have told you sooner,” Daniel said.
I looked at him.
“Told me what?””
He sighed.
“About the trust.””
I looked away.
“Why didn’t you?””
“Because every time I tried to reach you, Mark intercepted me.””
“That’s not an answer.””
Daniel was quiet.
Then he said:
“Because I was afraid.””
That surprised me.
“You?””
He nodded.
“Your father wasn’t just wealthy, Emma. He knew things. He kept records. He trusted the wrong people.””
I looked at the photograph.
“And Mark?””
Daniel looked out the window.
“Mark was a scared young man who made choices he couldn’t undo.””
“That sounds like you’re defending him.””
“I’m not.””
He turned toward me.
“I’m saying there are different kinds of villains.””
I looked down.
“And what kind is Mark?””
Daniel didn’t answer.
Because neither of us knew anymore.
My phone buzzed.
A new message.
This time, there was an address.
No explanation.
No name.
Just:
*Come alone if you want the truth about your mother.*
Daniel saw my face.
“What happened?””
I locked the phone.
“Nothing.””
He immediately knew I was lying.
“Emma.””
I looked at the address again.
A decision formed inside me.
For three years, Mark controlled where I went.
Who I saw.
What I knew.
Not anymore.
“I need to go somewhere.””
Daniel shook his head.
“Absolutely not alone.””
I looked at him.
“If my mother is alive, I need answers.””
“And if it’s a trap?””
I stared out the window.
“Then I need to know who set it.””
Daniel reached for his keys.
But I stopped him.
“No.””
“Emma—”
“I spent years letting other people protect me.””
I opened the door.
“Now I protect myself.””
But when I arrived at the address twenty minutes later, I realized one thing.
I wasn’t the only person who had been waiting.
May you like
Because standing outside the abandoned building was a woman with tears in her eyes.
A woman who looked exactly like the mother I remembered.
