Chapter 12: The Truth Patricia Feared
We didn't leave the restaurant immediately.
Nobody could.
The message sat between us like a ticking clock.
*If she finds out, everything falls apart.*
I read it again.
And again.
“Who is ‘she’?”” Daniel asked.
Marcus looked at me.
“I think it's you.””
My stomach dropped.
“Me?””
He nodded.
“Patricia was afraid you would remember.””
“Remember what?””
Nobody answered.
Because suddenly everyone was looking at Patricia.
She wasn't there.
But somehow, she was still controlling the room.
That night, Daniel and I returned home and searched through every document we had.
Not because we wanted more secrets.
Because we needed the truth.
At midnight, I found an old box in my closet.
A box I hadn't opened in years.
Inside were things from my hometown.
Old photos.
Letters.
A journal.
Daniel sat beside me as I opened it.
“You don't have to do this alone.””
I nodded.
The first pages were ordinary.
School memories.
Friends.
Dreams.
Then I found the entries about Marcus.
And the night everything changed.
I read silently.
Then I stopped.
Daniel noticed.
“What?””
I handed him the journal.
His eyes moved across the page.
“What is this?””
My voice was barely audible.
“I don't remember writing that.””
The entry was dated twenty-three years earlier.
It described a night I had completely forgotten.
A car.
A storm.
A conversation with Patricia.
Daniel looked at me.
“Your mother-in-law was there?””
I nodded slowly.
“She found me after I left Marcus.””
The memories started returning.
The fear.
The rain.
The panic.
Patricia had found me sitting alone in my car.
She had brought me home.
She had promised she would help.
But the journal contained one sentence that made my blood run cold.
*Patricia said nobody else needed to know.*
I looked at Daniel.
“She knew before she met you.””
He looked confused.
“About what?””
I kept reading.
Then I found the next page.
A page that had been torn.
Someone had removed part of the story.
But underneath the torn edge was a name.
Not Marcus.
Not Lucas.
Another name.
A name I had never heard.
*Ethan Hayes.*
Daniel stared.
“Hayes?””
I looked at him.
“Your family?””
He didn't answer.
Because he knew.
Ethan was Patricia's maiden name.
Her brother.
Someone Daniel had never mentioned.
“Who is Ethan?””
Daniel stood slowly.
“I don't know.””
I looked at him.
“You don't know your own uncle?””
“I was told he died before I was born.””
The room went silent.
I picked up my phone.
I searched the name.
And found something.
An old article.
A missing person report.
A photograph.
A man who looked familiar.
Too familiar.
Daniel leaned closer.
Then whispered:
“That's impossible.””
“What?””
He pointed at the screen.
“That man…”
He swallowed.
“That man is my father’s brother.””
I stared at the photograph.
Because the man in the picture wasn't just connected to Patricia.
He was connected to Mia.
May you like
At the bottom of the article was one sentence.
*Last seen leaving the hospital on the night Emily Carter gave birth.*
