Chapter 5: The Family That Lied
I couldn’t stop staring at the photograph.
My grandmother’s face looked back at me.
The woman who had hugged me every Sunday.
The woman who brought me cookies after school.
The woman who cried with me when my father told me Mom was gone.
She had been there.
The whole time.
“No,” I whispered.
My mother took the photo from my hand.
The moment she saw it, she stepped backward.
“Where did you get this?””
Daniel looked at her carefully.
“I told you. From the person who wanted the truth exposed.””
My mother’s breathing became uneven.
“My mother wouldn’t do this.””
Daniel didn’t respond.
That silence hurt more than an answer.
I shook my head.
“She loved you.””
My mother looked at me.
“I thought she did.””
Those words scared me.
Because my mother had spent four years believing everyone she loved had turned against her.
And now I was watching her lose another person.
“We need to talk somewhere private,” Daniel said.
My mother immediately refused.
“No.””
“Claire—”
“I said no.””
Daniel lowered his voice.
“You don’t have the luxury of pretending anymore.””
My mother looked furious.
Then scared.
Then tired.
Finally, she nodded.
We drove to a small diner several miles away from the school.
The kind of place where nobody would notice us.
Rain tapped against the windows.
I sat across from my mother and Daniel while trying to process the impossible.
My father.
My stepmother.
My grandmother.
Everyone had been hiding something.
Daniel placed a folder on the table.
“Your father and Vanessa were not planning to kill your mother at first.””
I looked at him.
“What?””
“They wanted custody.””
My mother looked down.
“They wanted Lena because of the trust fund.””
My eyebrows pulled together.
“What trust fund?””
Nobody answered immediately.
That was enough.
“You’re kidding.””
My mother reached for my hand.
“Lena…”
“No.””
I pulled away.
“You all knew something about me that I didn’t?””
Daniel sighed.
“Your grandfather created an account for you before he died. It was supposed to become available when you turned eighteen.””
My graduation day.
My eighteenth birthday had been two months earlier.
The timing suddenly made sense.
“They waited until I was old enough?””
My mother nodded.
“Your father knew.””
My stomach twisted.
“So this wasn’t about me.””
My mother’s eyes filled with tears.
“It was always about you.””
“But not because they loved me.””
Nobody spoke.
That was the answer.
The diner door opened.
A woman walked inside.
An older woman.
Gray hair.
Elegant coat.
My mother immediately stood.
“Mom.””
My grandmother stopped.
For a second, nobody moved.
Then my grandmother looked at me.
“Lena.””
Her voice was shaking.
I felt anger rise inside me.
“You knew.””
She closed her eyes.
“I was trying to protect you.””
I laughed.
Everyone kept saying that.
Protect.
Protect.
Protect.
But somehow protection always looked like lies.
“You watched me mourn my mother.””
My grandmother started crying.
“I thought she was dead.””
My mother stared at her.
“What?””
My grandmother looked at Daniel.
Then at me.
“I didn’t know Marcus survived either.””
The room went silent.
“What are you talking about?”” my mother asked.
My grandmother sat down slowly.
“The night your car went off the mountain…”
She looked at my mother.
“Marcus wasn’t the only person who disappeared.””
My mother’s face went pale.
“What did you just say?””
My grandmother opened her purse.
She pulled out an old envelope.
“I received this three days after the crash.””
She placed it on the table.
The handwriting on the front made my mother freeze.
Because it wasn’t Marcus’s handwriting.
It wasn’t Vanessa’s.
It was hers.
My mother’s.
The envelope was addressed:
*To Lena.*
My mother whispered:
“I never wrote that.””
My grandmother looked at her.
“That’s why I kept it.””
May you like
She pushed the envelope toward me.
“Because whoever wrote it knew your mother’s secrets.””
