Chapter 9: The Truth About My Mother
Chapter 9: The Truth About My Mother
The call ended before I could ask another question.
I stood frozen, staring at the phone screen.
My mother.
A word that carried both warmth and pain.
A word I had avoided thinking about for years.
Because my mother had been the one mystery in my life that nobody wanted to discuss.
Whenever I asked about her, my father gave me the same answer.
“She left because she needed a different life.”
That was all.
No details.
No explanation.
No memories.
Just silence.
As a child, I accepted it.
As an adult, I stopped asking.
Because I believed some wounds were too painful to reopen.
But now Victoria had opened that wound.
And my father’s reaction told me everything.
He knew.
I turned slowly toward him.
“Dad.”
He didn’t look at me.
That was the first time in my life I saw him unable to meet my eyes.
“What happened to Mom?”
He stayed silent.
“Dad.”
My voice became stronger.
“I deserve the truth.”
He walked back to his desk and sat down.
For a moment, he looked older than I had ever seen him.
Not like a billionaire.
Not like a powerful businessman.
Just a man carrying decades of regret.
“Your mother didn’t leave.”
The words hit me harder than I expected.
I stopped breathing for a second.
“What?”
My father looked at me.
“She didn’t abandon us.”
“Then where did she go?”
He looked down.
“She disappeared.”
The room became silent.
“Disappeared?”
He nodded.
“Twenty years ago.”
I felt my heart tighten.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t know who I could trust.”
I shook my head.
“Even me?”
His expression broke slightly.
“Especially you.”
The answer hurt.
“Why?”
“Because you were a child.”
“I was your daughter.”
“And that was exactly why.”
He took a deep breath.
“Your mother discovered something.”
“Something connected to my companies.”
I crossed my arms.
“What?”
My father hesitated.
“Before Vale International became powerful, I worked with people who were not like me.”
“People who believed money gave them the right to control everything.”
“Your mother discovered they were involved in illegal operations.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who?”
My father looked at me.
“People connected to the same network Victoria is using today.”
The room felt colder.
“So this started twenty years ago?”
“Yes.”
I walked toward the desk.
“Then Victoria knew about Mom?”
“Yes.”
“Did she have something to do with her disappearance?”
My father’s jaw tightened.
“I don’t know.”
The answer surprised me.
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
For the first time, I heard uncertainty in his voice.
“And that is what has haunted me for two decades.”
The next morning, my father gave me access to an old archive.
A place I had never entered.
A hidden room beneath his private office.
The door required a fingerprint.
His.
And mine.
When it opened, I realized something.
My father had not created this room recently.
It had existed for years.
Inside were thousands of documents.
Photographs.
Reports.
Recordings.
Everything about the enemies he had spent his life fighting.
At the center of the room was a single box.
My name was written on it.
Evelyn.
I looked at my father.
“This is mine?”
He nodded.
“It was supposed to be given to you when you were ready.”
“When did you decide I was ready?”
He looked at me.
“When you survived Nathan.”
I opened the box.
Inside was a letter.
The handwriting immediately made my hands shake.
Because I recognized it.
I had seen it only in old photographs.
My mother’s handwriting.
I unfolded the paper.
My dear Evelyn,
If you are reading this, it means your father finally trusted you with the truth.
My heart raced.
The letter continued.
I need you to understand something.
Your father is not the enemy.
He will make mistakes.
He will hide things.
But everything he did was because he was afraid of losing you.
I looked at my father.
He looked away.
The letter continued.
The people who came after me will eventually come after you.
They will try to convince you that your family is the problem.
They will tell you your father is hiding the truth.
Some of what they say may be true.
But remember this:
A person can hide information and still love you.
Not everyone who keeps secrets is trying to hurt you.
I stopped reading for a moment.
Because my mother had somehow predicted everything.
Then I continued.
The most dangerous person is not the one who lies.
It is the one who tells half the truth.
My hands tightened around the paper.
Because I knew exactly who that described.
Victoria.
The letter ended with one final sentence.
Trust your instincts, Evelyn. They are the reason you survived.
I slowly lowered the paper.
My father watched me.
“What else did she write?”
I looked at him.
“She knew.”
He frowned.
“She knew about people like Victoria.”
He nodded.
“I believe so.”
Before we could say anything else, an alarm suddenly sounded.
The lights in the underground room turned red.
My father immediately became alert.
“What happened?”
One of his security officers appeared on the screen.
“Sir.”
His voice was tense.
“We have a problem.”
My father stepped closer.
“What?”
The officer swallowed.
“Someone accessed the Blackthorn files.”
My father’s face changed.
“That’s impossible.”
“There’s more.”
A pause.
“The access code used…”
He looked directly at the camera.
“Was Evelyn’s.”
I froze.
My father turned toward me.
But I already knew.
Someone had used my identity.
Again.
And this time...
They weren’t pretending.
They were sending a message.
A message that said:
May you like
I can reach you anywhere.
To be continued...
