We stood beneath the trees while rain fell through the branches.
Valeria held the photograph with both hands.
“Jonah,” she whispered.
My mother stared at the boy.
“I remember him.”
“Where?”
She closed her eyes.
“In that house.”
“What happened there?”
“I was told to bring food.”
“By Dad?”
“No.”
She opened her eyes.
“By Elias.”
Margaret looked at the photograph.
“Then Jonah was alive.”
“He was,” my mother said.
“What happened to him?”
“I don't know.”
My mother remembered more now.
She remembered Evelyn sitting on the floor with a baby in her arms.
She remembered my father arguing with Elias.
She remembered Chloe standing in a doorway.
She remembered being told that if she spoke about what she saw, everyone would suffer.
“I was afraid,” she said.
Valeria took her hand.
“You didn't know what was going to happen.”
“I knew enough.”
My mother looked at her.
“I should have taken you both and left.”
Valeria shook her head.
“You couldn't have.”
“I could have tried.”
The grief between them was quieter than before.
It no longer belonged only to the past.
It belonged to everything they had lost while believing they were protecting each other.
Margaret examined the photograph again.
“There is writing on the front.”
We looked closer.
Behind Jonah, barely visible on the wall, was a number.
17.
Valeria recognized it.
“That's the room.”
“What room?”
“The room where I was held.”
I looked at her.
“You were held in the same property?”
“Yes.”
Margaret studied the photograph.
“Then Jonah may have been there too.”
We returned to the property through a different entrance.
The basement was empty.
My father, Elias, and Daniel were gone.
Blood stained the floor near the doorway.
My mother stopped.
“Is that Thomas's?”
“I don't know,” I said.
Valeria searched the room.
“Here.”
She had found a second metal cabinet.
Inside were dozens of files.
The first contained Chloe's records.
The second contained Evelyn's.
The third contained Jonah's.
His file included photographs, medical records, and handwritten observations.
One page made my blood run cold.
Jonah witnessed the transfer.
Another said:
Do not allow him to speak with Valeria.
Margaret looked at me.
“Witnessed what?”
Valeria turned another page.
There was an old newspaper photograph.
A house had burned.
The article described a fire that had killed a woman whose identity was never confirmed.
The date was the same month Evelyn disappeared.
My mother covered her mouth.
“Evelyn.”
Valeria looked at her.
“Was that her?”
“I don't know.”
Margaret shook her head.
“There was no confirmed body.”
“Then she could still have been alive.”
We searched deeper.
Finally, we found a letter.
It was from Evelyn.
She wrote that Elias had threatened her.
She wrote that she had hidden evidence.
She wrote that Jonah knew where it was.
And she named one person she believed could help.
Thomas.
My father.
Valeria stared at the page.
“He tried to help her.”
My mother nodded.
“He did.”
“Then why didn't he?”
“Because Elias threatened you.”
My mother looked at me.
“He threatened all of us.”
A sound came from the corridor.
We turned.
Daniel stood there.
He was holding his hands above his head.
“Don't shoot.”
Nobody had a gun.
Still, he looked terrified.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Elias is gone.”
“Where is my father?”
Daniel hesitated.
“He's alive.”
Valeria stepped forward.
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because I want out.”
Margaret studied him.
“Tell us everything.”
Daniel looked at the files.
“Elias ordered Chloe's death.”
Valeria closed her eyes.
“Why?”
“She had evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“Records proving Jonah was alive.”
“Where is Jonah now?”
Daniel swallowed.
“He was moved.”
“Where?”
“Another facility.”
“Name.”
“I don't know.”
Valeria grabbed his jacket.
“You know.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I know the person who arranged it.”
“Who?”
He whispered the name.
“Your father's mother.”
My mother stared at him.
“My mother?”
Daniel shook his head.
“No. Your father's mother.”
“My grandmother.”
“She was alive when Evelyn disappeared.”
The room fell silent.
My mother whispered, “She died twenty years ago.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Officially.”
Valeria released him.
“How many people are alive under false identities?”
Daniel looked at her.
“More than you think.”
Margaret immediately reached for her phone.
“We need federal investigators.”
Daniel nodded.
“I'll give you everything.”
He handed her a small memory card.
“It contains the accounts.”
Margaret took it.
Then a phone rang.
Not ours.
Daniel froze.
His face went white.
“Don't answer.”
Nobody moved.
The ringing stopped.
A message appeared on Daniel's phone.
You were warned.
Then another.
The screen displayed a photograph.
My father was sitting in a chair.
His hands were tied.
Behind him stood Elias.
And beside Elias stood a woman I had never seen before.
Valeria looked at the photograph.
Then she stopped breathing.
“That's her.”
“Who?”
“The woman from Evelyn's file.”
My mother stared at the screen.
“I know her.”
“Who is she?”
My mother whispered a name.
“Evelyn.”
Nobody spoke.
The woman in the photograph was older now.
Her hair was gray.
But the face was unmistakable.
Valeria's aunt was alive.
And she was standing beside the man who had spent twenty-six years making sure everyone believed she was dead.
The phone rang again.
This time the message contained only an address.
Underneath it were six words.
Come alone, or your father dies.
Valeria looked at me.
“I have to go.”
“No.”
“He has Dad.”
“He wants you alone.”
“I know.”
“That means it's a trap.”
Valeria looked at the photograph of Evelyn.
“Maybe.”
She folded the photograph and put it into her pocket.
“But it's the first real chance we've had to find out what happened.”
My mother caught her hand.
“You're not going alone.”
Valeria looked at her.
For seven years, my mother had prayed for a daughter she believed was dead.
Now she refused to lose her a second time.
Margaret picked up the memory card.
“We go together.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
We all looked at him.
“If Elias wants Valeria, he'll be watching the roads.”
I looked toward the dark windows.
“Then how do we reach him?”
Daniel's answer was barely audible.
“There is another way into the property.”
He looked at Valeria.
“The way Jonah used.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 9: The Hidden Route Jonah Once Used Led Beneath the Property, Where We Found Proof That Someone Had Been Preserving the Family’s Darkest Secrets
The Face on the Television Was Supposed to Belong to a Dead Woman, Until She Spoke My Name and Changed Everything
Part 8 of 26
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