Chapter 13 - THE LAST SAFE PLACE
Maya did not sleep that night.
She sat beside the bedroom window while Daniel slept beside their son.
Outside, rain moved across the glass.
Her entire life had become a collection of questions.
Who was her mother?
Where had her father gone?
Why had Vance hidden the truth?
Who had ordered the attack?
And who was still watching her?
At three in the morning, her phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
One message.
STOP LOOKING.
Maya stared at it.
Another message arrived.
YOUR FATHER DIDN'T SAVE YOU. HE SOLD YOU.
She felt sick.
Daniel woke.
“What happened?”
She showed him.
His expression changed.
“Call Vance.”
“No.”
“Maya.”
“I don't know who I can trust anymore.”
Daniel sat beside her.
“Then trust me.”
She looked at him.
He took her hand.
“I don't care what happened twenty-four years ago. I'm here now.”
Maya leaned against him.
For a moment, she allowed herself to breathe.
Then another message appeared.
A photograph.
Her house.
Taken from across the street.
Taken tonight.
Daniel saw it.
“Someone is watching us.”
Maya immediately called security.
Within minutes, the house was surrounded.
But whoever had taken the photograph was gone.
The next morning, Maya and Daniel moved their son to a secure location.
Vance arrived shortly afterward.
Maya refused to let him enter.
“You lied to me.”
“I protected you.”
“You lied.”
Vance stood silently outside the gate.
“I deserve your anger.”
“You deserve more than that.”
“Yes.”
He handed her a folder.
“This is everything I know.”
Maya took it.
Inside was a handwritten note from Alexander.
If Maya ever learns the truth, tell her I never chose to disappear.
Someone inside our circle betrayed me.
I trusted him with my life.
I trusted him with hers.
That was my mistake.
Maya looked up.
“Who?”
Vance shook his head.
“I don't know.”
But Maya noticed something.
His hand was shaking.
She looked at the signature.
Then at Vance.
“You recognize the handwriting.”
“I knew your father for fifteen years.”
“No.”
Maya stepped closer.
“You recognized something else.”
Vance's eyes closed.
“There was another letter.”
“What letter?”
“The last one Alexander wrote before the convoy attack.”
“Where is it?”
Vance hesitated.
“I destroyed it.”
Maya stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because it contained a name.”
“Whose?”
Vance looked at her.
“Your mother's.”
Maya froze.
“My mother was involved?”
“No.”
“Then why destroy it?”
“Because the letter said she was alive.”
Maya's heart stopped.
“Alive?”
Vance nodded.
“She wasn't killed in the attack.”
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
Maya grabbed his arm.
“You've known my mother might be alive all these years?”
“I knew she survived.”
“Where is she?”
“We lost her trail twenty-two years ago.”
Maya began crying.
She had spent years believing she was an orphan.
Now she had learned that both parents might have survived.
Vance handed her another photograph.
It showed a woman standing outside a small church.
Maya stared at her face.
Even after twenty-four years, she recognized her.
Not from memory.
From the photograph beside her father's.
Her mother.
Alive.
On the back of the photograph was a location.
A small town in Maine.
Maya looked at Daniel.
“We're going.”
Vance stepped forward.
“You shouldn't.”
Maya shook her head.
“I spent twenty-four years being protected from the truth.”
May you like
She folded the photograph.
“I'm done being protected.”
