CHAPTER 6 — The Woman in the Photograph
CHAPTER 6 — The Woman in the Photograph
Maya stared at the photograph until the edges blurred.
There was no mistake.
The man standing beside the hospital bassinet was her father.
Ethan Bennett.
The same face she remembered from childhood photographs.
The same dark eyes.
The same small scar above his left eyebrow.
The same silver watch he had worn every Sunday morning when he drove Maya and her mother to church.
But the date printed beneath the photograph made no sense.
October 14.
The year was the year Emma had been born.
Her father had supposedly died eleven years earlier.
Maya slowly lifted her eyes.
"That's impossible."
Nobody answered.
Daniel stood near the archive door, pale and silent.
Dr. Elena Ross looked as though she had seen a ghost.
Only Luka remained completely still.
Maya turned toward him.
"You knew."
"I suspected."
"You suspected my father was alive?"
"I suspected someone was using his identity."
"That's not what I asked."
Luka didn't look away.
"Yes."
Maya's hands began shaking.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I didn't know whether the man in that photograph was really your father."
"But you knew enough to hide it."
"I knew enough to be afraid."
Maya looked back at the photograph.
Her father was standing beside a newborn baby.
Emma.
The photograph had been taken inside the exact hospital where Maya had given birth.
He wasn't supposed to have been alive.
He wasn't supposed to know about Emma.
And yet there he was.
Watching.
Waiting.
Maya turned the photograph over.
There was handwriting on the back.
Her father's handwriting.
She recognized it immediately.
She has my blood.
Below that were four words.
Do not trust the Morettis.
Maya's gaze moved slowly toward Luka.
He read the words.
His jaw tightened.
"Your father hated my family."
"Why?"
"Because he believed we betrayed him."
"Did you?"
"No."
"How do I know?"
"You don't."
Maya stared at him.
For the first time, Luka didn't try to convince her.
He simply accepted her suspicion.
That frightened her more.
Dr. Elena stepped forward.
"There is something you need to understand."
Maya looked at her.
"Tell me."
"Your father didn't die eleven years ago."
Maya's heart stopped.
"You knew?"
"I suspected."
"Everyone keeps saying that."
Elena lowered her eyes.
"I was there the night he disappeared."
"Where?"
"At the hospital."
Maya stared.
"What happened?"
Elena took a breath.
"Your father brought your mother here."
"My mother?"
"She was pregnant."
Maya froze.
"With me?"
"No."
The word seemed to echo through the archive.
Maya felt the room tilt.
"What do you mean?"
Elena looked at Emma.
"Your mother was pregnant with another child."
Maya couldn't speak.
Luka closed his eyes.
Daniel whispered:
"Another child?"
Elena nodded.
"Your mother lost the baby."
Maya's face went pale.
"Why didn't I know?"
"Because your father erased the pregnancy from the records."
"Why?"
"Because the baby was the first M-17 success."
Maya's fingers tightened around the photograph.
"Then what happened?"
Elena looked toward the door.
"Someone took the baby."
Maya's voice broke.
"Who?"
Elena didn't answer immediately.
Then she said:
"Your father."
Maya stepped backward.
"No."
"He believed he was protecting the child."
"From whom?"
"The Morettis."
Luka's face hardened.
"That's a lie."
Elena looked at him.
"You weren't there."
"No."
"But your father was."
Luka's expression darkened.
"What happened?"
Elena whispered:
"Ethan took the baby and disappeared."
Maya stared.
"And then?"
"Three months later, he returned alone."
"Where was the baby?"
Elena shook her head.
"We never knew."
Maya looked at the photograph again.
The newborn.
The hospital.
Her father's face.
Suddenly another detail caught her attention.
The baby's wrist.
There was a tiny black mark.
A birthmark.
Maya looked down at Emma.
Her daughter had the same mark.
Exactly the same shape.
She felt the blood drain from her face.
"Emma has it."
Luka stepped closer.
"Let me see."
Maya pulled Emma's sleeve back.
There it was.
A small crescent-shaped mark.
Luka stared.
He looked genuinely shocked.
"This isn't possible."
"What?"
He touched the edge of the photograph.
"The baby in this photograph had the same mark."
Maya looked at him.
"What are you saying?"
Luka didn't answer.
Daniel did.
"Maybe the baby wasn't another child."
Everyone turned toward him.
Daniel pointed at the photograph.
"Maybe that's Emma."
Maya shook her head.
"She wasn't born yet."
Daniel stared at the date.
"Then maybe..."
He stopped.
The thought was too impossible to say aloud.
Maya finished it.
"Maybe the date is wrong."
Elena looked terrified.
"No."
"What?"
"I checked the original."
She took another document from the box.
"The date is correct."
Maya stared at her.
"Then how could Emma be there?"
Elena's voice trembled.
"Because that photograph wasn't taken after Emma was born."
Maya looked confused.
"It was taken before."
"How much before?"
"Twenty-three years."
Maya froze.
Twenty-three years.
She was twenty-five.
Emma had been born yesterday.
The baby in the photograph couldn't be Emma.
Unless—
Maya looked at Luka.
"How old is my mother?"
"Forty-seven."
"How old was she when she gave birth to me?"
"Twenty-two."
Maya's breath caught.
Twenty-three years ago.
The baby in the photograph had been born one year before Maya.
Elena slowly said:
"Your mother wasn't pregnant with another child."
Maya stared.
"Then who was?"
Elena looked directly at her.
"You."
Nobody moved.
Maya felt as though the floor had disappeared.
"I was born twenty-three years ago."
"Yes."
"But I'm twenty-five."
Elena nodded.
"Your official birth records say you are twenty-five."
Maya whispered:
"Official."
Elena didn't answer.
Maya looked at the photograph again.
The baby.
Her father.
The hospital.
The mark.
Everything suddenly felt wrong.
"How old am I?"
Elena's voice was barely audible.
"We don't know."
Maya stared.
"That doesn't make sense."
"Your records were altered."
"By whom?"
"Your father."
"Why?"
"To make you appear younger."
"Why would anyone do that?"
Elena looked at Luka.
"Because M-17 children were monitored from birth."
Maya felt sick.
"If I was born twenty-three years ago..."
"You were probably monitored for two years before your official birth date."
"Why?"
"To hide you."
Maya touched her face.
Her entire identity had become uncertain.
Her birthday.
Her childhood.
Her medical history.
Her father's death.
Everything.
Then Daniel spoke.
"There is another photograph."
Maya looked at him.
"What?"
He pulled another image from the folder.
This one showed Ethan Bennett standing beside a woman.
Maya's mother.
But there was something different.
She was holding a newborn.
And the newborn wasn't Maya.
It was another baby.
A boy.
Maya stared.
"Who is he?"
Daniel turned the photograph over.
There was a name.
Luka.
Maya looked up.
Luka had gone completely still.
"No."
The word came from Luka.
He took the photograph.
His hands trembled.
"This isn't me."
Maya stared at him.
"How do you know?"
"Because I was born in Rome."
"When?"
"Twenty-eight years ago."
Maya looked at the baby.
"Then who is this?"
Luka couldn't answer.
Elena did.
"Your mother's first child."
Maya's eyes widened.
"You mean my brother?"
Elena nodded.
"His name was Luka."
Maya looked at the man standing beside her.
Her cousin.
Her protector.
The stranger who had signed Emma's birth certificate.
He stared at the photograph.
For the first time, Maya saw fear in his eyes.
Not anger.
Not confidence.
Fear.
"There were two Luka Morettis," Elena whispered.
Maya slowly understood.
"The man standing here..."
"Was your mother's son."
"Then where is he?"
Elena looked toward Luka.
"Dead."
The room went silent.
Luka's expression hardened.
"Who killed him?"
Elena whispered:
"Your father."
Luka turned away.
Maya watched him struggle to control his breathing.
"My father killed my brother?"
Elena nodded.
"Because the boy carried M-17."
Luka closed his eyes.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because your father threatened everyone."
"How did he die?"
"An overdose."
Luka laughed bitterly.
"Of course."
Maya stepped closer.
"Luka..."
He turned.
"I spent my entire life believing my father abandoned me."
His voice cracked.
"Now I find out he killed a child who had my name."
Maya didn't know what to say.
Then Luka looked at her.
"And your father knew."
She understood.
Her father hadn't merely been protecting her.
He had been hiding the truth from Luka too.
A phone rang.
Daniel looked at the screen.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A man's voice spoke.
"You're reading the wrong file."
Daniel froze.
"Who is this?"
"The truth isn't in the hospital."
"Then where?"
"The house."
Daniel looked at Maya.
"What house?"
The caller continued.
"Ethan Bennett's house."
Daniel's face changed.
"Where is it?"
"You know where."
The line went dead.
Maya stared at him.
"What did he say?"
Daniel hesitated.
"Your father's old house."
"I thought it was sold."
"It wasn't."
Luka stepped closer.
"Where?"
Daniel looked at him.
"Twenty miles north."
Maya grabbed her coat.
"We're going."
Luka shook his head.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because if the house is still standing, someone has been protecting it."
"Maybe my father."
"Maybe."
"Then I want answers."
Luka looked at Emma.
"And what if that's exactly what they want?"
Maya didn't hesitate.
"Then they'll have to come through me."
The house stood at the edge of a frozen lake.
Maya remembered it.
She had visited it once as a child.
She remembered the red door.
The willow tree.
The small stone path.
But she didn't remember the basement.
Daniel unlocked the front door.
The house smelled like dust and old wood.
Nobody had lived there for years.
Maya walked into the study.
Her father's desk remained exactly where she remembered it.
She touched the surface.
A strange feeling passed through her.
Memory.
A flash.
Her father holding her hand.
A locked drawer.
Her mother crying.
A baby crying.
Maya staggered backward.
"Luka."
He caught her.
"What happened?"
"I remembered something."
"What?"
"The baby."
Everyone went silent.
Maya looked toward the desk.
"My father was holding a baby."
"Whose?"
"I don't know."
She walked toward the desk.
There was a small brass key hidden underneath.
She picked it up.
A compartment opened.
Inside was a cassette recorder.
And one photograph.
Maya lifted it.
Her hands began trembling.
It was her mother.
Alive.
Older.
Standing beside a hospital bed.
And on the bed...
was Ethan.
Her father.
Alive.
Maya turned the photograph over.
A message was written on the back.
Maya, if you ever find this, it means I failed to protect you.
She began crying.
Then she read the final line.
The woman in the photograph is not your mother.
Maya stared at the image.
The woman beside the bed looked exactly like her mother.
But now that she looked carefully...
There was something different.
A tiny scar beneath the woman's left eye.
Maya's mother had never had that scar.
Maya slowly whispered:
"Who is she?"
Luka took the photograph.
His expression changed instantly.
"I know her."
"Who?"
He looked at Maya.
"She's the woman who paid Daniel."
Maya's heart stopped.
"Then where is my mother?"
Luka turned the photograph over again.
Beneath Ethan's message was another line.
One that none of them had noticed.
Your mother is alive.
And she is coming for Emma.
Outside, a car door slammed.
Then another.
Luka moved toward the window.
Headlights appeared through the trees.
At least six vehicles.
Maya pulled Emma close.
Daniel whispered:
"They found us."
Luka looked at the photograph one last time.
Then he looked at Maya.
"Your father wasn't hiding your mother from them."
Maya's heart pounded.
"Then who was he hiding her from?"
Luka's answer was almost inaudible.
"From you."
May you like
And before Maya could ask why, the front door exploded inward.
To be continued.
