For several seconds, nobody moved.
I stared at the photograph.
My mother.
Alive.
Standing beside a man whose face I didn't recognize.
And underneath them were three words that had just destroyed everything I thought I knew.
Taken three days ago.
"No."
The word came out as a whisper.
I stepped closer to the photograph.
"No…"
My fingers touched the frame.
"This can't be real."
Malik came beside me.
"Lina—"
"Don't."
I pulled the photograph from the wall.
My hands were shaking violently.
"My mother is alive."
"Yes," the stranger said.
I turned toward him.
"Where is she?"
He smiled.
"That depends."
"Depends on what?"
"Whether you are ready to meet her."
My anger exploded.
"Stop playing games with me!"
I threw the photograph onto the table.
"You brought me here. You showed me this. You know where she is."
The man remained calm.
"Yes."
"Then tell me!"
Daniel stepped forward.
"Who sent you?"
The stranger finally looked at him.
"Someone you know."
Daniel's expression hardened.
"Elena?"
"No."
"Then who?"
The man smiled.
"Your father."
My stomach dropped.
I looked at Malik.
He looked shocked.
Even Elena's face had changed.
"That's impossible," Daniel said.
"He's alive too," the stranger replied.
I couldn't breathe.
"My father?"
"Yes."
The room suddenly felt too small.
I had spent years believing my father had abandoned me.
Then I discovered he had been involved in my childhood attack.
Now I was being told he was alive.
And my mother was alive too.
"What do they want from me?"
The stranger looked directly at me.
"You."
I shook my head.
"Why?"
"Because you're the only person who can unlock what your mother hid."
"What did she hide?"
"The truth."
I almost laughed.
"That's all everyone ever says."
I picked up the photograph again.
"What is this?"
"A warning."
"From my mother?"
"Yes."
"Then why doesn't she just come to me?"
The stranger's expression became serious.
"Because she can't."
"Why?"
"She's being watched."
My heart sank.
"By who?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he reached into his pocket and placed a small key on the table.
I stared at it.
"What is that?"
"Your mother's."
"Where does it open?"
"You'll know when you find the door."
I frowned.
"What door?"
He smiled.
"The one you have been dreaming about since you were eight."
My blood ran cold.
The red door.
I had seen it in my nightmares for years.
A red door.
A dark hallway.
Someone screaming behind it.
I had never understood what it meant.
"You know about my dreams?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Because I was there."
Daniel stepped forward.
"You were at the warehouse?"
The man nodded.
"Yes."
Daniel's face changed.
"Who are you?"
The stranger looked at me.
"My name is Victor."
Something about the name made my heart race.
Victor.
I had heard it before.
Somewhere.
A memory surfaced.
My mother crying.
A man's voice saying,
"Victor, please. She's only a child."
I stepped backward.
"You…"
Victor smiled.
"You remember."
I shook my head.
"You were there."
"Yes."
"What did you do?"
"I followed orders."
"Whose orders?"
He looked toward Elena.
She lowered her eyes.
I turned to her.
"You know him."
"Yes."
"What did he do?"
Elena remained silent.
"Tell me!"
Victor answered for her.
"I was the man ordered to take you away that night."
My heart stopped.
"You tried to kill me?"
"No."
He shook his head.
"I was ordered to make you disappear."
"That doesn't make it better."
"I know."
"Then why didn't you?"
Victor's expression became distant.
"Because your mother begged me."
I stared at him.
"She begged you?"
"She offered me something in exchange for your life."
"What?"
Victor didn't answer.
Instead, he looked at the key.
"Your mother kept the answer behind that door."
I picked up the key.
It was old.
Silver.
There was a tiny engraving on it.
A heart.
The same symbol as the bracelet I had worn since childhood.
My breath caught.
"This…"
Daniel stared at it.
"That symbol."
Malik stepped closer.
"Lina, where did you get that bracelet?"
"You've seen it."
"I know."
"But why?"
Victor answered quietly.
"Because it belonged to your mother."
I touched the bracelet around my wrist.
"My mother gave this to me."
"No," he said.
"She didn't."
I looked at him.
"Then who did?"
Victor's eyes met mine.
"I did."
Silence.
My entire body went numb.
"You?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"The night you were attacked."
I stared at the bracelet.
"You put this on me?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Victor's voice softened.
"Because your mother told me that one day, when you were old enough, you would understand what it meant."
I felt tears filling my eyes.
"What does it mean?"
Victor looked toward the door.
"It means you were never abandoned."
A sob escaped me.
I didn't want to cry.
I was tired of crying.
But my heart couldn't hold everything anymore.
My mother was alive.
My father was alive.
Daniel was alive.
Malik had known me since childhood.
Elena had lied to me.
And Victor had somehow been part of the night that destroyed my life.
Nothing made sense.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Then a woman's voice.
My entire body froze.
I knew that voice.
I had heard it in my dreams.
"Lina."
My knees weakened.
"Mom?"
Malik looked at me.
Daniel stopped breathing.
I pressed the phone against my ear.
"Mom, is that you?"
A quiet sob came through the phone.
"Yes."
Tears streamed down my face.
"Where are you?"
"I can't tell you."
"Why?"
"Because they're listening."
"Who?"
There was a pause.
Then my mother whispered,
"Your father."
My heart broke.
"Mom, please. I need to see you."
"You will."
"When?"
"Soon."
"Tell me where you are!"
"I can't."
Her voice trembled.
"But there is something you must do first."
"What?"
"Go home."
I frowned.
"Home?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because the truth is hidden there."
I looked around the room.
"What truth?"
My mother's breathing became shaky.
"The truth about the night you were born."
I froze.
"The night I was born?"
"Yes."
Then she whispered the words that changed everything.
"Lina… you have been lied to about who your father really is."
The call ended.
I stared at the phone.
Nobody spoke.
Then Malik asked quietly,
"What did she say?"
I slowly lifted my eyes.
"My father isn't my father."
And across the room, Elena covered her mouth and began to cry.