Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE BLUE DOOR
The house was modest.
Blue door.
White shutters.
A small garden.
Elena knocked.
A woman opened the door.
She was sixty-five.
Her hair was silver.
Her eyes were Elena’s.
The woman’s hand flew to her mouth.
“Elena?”
That was all the confirmation she needed.
Elena stared at the mother she had mourned for forty years.
“You know who I am.”
Victoria began crying.
Elena didn’t.
“I’ve always known.”
“Then why didn’t you come?”
Victoria gripped the doorframe.
“Because I was afraid.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Elena—”
“You had forty years.”
“I watched you.”
That sentence chilled Elena.
“What?”
“Newspapers.”
“Interviews.”
“Business magazines.”
“I knew about Mercer Global.”
Elena stepped closer.
“You watched me build a life believing both my parents were dead?”
Victoria’s face crumpled.
“I thought staying away protected you.”
“From Marcus?”
Victoria shook her head.
“From me.”
Elena frowned.
Victoria opened the door wider.
“Come inside.”
They sat at a kitchen table.
Victoria placed an old photograph between them.
It showed Victoria holding baby Elena.
Beside her stood Marcus Vale.
Elena’s stomach tightened.
“Why is Marcus there?”
May you like
Victoria looked directly at her.
“Because Marcus is my brother.”
