Chapter 7 - THE CHILD WHO WAS ERASED
For several minutes after the call ended, nobody moved.
The apartment was silent.
Not peaceful.
Not calm.
The kind of silence that came before something broke.
Mara stared at me.
I stared at the phone.
Neither of us wanted to ask the question that was already screaming inside our heads.
Finally, she whispered:
“What did she mean?”
I looked at her.
“I don’t know.”
But the truth was…
I was afraid I did.
Because deep inside, there was a memory I had spent years refusing to examine.
A memory from the night Mara disappeared.
The night everything changed.
Six years ago, I was thirty years old.
I had a successful company.
A respected family name.
A future everyone admired.
But I was also a man who thought he understood the people around him.
I thought my mother loved me.
I thought my family protected me.
I thought my father’s death was an accident.
I thought Mara abandoned me.
I was wrong about everything.
The woman on the phone had opened a door I never knew existed.
And now I had to walk through it.
Mara sat across from me.
“Adrian.”
“What?”
“You need to tell me something.”
“What?”
“You look like you already know.”
I stayed quiet.
Because there was something I had never told anyone.
Not even Mara.
A strange moment from six years ago.
The night before she vanished.
I remembered waking up in the hospital.
Not because I was sick.
Because I had been in an accident.
A minor crash.
A warning.
At least, that was what I was told.
My mother said I hit my head.
She said I became confused.
She said I needed rest.
But there was one thing I remembered.
A woman crying.
A baby crying.
And my mother standing between us.
I had always believed it was a dream.
Now I wasn’t sure.
“I remember something.”
Mara leaned forward.
“What?”
“Before you disappeared…”
“I was in the hospital.”
Her face changed.
“You never told me that.”
“Because I thought it wasn’t real.”
“What happened?”
“I remember hearing a baby.”
Mara stopped breathing.
“What kind of baby?”
“I don’t know.”
“Adrian.”
“Mara, I don’t know.”
She looked terrified.
Then she whispered:
“You were awake.”
“What?”
“That night.”
“You were awake.”
I stared at her.
“How do you know?”
“Because I saw you.”
My heart stopped.
“You saw me?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“In the hospital hallway.”
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
Her eyes filled with pain.
“Because your mother was standing beside you.”
I felt cold.
“She told me you wanted me gone.”
“She told me you had chosen your family.”
“She told me if I came near you, she would destroy you.”
I closed my eyes.
The pieces were beginning to connect.
But one piece was still missing.
The mysterious child.
The one the woman mentioned.
The one my mother tried to erase.
I stood.
“We need to find her.”
Mara looked confused.
“Who?”
“The woman who called.”
“How?”
“She knows what happened.”
My phone suddenly received a message.
Unknown number.
A location.
And one sentence.
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT THE TRUTH.
Mara saw the message.
“No.”
“I’m going.”
“Adrian, this is exactly what dangerous people want.”
“I need answers.”
“And I need you alive.”
I looked at her.
For a second, neither of us spoke.
Because six years ago, we lost each other.
And now we were both terrified of losing each other again.
“I’ll be careful.”
She shook her head.
“You always say that.”
Then she whispered:
“And you always disappear.”
The words hurt because they were true.
But this time…
I wasn’t leaving.
I was coming back.
The location was an abandoned warehouse in Brooklyn.
I arrived alone.
At least, that was what I wanted them to think.
My security team stayed nearby.
Inside the warehouse, a woman waited.
She was older.
Tired.
And holding a file.
“You came.”
“Yes.”
“Like your father.”
My expression changed.
“You knew my father?”
“Yes.”
“Who are you?”
She handed me the file.
“My name is Elena Cross.”
“I worked for your family twenty-two years ago.”
I opened the file.
Inside were documents.
Birth records.
Hospital reports.
And one name.
A name I had never seen before.
ELIAS WHITAKER.
I looked up.
“What is this?”
Elena’s eyes filled with sadness.
“The child your mother erased.”
I felt my heart stop.
“What?”
May you like
She whispered:
“You had a brother.”
