Chapter 9 - THE MOTHER THEY NEVER KNEW
Nobody wanted to believe it.
Nobody could.
Their mother.
The woman who made them breakfast.
The woman who kissed their foreheads before school.
The woman who cried when their father died.
A murderer?
Impossible.
“No,” Laura said.
Her voice was small.
“No, that’s not true.”
Mark looked at her.
“Laura…”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Mom wasn’t perfect, but she wasn’t a killer.”
Claire stared at the evidence.
“My father disappeared because of her.”
Laura turned toward her.
“You hated her before you even knew her.”
Claire looked back.
“And you loved her before you knew the truth.”
The words hit hard.
Because they were both right.
Evelyn picked up another document.
“There’s something else.”
They looked at her.
She was holding a medical record.
A birth certificate.
Her face lost all color.
“Guys…”
She swallowed.
“Mom had another child.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Mark looked confused.
“But why hide her?”
Rebecca answered quietly.
“Because Sarah was afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
Rebecca looked at the documents.
“Afraid Daniel would take Claire away.”
Laura stared.
“So Mom didn’t kill him?”
Nobody answered.
Then they heard something.
A sound from upstairs.
A door opening.
Someone was inside the house again.
Mark immediately turned off the light.
Everyone froze in the darkness.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Careful.
Coming closer.
Someone knew they were there.
Laura whispered:
“How did they find us?”
Mark looked at Rebecca.
Rebecca looked terrified.
Because she knew.
“Someone followed us.”
The footsteps stopped above them.
Then a voice echoed through the floor.
A voice they recognized.
A voice that made Laura’s blood run cold.
“Children…”
Everyone froze.
Because the voice belonged to someone who should have been impossible to hear.
Someone who had been buried six months ago.
Their father.
Mark’s face went pale.
“No…”
The voice spoke again.
“You need to stop looking for answers.”
A pause.
“Because the truth will kill you.”
The hidden room fell silent.
Then the voice said one final sentence:
“And your mother wasn’t the one who betrayed me.”
The lights suddenly turned on.
Everyone looked toward the staircase.
Nobody was there.
But sitting at the bottom step was a small envelope.
Mark walked toward it slowly.
On the front were four words.
Written in their father’s handwriting.
“THE REAL TRAITOR IS…”
Mark opened the envelope.
May you like
And screamed.
TO BE CONTINUED…
