Chapter 71 - THE PHOTOGRAPH
I stared at the photograph until my hands began to shake.
The woman standing beside the ocean looked older.
Her hair was gray.
Her face was thinner.
But the scar beneath her eye was exactly the same.
The same scar I had seen in Elena's photograph.
The same woman I had spent my entire life believing was dead.
My mother.
Alive.
Julian stepped closer.
“Emily?”
I couldn't answer.
My father took the phone from my hand.
His face went completely white.
“Where did you get this?”
“I don't know.”
He looked at the number.
“It can't be.”
“What?”
He shook his head.
“Elena died.”
“You just said she was alive.”
“I said I believed she died.”
My grandfather walked toward us.
He saw the photograph.
He stopped.
For the first time, genuine fear appeared in his eyes.
“She survived.”
I looked at him.
“You knew?”
“No.”
“You knew she might be alive.”
He didn't answer.
I felt anger rising.
“You all knew something.”
My mother stepped forward.
“Emily, please.”
I turned toward her.
“Don't.”
She stopped.
“I need the truth.”
She nodded.
“I'll tell you everything.”
Before she could speak, another message appeared.
DON'T TRUST ANYONE WHO COMES WITH YOU.
Then:
COME TO THE OCEAN.
There was an address.
A small coastal town.
Three hundred miles away.
Julian looked at me.
“We're going.”
My father shook his head.
“No.”
I stared at him.
“That woman is my mother.”
“If she's alive, someone wants you to find her.”
“Then I'll find out why.”
Julian took my hand.
“You won't go alone.”
My father sighed.
“Then neither will I.”
My grandfather stepped forward.
“I am coming too.”
I looked at him.
“No.”
He lowered his eyes.
“For once, Emily, listen to me.”
“What?”
“If Elena survived…”
May you like
He swallowed.
“…then she knows who really ordered her disappearance.”
