Chapter 6 - EVELYN
They reached the safe house before dawn.
Luca's condition had worsened.
Mara refused to leave his side.
Rafe drove through three different routes before entering an abandoned warehouse near the river.
Inside, a doctor waited.
Not Keller.
Someone Luca had never met.
Dr. Helen Shaw.
She examined him for twenty minutes.
Then she looked at Mara.
“He has been poisoned.”
Mara's stomach dropped.
“How long?”
“Months.”
“Can you treat him?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
Helen removed her gloves.
“The substance is cumulative.”
Luca asked, “How long?”
“Without the antidote?”
Helen hesitated.
“Days.”
Mara closed her eyes.
“No.”
Luca looked at her.
“Mara.”
She opened them.
“I said no.”
He gave a faint smile.
“You don't get to argue with biology.”
“I can argue with you.”
“I know.”
Helen interrupted.
“The antidote requires one component.”
“What?”
“Blood.”
“Whose?”
“Evelyn Collins.”
Mara stared.
“My mother.”
“Yes.”
“Then we find her.”
Rafe entered.
“We found the location.”
Mara grabbed her coat.
Luca tried to stand.
She pushed him down.
“You're staying.”
“No.”
“You need treatment.”
“I need my antidote.”
“You need to be alive long enough to receive it.”
He looked at her.
“Then take me with you.”
“No.”
“Mara.”
“No.”
Luca's voice softened.
“If my family has your mother, you're walking into a trap alone.”
She knew he was right.
She hated that.
Three hours later, they arrived at the abandoned house.
The door was open.
Inside, everything was covered in dust.
Mara found a photograph on the mantel.
Her mother.
Holding a baby.
Mara's breath caught.
She looked closer.
The baby had a distinctive crescent-shaped birthmark beneath the left ear.
Mara had the same mark.
She touched the photograph.
Then noticed something else.
A second person stood beside Evelyn.
A teenage boy.
Luca.
But the photograph was dated before Mara was born.
Luca stared at it.
“That can't be me.”
Mara turned.
“Why?”
“I was never here.”
She looked at the date.
Then at him.
“Maybe you were.”
Suddenly footsteps sounded upstairs.
Rafe drew his weapon.
Mara grabbed Luca's arm.
They moved silently.
A bedroom door opened.
An elderly man stepped out.
He raised both hands.
“Don't shoot.”
Luca stared.
“Who are you?”
The man looked at Mara.
“I knew your mother.”
“Where is she?”
“Gone.”
“Where?”
“She came here two nights ago.”
Mara's heart raced.
“Where did she go?”
The man swallowed.
“She went to meet Victor.”
Luca's expression hardened.
“Where?”
The man looked at him.
“Chicago Union Station.”
Mara froze.
Her mother had walked into Victor's hands willingly.
Why?
The old man reached into his pocket.
He handed Mara a folded letter.
“She told me to give you this.”
Mara opened it.
May you like
Only one sentence was written.
I didn't disappear to protect Luca. I disappeared because Mara was never supposed to survive.
