THE WOMAN WHO CAME BACK
976 Words
VERONICA’S POV
“From her?”
I stared at Adrian.
He didn't answer.
My mind was racing. My mother was alive. Adrian knew. My father knew.
Everyone seemed to know except me!
“Where is she?”
“Veronica, I...”
“Where is my mother?!”
“I can't tell you.”
I laughed in disbelief.
“You can't tell me?”
“Not yet.”
“Stop saying that!”
I threw the phone onto his desk.
“You knew my mother was alive while I spent years believing she was dead!”
“I know.”
“You knew my father was in danger!”
“I tried to warn him.”
“And he still died!”
Adrian's expression hardened.
“I know.”
“Then tell me the truth!”
Silence. I stared at him.
For the first time, the cold expression on his face disappeared.
He looked tired, almost afraid.
“Your mother disappeared sixteen years ago.”
I froze.
“You were nine.”
I nodded slowly.
“She wasn't killed.”
My heart pounded.
“She ran.”
“Why?”
“Because someone was after her.”
“Who?”
Adrian looked at the door.
“Your father's family.”
I frowned.
“My father's family?”
“They wanted something your mother had.”
“What?”
Adrian didn't answer.
I stepped closer.
“What did she have?”
He looked at me.
“The truth.”
My stomach twisted.
“What truth?”
“The truth about your father.”
I shook my head.
“My father was a good man.”
“I didn't say he wasn't.”
“Then what are you saying?”
Adrian walked toward the window.
“Your father wasn't the person you thought he was.”
I stared at him.
“No.”
“He made mistakes.”
“No.”
“He hurt people.”
“Stop.”
“And your mother found out.”
“Stop!”
Adrian turned around.
“She didn't abandon you because she didn't love you.”
I couldn't breathe.
“She left because staying would have gotten you killed.”
My eyes filled with tears.
“Then why did Dad tell me she was dead?”
“Because he wanted you to stop looking for her.”
“Why?”
“Because he was afraid you'd find out what really happened.”
I wiped my eyes.
“Then why did he leave me the photograph?”
Adrian went silent, then I realized something.
“You knew about the photograph before I showed it to you.”
He didn't deny it.
“How?”
“Your father told me.”
“When?”
“Three days ago.”
My heart stopped.
“Three days ago?”
Adrian nodded.
“The day he came here.”
“What happened that day?”
Adrian's eyes darkened.
“He told me he was going to disappear.”
I stared at him.
“Disappear?”
“He knew someone was watching him.”
“Then why didn't you protect him?”
His jaw tightened.
“I tried.”
“What happened?”
“He left.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
I stared at him.
“You're lying.”
“I wish I was.”
My phone suddenly rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then a woman's voice. Soft, calm, familiar.
My entire body froze.
“Veronica?”
I couldn't speak.
Adrian's eyes widened.
The voice came again.
“It's me.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“Who are you?”
A pause.
Then the woman whispered,
“You really don't recognize your own mother?”
My heart stopped.
I looked at Adrian.
He was staring at me like he'd just seen a ghost.
“Mom?”
Silence.
Then she said,
“Don't trust him.”
The call ended.
I stood frozen.
Adrian immediately walked toward me.
“What did she say?”
I backed away.
“She called me.”
“What?”
“My mother.”
His face went pale.
“What did she say?”
I swallowed.
“She told me not to trust you.”
Adrian closed his eyes for a second.
Then opened them.
“She knows you're with me.”
“How?”
He didn't answer.
My phone buzzed.
Another message, it was from the same unknown number.
A photograph appeared, I opened it.
My blood ran cold.
It was my father.
Alive, standing beside my mother.
But the photograph wasn't old.
It was recent, very recent.
I stared at the date printed in the corner.
21/4/2019 -Three days ago.
My father was wearing the same clothes Adrian had described.
The clothes he'd worn when he came to Lordwood International.
I looked at Adrian.
“You told me my father came here three days ago.”
“Yes.”
“You said he left.”
“Yes.”
“Then where is he?”
Adrian's phone suddenly rang.
He answered.
“Lordwood.”
His expression changed.
“What?”
He listened.
Then his eyes slowly moved toward me.
“What happened?”
The voice on the other end said something I couldn't hear.
Adrian's face went completely pale.
He ended the call.
“What?”
He looked at me.
“They found your father.”
My heart stopped.
“Where?”
Adrian didn't answer.
“Where is he?”
He looked directly into my eyes.
“In a place no one was supposed to know about.”
My phone buzzed one last time.
There was one new message.
I opened it.
And everything I thought I knew about my father, my mother, and Adrian Lordwood changed.
YOUR FATHER ISN'T DEAD.
Then another message appeared.
BUT HE'S NOT THE MAN YOU THINK HE IS.
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