CHAPTER 30 The Name Beneath the Stain

CHAPTER 30

The Name Beneath the Stain

Nobody spoke after the recording ended.

The silence felt different this time.

Not empty.

Heavy.

Miyaka stared at the cassette recorder in her hand.

Her father's voice had been unmistakable.

The exhaustion in it.

The fear.

Even the slight pause before saying Moises's name.

She had spent years wishing she could hear her father again.

Now that she finally had, she wasn't sure she wanted to.

Her eyes slowly lifted.

Moises was standing across from her.

He looked as stunned as everyone else.

“Say something,” Miyaka whispered.

His jaw tightened.

“I don't know what to say.”

“That's convenient.”

His eyes flickered.

“Miyaka.”

She looked down at the letter again.

Three names.

Daniel.

Moises.

And someone whose name was hidden beneath a dark stain.

Her fingers tightened around the paper.

“Did you know about this?”

“No.”

“You're sure?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“Because if I had known your father suspected me, I wouldn't have come back.”

She looked at him.

“Maybe you came back because you knew.”

Moises went quiet.

Jason stepped between them.

“Okay.”

Miyaka looked at him.

Jason held up a hand.

“We don't start accusing each other until we know what we're looking at.”

Miyaka gave him a tired look.

“My father literally wrote his name.”

“I know.”

“And yours is probably under that stain.”

“I know.”

Daniel spoke from behind them.

“There may be an explanation.”

Miyaka turned.

“Of course there is.”

Daniel's face hardened.

“Listen before you decide what it means.”

She almost snapped back.

Instead, she looked at him.

“Fine.”

Daniel nodded toward the letter.

“Your father didn't say not to trust those three people because they were working together.”

“Then why?”

“Because he didn't know who had been compromised.”

Jason frowned.

“Compromised?”

“Someone inside the three families had been giving information to the wrong people.”

Miyaka looked at the names again.

“So he suspected Daniel, Moises, and whoever this is.”

“Or he suspected someone could be using them.”

Moises looked at Daniel.

“You knew about this?”

“No.”

“You're sure?”

Daniel's expression tightened.

“Yes.”

Moises laughed bitterly.

“Funny.”

Daniel looked at him.

“What?”

“You've been telling us for days that you knew more than you were saying.”

“I knew about the past.”

“You knew my father.”

“Yes.”

“You helped take me away.”

“Yes.”

“And now you're telling me you didn't know he suspected you?”

Daniel's face went still.

“I didn't.”

Moises stared at him.

Miyaka looked between them.

There was something there.

Not just anger.

History.

Something neither man was saying.

She turned to Daniel.

“What happened the night Moises disappeared?”

Daniel didn't answer.

“Daniel.”

He rubbed a hand over his face.

“I drove him.”

Miyaka's chest tightened.

“You drove him away.”

“Yes.”

“Because your father told you to?”

“No.”

“Then who?”

Daniel looked at her.

“Your father.”

Miyaka went still.

“My father?”

“He called me that night.”

“Why?”

“He said Moises had to leave immediately.”

“Why?”

“Because someone had found out about the agreement.”

Miyaka's thoughts raced.

“The agreement naming me heir.”

“Yes.”

“And Moises knew?”

“He knew enough.”

Moises shook his head.

“I didn't know about any agreement.”

“You knew your father was afraid.”

“Yes.”

“He told you the Reyes family was in danger.”

“Yes.”

“And he told you to leave.”

Moises looked at Miyaka.

“He told me if I stayed, you'd be next.”

Her anger faltered.

“You never told me that.”

“I didn't know if it was true.”

“You believed him.”

“I was seventeen.”

His voice cracked slightly.

“I was scared.”

That stopped her.

She looked at him differently.

Not as the powerful man standing in front of her now.

For a second, she saw the boy from the mango tree.

The boy who used to steal mangoes and blame Jason.

The boy who had promised he'd come back.

The boy who had left without saying goodbye.

She looked away.

“I hate that I believe you.”

Moises swallowed.

“I know.”

Jason picked up the photograph from the box.

“There's something weird about this.”

Miyaka turned.

“What?”

Jason pointed at the old photograph.

“The stain.”

She frowned.

“What about it?”

“It isn't ink.”

Daniel moved closer.

Jason tilted the paper beneath the emergency light.

“It looks like blood.”

Miyaka stared.

“The same blood?”

“Maybe.”

Jason carefully touched the corner.

“It was put there recently.”

Daniel's expression changed.

“Recently?”

Jason nodded.

“Look at the edges.”

Miyaka leaned closer.

The stain was darker than the rest of the photograph.

Fresh enough that it hadn't fully faded.

Her stomach twisted.

“Someone deliberately covered the name.”

“Which means they didn't want us to know who it was,” Jason said.

Miyaka stared at the letter.

“Can we remove it?”

Jason looked at Daniel.

Daniel shook his head.

“Not here.”

“Why?”

“Because if whoever did this wanted that name hidden, they may know exactly what happens when someone tries to uncover it.”

Miyaka laughed softly.

“Everyone keeps telling me not to do things.”

She folded the letter.

“I'm beginning to think that's the best reason to do them.”

Jason gave her a look.

“That attitude is going to get you killed.”

“Probably.”

Moises looked at her.

“Don't joke about that.”

She met his eyes.

“I wasn't joking.”

The tension between them lasted several seconds.

Then Jason broke it.

“We should leave.”

Daniel nodded.

“Agreed.”

Miyaka looked toward the doorway where her mother had disappeared.

“We can't leave.”

“Miyaka.”

“My mother was here.”

“She may still be nearby.”

“Exactly.”

Jason looked toward the dark passage.

“There are at least three exits from this tunnel. If she wanted us to follow her, she'd have left a trail.”

Miyaka frowned.

“Unless she didn't want us to follow.”

Daniel nodded.

“She told you not to trust the person holding your hand.”

Miyaka looked at Moises.

His expression was unreadable.

Daniel continued.

“She may have been warning you about something specific.”

“Or someone,” Jason said.

Miyaka's stomach tightened.

“Do you think she meant Moises?”

Daniel didn't answer.

Moises did.

“Maybe.”

Miyaka looked at him.

He didn't look angry.

That surprised her.

“You think she meant you?”

“I think your mother knows something about me that I don't.”

The answer unsettled Miyaka.

“What does that mean?”

“I don't know.”

He looked toward the passage.

“But I'm starting to think my disappearance wasn't just about protecting you.”

Jason frowned.

“What else would it be?”

Moises was silent for a moment.

Then he said,

“Maybe they wanted me away because I was supposed to find something.”

Miyaka's eyes narrowed.

“Find what?”

He looked at the letter.

“The thing your father was hiding.”

Daniel suddenly stiffened.

Miyaka noticed.

“What?”

Daniel looked at Moises.

“Your father gave you something before you left.”

Moises frowned.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“I would remember.”

“You were seventeen. You were frightened. You left in the middle of the night.”

Daniel's voice lowered.

“He put something in your coat pocket.”

Moises froze.

Miyaka stared at him.

“What?”

Moises slowly reached into his jacket.

He pulled out his wallet.

Then stopped.

His expression changed.

“I've had this since I was seventeen.”

He opened it.

Behind an old photograph was a small folded piece of paper.

Miyaka stared.

“Why didn't you ever open it?”

“I thought it was blank.”

He unfolded it.

There was only one line.

WHEN THE GIRL REMEMBERS THE DOOR, TAKE HER TO THE PLACE WHERE THE THREE OF YOU BEGAN.

Miyaka's heart began pounding.

“The mango tree.”

Moises looked at her.

“No.”

She frowned.

“What?”

He turned the paper over.

There was another line.

Not the tree. Beneath it.

Daniel's face went pale.

Jason whispered,

“There was something underneath the tree.”

Miyaka suddenly remembered the wooden box.

The letters.

The stranger.

The warning.

But there was something else.

Something buried deeper.

Something her five-year-old self had seen.

She closed her eyes.

Rain.

Her mother pulling her backward.

Her father shouting.

Moises crying.

Jason screaming.

And beneath the mango tree—

a trapdoor.

Miyaka's eyes opened.

“There was something under the tree.”

Moises stared at her.

“What?”

“A door.”

Daniel stepped backward.

“No.”

Miyaka looked at him.

“You knew.”

Daniel shook his head.

“Not that door.”

“What other door is there?”

He didn't answer.

Then Jason noticed something on the tunnel wall.

A small carved symbol.

Three circles.

And beneath it were four words.

THE CHILDREN SAW EVERYTHING.

Miyaka stepped closer.

Her fingers hovered over the carving.

Then she noticed something beneath the words.

A date.

SEPTEMBER 17.

Moises went pale.

“That was the night I disappeared.”

Miyaka stared at the date.

Then another memory surfaced.

Not from the night Moises left.

From years earlier.

She was five.

Standing beneath the mango tree.

Her mother was crying.

And someone was digging.

Not in the ground.

Under the tree.

Miyaka's breath caught.

“They weren't hiding something from me.”

Everyone looked at her.

Her voice dropped to a whisper.

“They were hiding it from whoever was watching us.”

And somewhere above them, far beyond the tunnel ceiling, a car engine started.

Someone had been waiting for them to remember.