Chapter 23 — The House at San Aurelio

Chapter 23 — The House at San Aurelio

They left before sunrise.

Miyaka barely slept.

Every time she closed her eyes, she saw her mother's face on the security monitor.

Not the face she remembered from the funeral.

Not the woman frozen inside an old photograph.

The woman standing beneath the porch light.

Older.

Alive.

Or at least alive enough to make Miyaka question everything she had believed for twelve years.

She sat in the passenger seat of Moises's car while Jason followed behind them.

The road toward San Aurelio became quieter as the city disappeared behind them.

Buildings gave way to fields.

Then trees.

Then long stretches of empty road.

Miyaka watched the landscape through the window.

“I remember coming here once.”

Moises glanced at her.

“To San Aurelio?”

She nodded.

“My father brought me when I was little.”

“Do you remember why?”

“No.”

She frowned.

“Maybe I was five.”

Moises kept driving.

“Your father brought you here?”

“Yes.”

“Do you remember the house?”

“Not exactly.”

She closed her eyes.

“I remember a white gate.”

Moises looked at her.

“There is one.”

Her eyes opened.

“How do you know?”

“I checked the property records last night.”

She stared at him.

“You didn't sleep either.”

“No.”

“Why?”

He looked ahead.

“I wasn't tired.”

She knew that wasn't the whole truth.

Neither was she.

There were too many memories moving around inside her.

Too many things they had never said.

After a while, Jason's car pulled alongside them before moving ahead again.

Miyaka watched it disappear around a bend.

Then she said quietly, “Do you remember your last night before you left?”

Moises's hands tightened around the steering wheel.

“Yes.”

“Everything?”

“No.”

She looked at him.

“Just the parts that hurt.”

His answer was so quiet that she almost missed it.

Miyaka looked back toward the window.

“I used to think I was the only one who remembered.”

“You weren't.”

She swallowed.

“Sometimes I hated you.”

“I know.”

“I don't think I really hated you.”

“I know that too.”

She gave him a small smile.

“You're annoyingly confident.”

He smiled.

“Not always.”

She looked at him.

“When?”

“When it comes to you.”

The smile disappeared from her face.

Neither of them spoke for a while.

Miyaka looked down at her hands.

She didn't know what to do with words like that anymore.

For years, she had convinced herself that whatever she once felt for Moises belonged to a childhood she had outgrown.

But sitting beside him now, she understood something she hadn't wanted to admit.

Some feelings didn't disappear.

They simply learned how to hide.

The old Reyes property appeared beyond a line of trees.

Miyaka sat upright.

“There.”

A white gate stood at the end of a narrow road.

Her heartbeat accelerated.

“I remember that.”

Moises slowed the car.

Jason parked behind them.

The gate was rusted.

One side hung slightly lower than the other.

Beyond it stood an old house.

It was larger than Miyaka expected.

Two stories.

White walls stained by years of rain.

Windows covered by faded curtains.

A wide veranda wrapped around the front.

And beside the house—

a dead garden.

Miyaka stared at it.

“I've been here.”

Moises looked at her.

“You remember?”

“Not clearly.”

She stepped out.

The morning air smelled of wet grass.

She walked toward the gate.

Something about the place made her chest ache.

A child's memory surfaced.

Her mother's hand.

A red ribbon.

A wooden swing.

Someone laughing.

Then—

a man's voice.

Don't go near the house.

Miyaka stopped.

Moises noticed.

“What is it?”

“I remember someone telling me not to go inside.”

“Who?”

“I don't know.”

Jason approached.

“Then we shouldn't rush.”

Miyaka nodded.

They entered through the gate.

The front door was locked.

Jason tried the handle.

Nothing.

Moises walked around the side of the house.

“There's another entrance.”

They followed.

The back door was partially hidden by vines.

Moises pulled the handle.

It opened.

Miyaka stared.

“That's convenient.”

Jason frowned.

“Too convenient.”

Moises nodded.

“Stay close.”

They entered.

The house smelled old.

Dust.

Wood.

Something faintly floral.

Miyaka stopped.

Her eyes moved across the hallway.

She knew it.

She didn't know how.

But she knew it.

“This was my mother's favorite perfume.”

Jason looked at her.

“You're sure?”

Miyaka nodded.

“It was jasmine.”

She walked farther inside.

Her hand brushed against the wall.

A memory flashed.

Her mother kneeling beside her.

Miyaka holding a small wooden box.

Her mother saying something.

Never open this unless Daddy tells you.

Miyaka's breathing stopped.

“Mom…”

Moises came closer.

“What did you remember?”

“The box.”

“What box?”

“I don't know.”

She looked around.

Then noticed a painting hanging crookedly on the wall.

A portrait of her parents.

Her father stood behind her mother, one hand resting on her shoulder.

Miyaka approached it.

Something felt wrong.

The frame was thicker than it should have been.

She touched the bottom.

It moved.

“Moises.”

He came over.

Together they lifted the painting.

Behind it was a small metal safe built into the wall.

Jason stared.

“Okay.”

Miyaka looked at him.

“What?”

“That definitely wasn't in the family photos.”

Moises examined the safe.

“There has to be a key.”

Miyaka thought of the brass key from the mango tree.

She reached into her pocket.

She had brought it with her.

The key fit.

The lock clicked.

The door opened.

Inside were several envelopes.

A small black notebook.

And a photograph.

Miyaka picked up the photograph first.

Her hands began shaking.

It showed her mother.

Standing beside a car.

Beside her was a man Miyaka had never seen before.

Moises took the photograph.

His expression changed.

“Who is he?”

Miyaka shook her head.

“I don't know.”

Jason leaned closer.

“Wait.”

He pointed toward the man's hand.

A ring.

The symbol.

The same symbol they had been following for weeks.

Miyaka's heart dropped.

“He's one of them.”

Moises turned the photograph over.

There was writing on the back.

San Aurelio — three days before the accident.

Miyaka stared.

“Accident?”

Jason looked at her.

“You were told your mother died in an accident, right?”

Miyaka nodded.

Moises slowly looked at the photograph again.

“There wasn't supposed to be a man with her.”

Miyaka felt cold.

“What do you mean?”

“The official report said she was alone.”

Silence.

Miyaka reached for the black notebook.

Before she could open it, a sound came from upstairs.

A floorboard creaked.

Everyone froze.

Jason whispered, “We're not alone.”

Another creak.

Then footsteps.

Slow.

Coming down the stairs.

Miyaka's heart hammered.

Moises moved in front of her instinctively.

Jason reached for the nearest heavy object.

The footsteps stopped.

A figure appeared at the top of the stairs.

Miyaka couldn't see the face.

Only the outline.

Then the person spoke.

“Miyaka.”

Her blood ran cold.

She knew that voice.

Not her mother's.

Not Moises's.

Not Jason's.

The stranger from the mango tree.

The same man who had warned her years ago.

The same man who had called her the heir.

He stepped into the light.

And this time, Miyaka saw his face clearly.

Her eyes widened.

Because she knew him.

He wasn't a stranger.

He was the man who had stood beside her father at her mother's funeral.

The man she had believed was her father's closest friend.

The man who had disappeared from her life the same year her mother died.

Moises stared at him.

“Who the hell are you?”

The man's expression hardened.

“You don't remember me?”

Miyaka couldn't speak.

He looked directly at her.

Then said quietly,

“Your father called me Daniel.”

Miyaka's fingers tightened around the photograph.

Daniel.

A name buried somewhere inside her childhood.

A name she hadn't heard in twelve years.

Then his eyes dropped to the pendant in her hand.

His expression changed.

“You found it.”

Miyaka took a step forward.

“What happened to my mother?”

Daniel didn't answer.

Instead, he looked toward the window.

His face suddenly filled with fear.

“We have to leave.”

Jason frowned.

“Why?”

Daniel's voice dropped.

“Because they know you're here.”

Outside, an engine roared to life.

Then another.

Miyaka turned toward the window.

Two black vehicles were coming up the road.

Daniel looked at her.

“They were never trying to find the house.”

His eyes moved to the safe.

“They were waiting for you to find it.”