Chapter Six

The silence inside the hospital room felt heavier than a concrete marcus was the first one to break it, he slowly lowered himself back onto the edge of the bed, while his eyes locked onto mine.

"Did your grandmother really just say that Clara and Richard aren't your actual parents?"

I swallowed hard, my throat feeling completely dry. "I don't know," I whispered, even to me, the words sounded ridiculous. For twenty-six years, Clara and Richard had been my parents though they were terrible and cruel people but they were the only parents I had ever known.

Now, a woman who was supposed to be resting in a grave had destroyed my entire life's certainty with a single sentence, marcus rubbed a hand over his face, looking exhausted. "We need answers."

I nodded firmly. "We're going back to her place."

"Tonight?, Yes Tonight."

Neither of us wanted to wait another second my phone stayed completely silent after the call hanged up,there was any new messages,follow-up or an explanations…..nothing.

That dead silence actually scared me more than the threats did. It felt like someone had dropped a bomb on my life and just walked away smiling.

An hour later, we were at the car, and Marcus insisted on coming along. "You're injured," I argued, looking at his cast.

"I'm alive," he countered…."That's not the same thing." "Neither is leaving you to handle this alone."

I wanted to keep fighting him on it, but I didn't have the energy, honestly for the first time since this whole nightmare started, I wasn't even sure who was hunting whom anymore.

We slipped out through a side exit of the hospital. Outside, the city had become completely dark, and heavy rain clouds were gathering overhead. The drive back felt so much longer this time and neither of us said much, my mind was too busy replaying Grandmother Esther’s words on a loop.

*They aren't your real parents.*

The sentence just wouldn't leave me alone. Suddenly, every single childhood memory felt completely different and every cruel word they ever said to me, every rejection, every forgotten birthday, and every achievement they ignored. 

Had they treated me like an outcast because they knew the truth? Or did they just not care…. I didn't know which answer hurt worse.

When we arrived, the abandoned building looked exactly the same as before it was dark, quiet, and totally forgotten except, as we got closer, I noticed something was wrong,the front door was hanging partially open.

My heart jumped. I exchanged a quick look with Marcus, and I could tell he saw it too. Someone had been here. Marcus immediately stepped in front of me. "Stay behind me."

I rolled my eyes despite the tension. "Marcus, you have one working arm."

"And I'm still bigger than you," he grunted.

A tiny laugh slipped out of me, but it vanished the moment we walked upstairs and saw the apartment door wide open. 

Esther would never have left it like that we stepped inside cautiously,the place was totally empty, the kettle was lying on its side on the floor, a chair had been knocked over, and one of the drawers had been ripped completely out of the cabinet.

My heart began hammering against my ribs. "Grandma?" I called out. No answer. I moved deeper into the wreckage. 

"Grandma!"

Still nothing…marcus was searching the perimeter of the room when his expression suddenly darkened. "Elena.” I turned around and he was pointing toward the floor.

Right next to a broken teacup, there was a dark smear on the floorboard. Blood. It wasn't a massive puddle, but it was enough to make my stomach instantly drop.

"No," I whispered, rushing forward,rhe blood was fresh someone had been hurt here, and it happened recently right after I left.

"Call her again," Marcus said.

My hands shook so badly I could barely dial the number, the call went straight to voicemail i tried again still voicemail. Cold fear crawled up my spine, had someone taken her? Did the same person who cut Marcus's brake lines find her hiding spot? A million questions flooded my mind, but there were absolutely no answers.

Then, Marcus noticed something tucked beneath the overturned chair,It was a folded piece of paper he picked it up and scanned it.

"What is it?" I asked.

His eyes narrowed. "It's addressed to you."

My heart skipped a beat as he handed it over,the handwriting belonged to Esther I unfolded it quickly and read 

*Elena,* *If you're reading this, they found me sooner than I expected but do not panic, and do not go to the police and most importantly do not trust anyone from the Vance family not even the ones pretending to help you. The rest of….*

The text just stopped and the bottom of the page was completely missing, ripped away mid-sentence. My chest tightened. "That's it?" Marcus nodded grimly. "The bottom was torn right off."

I looked around the destroyed room. Someone had clearly interrupted her while she was right in the middle of writing this to me. A sudden noise from downstairs froze us both in our tracks,we heard footsteps They were slow, deliberate, and heading straight up toward us.

Marcus instantly grabbed my wrist, pulling me back. Then, the footsteps stopped and dead silence filled the building. A second later, a heavy door slammed somewhere below, we rushed to the window immediately to see a black SUV speeding away from the building. 

It was too far away to see the driver and moving too fast to catch, but they weren't fast enough to escape my camera. I whipped out my phone and snapped a picture.

The photo came out a little blurry, but one crucial detail was clear,the license plate Mrcus looked impressed. "Nice catch."

I didn't waste time immediately I texted the image straight to David, Marcus's assistant. 

“Run this plate,” I typed.

“Already on it,” he replied almost instantly my hands were still shaking someone had been in this room maybe minutes or even seconds before we entered and now they were gone.

A fresh notification popped up on my screen from an unknown number my stomach twisted into a knot as I opened it…..It was a single image.

My breath caught,the photo showed me standing right outside the hospital entrance earlier tonight someone had been watching me there, too another text arrived right after, containing only five words ….You're asking dangerous questions.

Marcus read it over my shoulder. "Whoever this is, they're escalating."

I nodded because he was right this wasn't just a random warning anymore it was full surveillance,someone wanted me terrified.

The only problem for them was that the fear was starting to turn into pure anger 

Twenty minutes later, David called back and Marcus put him on speakerphone.

"I got the registration for the plate," David said.

"Tell us," Marcus ordered. There was a brief, heavy pause on the line. "The SUV belongs to a shell company."

My heart sank. "Which means?"

"Which means someone went to a lot of trouble to keep their name off the paperwork," David explained, sounding pretty unsettled himself. "But I dug deeper.

The company only has one listed owner."

Marcus straightened up. "Who is it?"

Silence stretched over the phone line. Then, David dropped the name. "Richard Vance."

The room felt like it stopped spinning,my father's name echoed like a gunshot inside my head No. That can't be possible. Can it? The blood on the floor, the break-in, the warnings, the SUV it all led straight back to him,my hands clenched into fists,Marcus looked just as stunned as I felt.

“Are you absolutely sure, David?"

"Positive."

The call ended, leaving us in a heavy silence if Richard was directly involved in this, then we weren't just dealing with family cruelty anymore because this was something much darker, and much more dangerous.

As we paced the room, trying to figure out our next move, a glint of light caught my eye near the floorboards right beneath Esther's old desk, one of the wooden planks looked loose.

I bent down and pried the board aside,my breath seized, hidden in the hollow space underneath was a small, heavy metal lockbox.

"Open it," Marcus urged, kneeling down beside me.

Luckily, the box wasn't locked my fingers trembled as I lifted the heavy lid,inside lay a stack of old documents, a few photographs, a passport, and a thick, sealed envelope and written across the front in Esther’s sharp handwriting were the words ‘FOR ELENA ONLY’

My heartbeat grew so loud in my ears, I carefully tore the envelope, and a single piece of paper slid out into my hand it was a birth certificate but it wasn't the one I grew up with.

Under the mother's name, it didn't say Clara and under the father's name, it didn't say Richard, i stared blankly at the unfamiliar names on the document, the blood completely draining from my face I didn't recognize either of them.

But Marcus did.

His face changed instantly, shifting from confusion to shock, and then to absolute horror "Marcus" I whispered, terrified by his reaction.

He looked up at me, his voice barely steady "Elena..."

"What? Who are they?"

He swallowed hard, his finger shaking as he pointed directly at the father's name on the paper then he looked back into my eyes, and delivered the final blow.

"I know who this man is, he's supposed to have been dead for years.”