For years, I had tried to forget.
But now memories were returning.
Small moments.
Pieces I had ignored.
My mother packing a bag.
My father standing in the hallway.
The strange silence afterward.
The way everyone stopped asking questions.
“How did we never see it?” I whispered.
Clara reached for my hand.
“Because we trusted the people who were supposed to protect us.”
That afternoon, I made a decision.
I was going to find my mother.
Not because I needed her to fix my past.
Not because I expected everything to suddenly make sense.
But because I deserved the truth.
I searched through old records.
Old addresses.
Old connections.
Anything I could find.
Then I discovered something strange.
A name appeared repeatedly.
A person I had never heard of.
Someone connected to my mother before she disappeared.
A woman named Evelyn Hart.
I stared at the screen.
The name felt familiar.
But I couldn’t remember why.
Then Julian walked into the room.
He had returned to collect the rest of his belongings.
“What are you looking at?”
I turned the laptop toward him.
“Do you know her?”
The moment he saw the photograph beside Evelyn’s name, his expression changed.
Only slightly.
But I noticed.
“Julian?”
He looked away.
“Where did you find that name?”
My heart started racing.
“Why?”
“Emma.”
His voice was different.
Serious.
Careful.
“Answer me.”
“I found it while looking for my mother.”
