Chapter 3 - The Photograph Hidden Behind My Mother’s Music Box Revealed the Man Nathaniel Graves Thought He Had BuriedNathaniel took me to his private residence that night.
I didn't know why.
He simply said it was safer.
His house looked nothing like ours.
There were no cracked walls.
No broken heater.
No empty refrigerator.
No landlord letters.
Everything was enormous.
But it felt strangely empty.
"Do you live here alone?"
Nathaniel looked toward the staircase.
"Mostly."
"What does mostly mean?"
"It means people come and go."
"Do you have children?"
He looked at me.
"No."
There was something sad in the way he said it.
Then a woman approached.
She was elegant, probably in her fifties.
"Mr. Graves."
"Mrs. Dalton, this is Ruby."
The woman smiled gently.
"Hello, sweetheart."
"Hi."
"She's hungry."
"I already ate."
Nathaniel raised an eyebrow.
"You ate half a sandwich."
"I wasn't hungry."
"You're eight."
"I know."
"Then eat."
I almost smiled.
It was the first normal thing he had said all day.
That night, I slept in a room larger than our entire apartment.
But I couldn't sleep.
I kept thinking about Mom.
At midnight, I heard voices downstairs.
I quietly opened the door.
Nathaniel was standing beside a table.
Mrs. Dalton was speaking to him.
"Sir, the girl needs answers."
"I know."
"She needs her mother."
"I know."
"And you need to tell her the truth."
Nathaniel was silent.
"What truth?" I asked.
They both turned.
Nathaniel sighed.
"Come here."
I walked downstairs.
He sat beside me.
"Your mother and my brother Daniel were involved in something dangerous."
"What?"
"A financial operation."
"Like stealing?"
"No."
"Then what?"
"They were trying to expose someone."
"Who?"
"Someone inside my organization."
"Did they succeed?"
"No."
"What happened?"
"Daniel disappeared."
"And Mom?"
"She ran."
"Why?"
"Because she had you."
I frowned.
"She had me?"
"She was pregnant."
I stared at him.
"With me?"
Nathaniel nodded.
"Who was my father?"
Silence.
Nathaniel looked at me.
"That's the question you should ask your mother."
"But you know."
His eyes moved away.
"I know what she told me."
"What?"
"That Daniel was your father."
The room went silent.
I stared at him.
Daniel.
The man everyone believed was dead.
My father.
I didn't know whether to believe him.
Then Nathaniel's phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
"What?"
A pause.
"You're certain?"
Another pause.
"Send me the photograph."
He ended the call.
A picture appeared on his phone.
A surveillance image.
A man standing outside my old apartment.
I recognized him.
He had delivered eviction papers twice.
But now I noticed something else.
He was wearing a silver ring.
A black raven engraved into it.
Nathaniel stared at the picture.
"That's impossible."
"What?"
"That ring belonged to Daniel."
I looked at him.
"So my father is alive?"
Nathaniel didn't answer.
Instead, he stood.
"We're going to your mother's apartment."
"But you said it was dangerous."
"It is."
"Then why?"
"Because if Daniel is alive..."
He looked toward the dark windows.
"...your mother didn't disappear twelve years ago."
May you like
He paused.
"She was hiding."
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