No one answers as she shoves me into something that’s hard against my skin my bones, and slams the metal door shut.
With tears in my eyes, I wrap my tiny fingers around the bars and cry out. My gaze stays locked on their cold ones until the closet door slowly slides shut.
Leaving me alone.
Again.
In the dark.
In a cage.
Chapter 9
My body bolts upright,and I’m disoriented, surrounded by soft blue walls in an unfamiliar office. Panic grips my chest as a flood of memories rushes back, mingling my past with my present into a chaotic mess. My heart hammers inmy chest, and I frantically scan the room, my breaths coming in short, ragged gasps.
Then, I see them—Daniel and Evelyn, the only parents I’ve ever known. Their worried faces replace the masked figures I had feared moments ago. They’re no longer dressed in ominous black, and the ski masks are nowhere in sight.
They look different.
Scared.
Sad.
Evelyn, with her greyish-blonde hair pulled back into a small ponytail, wears jeans and a thick purple sweater. Her aging face is etched with grief and worry, and I quickly avert my gaze, swallowing thickly. My stomach twists when I see Daniel wrap his arms tightly around her. Instead of the black tac-gear he’d hidden behind earlier, he’s now dressed in a long-sleeved red shirt and jeans, but his usually warm and comforting presence is absent.
They both look shattered, and the sight is nearly unbearable.
But so is the betrayal that writhes between us, twisting and turning until it’s nothing but mangled memories of love and lies.
Turning away from them, my burning eyes land on an elegant, feminine desk adorned with a vase of flowers. Behind it sits a woman, and it hits me then that for the first time in over ten years, I’m seeingher.Really seeing her.
Though it kills me inside, I force myself to look into the eyes of Madeline Vega…my real mom.
She abandoned me.
Dead.
I thought she was dead.
I choke on the words swirling through my brain, forcing them down, down, down until I can finally breathe again. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Evelyn sway as if she wants to come tome, comfort me, but Daniel holds her back, and for that, I’m grateful.
I focus back on Madeline, who bears a striking resemblance to me. One that hits so hard and so deep it makes me gasp again, and my hand instinctively presses against my chest to soften the pain.
She smiles softly, but it lacks the warmth I used to know and love. I swallow hard, my gaze traveling down her figure, partially hidden behind the desk. She’s petite, thin, yet strong. She wears a black sleeveless dress, revealing her golden tan skin, her biceps firm and taut as her hands clasp together on the desk.
She doesn’t speak, doesn’t move, as if she knows I need this moment to reorient myself with her. To come to terms with her sudden presence in my life after so long.
To come to terms with reality.
She’s not dead.
I scrutinize her face, and a sense of bittersweet recognition washes over me. Her once-chocolate brown hair, so much like my own, is now threaded with silver, a testament to the years that have passed since our separation. It’s neatly pulled up into a tight chignon that makes her look sharp and almost harsh, but it’s softened by the pearl studs in her ears and the makeup covering her face.
Her brows, just as thin as they’ve always been, rest gracefully above her eyes, giving her a dignified look. Her lips, coated in a shade of red lipstick that seems to scream confidence, hold a subtle smile that’s missing the warmth I once knew and cherished. The edges of her lips bear the faintest lines, barely there wrinkles that tell the story of the years she’s lived and the experiences she’s had. It’s hard not to feel bitter at the sight of them.
For me, they’re a reminder of the life she lived without me.
I thought she was dead.
