Chapter 8: Two Mothers
I stopped halfway up the stairs.
The woman holding the knife had my mother's face.
The woman holding the ledger had my mother's face.
But only one of them looked at me like she knew me.
The other looked at me like she had been waiting for me.
“Marcus,” the woman with the ledger whispered.
Her voice shook.
“Don't come any closer.””
The woman with the knife smiled.
“You finally brought Nia home.””
Nia grabbed my arm.
“Don't move.””
I stared at the two women.
“How are there two of you?””
Neither answered.
Then the woman with the ledger began to cry.
The woman with the knife laughed softly.
“You still don't see it.””
“See what?””
She raised the knife toward the other woman.
“She spent your entire life pretending to be your mother.””
The woman with the ledger recoiled.
“That's enough.””
“No.””
The knife woman took one step down.
“Let him know.””
I looked at the woman with the ledger.
“Mom?””
She flinched.
That single reaction terrified me more than the knife.
“Are you my mother?””
She opened her mouth.
The other woman answered for her.
“No.””
The word echoed through the stairwell.
I felt my knees weaken.
Nia whispered, “Marcus…”
I ignored her.
I looked at the woman holding the ledger.
“Tell me.””
She stared at me through tears.
“I am your mother.””
“Then who is she?””
The knife woman smiled.
“I am the reason she was able to become one.””
I didn't understand.
“Stop talking in riddles.””
The knife woman tilted her head.
“Ask your father.””
I pulled out my phone and called him.
He answered on the first ring.
“Marcus?””
“There are two women in my house.””
Silence.
Then my father said something that made my blood run cold.
“Don't let either one of them leave.””
I stared up at the staircase.
“You knew.””
“Marcus, listen to me.””
“You knew there were two women.””
“Yes.””
“Then tell me which one is my mother.””
“I can't do that over the phone.””
“Why?””
“Because I don't know anymore.””
The line went dead.
I stared at the screen.
Nia whispered, “What did he say?””
“He doesn't know.””
The woman with the knife laughed.
“Now you understand.””
She turned toward the woman with the ledger.
“How many years did you think you could keep him?””
The woman with the ledger's face crumpled.
“I never wanted this.””
“You never want anything until it's too late.””
I took another step.
“Who are you?””
The knife woman looked directly at me.
“Your aunt.””
The room seemed to tilt.
“No.””
“My name is Evelyn.””
She smiled.
“Just like hers.””
The woman holding the ledger shook her head.
“She took my identity.””
“For how long?””
“Thirty-one years.””
I looked at the woman with the knife.
“Where were you?””
“Watching.””
“Watching me?””
“Watching all of you.””
She lowered the knife slightly.
“I watched your father build Bellweather. I watched your mother destroy it. I watched you grow up in a house that was never yours.””
I looked at the room around me.
“What do you mean, this house was never mine?””
The woman holding the ledger closed her eyes.
“Marcus, please.””
“No more please.””
My voice cracked.
“No more lies.””
I pointed at the ledger.
“What is inside that book?””
Evelyn's smile disappeared.
“Names.””
“Whose names?””
“Everyone who was paid.””
“For what?””
“Silence.””
I stared at the pages.
“About what?””
She looked at the other woman.
“Ask her why she married Graham.””
The woman with the ledger whispered, “I loved him.””
“That isn't why.””
“It was part of it.””
I looked between them.
“What did my mother do?””
Neither woman spoke.
Then Evelyn answered.
“She took money from Bellweather.””
“How much?””
“Enough to make people disappear.””
Nia inhaled sharply.
“What does that mean?””
Evelyn's eyes moved to her.
“You found the records.””
Nia nodded.
“Yes.””
“Then you know.””
“Only some.””
“Then you know why I came back.””
Nia looked at me.
“She was trying to expose Bellweather.””
Evelyn nodded.
“And your fiancée was trying to stop me.””
I turned toward Nia.
“Is that true?””
Nia shook her head.
“No.””
“You broke into the archives.””
“Yes.””
“You met Caleb at a hotel.””
“Yes.””
“You tried to access my father's account.””
“Yes.””
“You had contact with my mother.””
Nia's eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.””
“Why?””
She stepped closer.
“Because I was trying to get to Evelyn before she got to you.””
I stared at her.
“Which Evelyn?””
She looked at both women.
“That was the problem.””
The woman with the ledger suddenly threw the book toward me.
It landed halfway down the stairs.
“Take it.””
Evelyn with the knife lunged.
Nia screamed.
I grabbed the ledger.
The knife struck the wooden railing inches from my hand.
Nia pulled me backward.
“Run!””
Evelyn tore the blade free.
“Give me the ledger!””
“No.””
“It belongs to me!””
“It belongs to Marcus,” the other woman shouted.
“You don't even know who he is!””
“Yes, I do.””
She looked at me.
“I gave birth to him.””
Everything stopped.
The woman with the ledger pressed one hand against her mouth.
Evelyn stared at her.
“You're still lying.””
The woman lowered her hand.
“No.””
Her voice was steady now.
“I gave birth to Marcus.””
Evelyn's expression changed.
For the first time, the knife woman looked genuinely afraid.
I stared at the ledger.
Then at her.
“Then you're not my aunt.””
She didn't answer.
“You're my mother.””
Silence.
The woman holding the knife lowered it slowly.
“Yes.””
I felt something inside me collapse.
Nia whispered, “Marcus…”
I looked at the other woman.
“Then who is she?””
My supposed mother looked at me.
Her face was wet with tears.
“Your aunt.””
“No.””
I shook my head.
“No. You said she took your identity.””
“She did.””
“You said I wasn't hers.””
“He isn't.””
Evelyn stepped closer.
“You don't understand.””
I looked at her.
“Then make me understand.””
She pointed at the ledger.
“The first page.””
I opened it.
The paper smelled old and dusty.
Thousands of handwritten entries filled the pages.
Companies.
Dates.
Amounts.
Initials.
I turned to the first page.
At the top, in faded black ink, was one sentence.
*BELLWEATHER HOLDINGS — ORIGINAL BENEFICIARIES*
Below it were three names.
Graham Hale.
Evelyn Hale.
And—
My eyes stopped.
*Marcus Evan Hale.*
My name.
But beside it was a date.
A date eleven years before I was born.
I looked at the woman with the ledger.
“How can my name be here before I existed?””
She started crying again.
“Because that isn't your name.””
“What?””
Evelyn whispered, “Read the line below it.””
I looked down.
*BENEFICIARY: MALE CHILD — CODE M.H.*
My heart hammered.
“There was another child.””
The woman with the ledger nodded.
“You had a brother.””
I laughed in disbelief.
“I have Caleb.””
“No.””
She shook her head.
“Caleb came later.””
I turned toward Nia.
She had gone completely still.
“You knew?””
She nodded.
“About a second brother.””
“What happened to him?””
Nobody answered.
Then I heard a sound from upstairs.
A door opening.
Slowly.
Everyone looked up.
A man's footsteps moved across the hallway.
One.
Two.
Three.
Then a voice came from the darkness.
“Marcus?””
My father's voice.
But my father wasn't supposed to be upstairs.
He was twenty minutes away.
Or so I thought.
Graham appeared at the top of the staircase.
He looked at the two women.
Then at the ledger in my hands.
His face collapsed.
“No.””
I stared at him.
“You're here.””
He stepped backward.
“Who brought you here?””
Nia pointed at him.
“You did.””
My father looked at her.
“I didn't.””
“Yes, you did.””
She pulled her phone from her pocket and opened a photograph.
“Three weeks ago, you sent me this.””
She held it up.
The photograph showed Graham standing beside a woman.
Not my mother.
Not Evelyn.
Someone else.
Someone younger.
Someone I recognized instantly.
My stomach twisted.
Because I had seen her before.
In the family photograph on the wall downstairs.
Standing behind my crib.
Wearing the same necklace she wore in the picture.
I looked at my father.
“Who is she?””
He didn't answer.
Evelyn did.
“She was the woman who raised you.””
I stared at the photograph.
“No.””
My father finally spoke.
“She wasn't your mother.””
“Then who was she?””
He looked directly at me.
“Your real mother died the night you were born.””
The ledger slipped from my fingers.
May you like
And Nia whispered the one sentence that made the entire room go silent.
“Then the woman standing on the stairs isn't your mother either.””
