Chapter 5: The Memory She Was Not Supposed to Have
Marcello couldn’t speak.
For the first time that night, he had no question ready.
No accusation.
No clever response.
Only confusion.
His daughter’s tiny hand was still wrapped around his fingers.
“I saw you before tonight.””
The sentence repeated in his mind.
Because it made no sense.
Lily had been with him all evening.
She had spent the entire day with him.
She had woken up in his house.
She had eaten breakfast at his kitchen table.
She had fallen asleep in the car on the way to the event.
So how could she have seen him before?
Marcello slowly crouched down.
“Lily.””
She looked at him.
“Who did you see?””
The little girl glanced at Isabella.
The woman in the emerald dress smiled faintly.
Like she already knew the answer.
That made Marcello’s stomach tighten.
“Lily,” he said gently.
“Look at Daddy.””
She did.
“Tell me.””
The little girl swallowed.
“You were in the room.””
“What room?””
“The room with the pictures.””
Marcello’s face changed.
A room with pictures.
Only one room came to mind.
His childhood home.
But Lily had never been there.
Not once.
“Where?”” he asked.
She squeezed his hand.
“Before Mommy went away.””
The words hit him harder than anything else.
The woman behind him went still.
Even Isabella’s expression shifted.
Just slightly.
Marcello felt his throat tighten.
“Lily…”
His voice became softer.
“What did you say?””
“Before Mommy went away.””
The hallway suddenly felt colder.
His daughter rarely talked about her mother.
Not because Marcello avoided the subject.
Because Lily simply didn’t remember much.
Her mother, Elena, had died when Lily was only one year old.
A car accident.
A rainy road.
A phone call that had split his entire world in half.
Lily had been too young to understand.
Too young to remember.
Or so he thought.
Marcello looked at Isabella.
The woman he still didn’t know the name of.
Then back at Lily.
“How could you see something from before Mommy went away?””
The little girl frowned.
Like he was asking the wrong question.
“I saw it.””
“Where?””
“In the mirror.””
Nobody spoke.
The answer was so strange that for a second Marcello didn’t know how to react.
“What mirror?””
“The one upstairs.””
Isabella’s smile disappeared.
Completely.
Marcello noticed.
And this time, he didn’t ignore it.
“What mirror?””
No one answered.
He looked at Isabella.
“You know what she’s talking about.””
Isabella remained silent.
The woman behind him whispered:
“The family room.””
Marcello turned.
“What?””
The woman looked terrified.
“There’s a mirror in the old family room.””
“How do you know?””
Her eyes moved toward Isabella.
“Because that’s where she started.””
Marcello stared.
“Started what?””
Before the woman could answer, Isabella laughed.
A quiet laugh.
Almost disappointed.
“You really don’t remember.””
Marcello looked at her.
“Remember what?””
She stepped closer.
“You should be asking yourself that.””
“Stop speaking in riddles.””
“I’m not.””
Her voice hardened.
“You’re asking the wrong questions.””
Marcello felt anger rising.
“My daughter is scared. Your sister is injured. Someone has been pretending to be someone else for months.
My company documents are being stolen. And you’re standing here telling me I’m asking the wrong questions?””
Isabella didn’t react.
Instead, she looked at Lily.
“Tell him what else you saw.””
Marcello immediately stepped between them.
“No.””
Isabella’s eyes narrowed.
“Why are you afraid?””
“I’m not afraid.””
“You should be.””
The woman in the room moved forward.
“Enough.””
Isabella looked at her.
“You always were protective of strangers.””
The woman’s expression hardened.
“You were never like this.””
A small smile appeared on Isabella’s face.
“No.””
She looked back at Marcello.
“I became like this because of people like him.””
Marcello frowned.
“People like me?””
Isabella turned away.
“Ask your daughter.””
His chest tightened.
He looked down.
“Lily?””
The little girl looked at the floor.
“Daddy, you were sad.””
“When?””
“In the mirror room.””
Marcello’s heartbeat increased.
“What happened there?””
Lily was quiet.
Then:
“You were crying.””
A strange ache moved through him.
Because he had cried in that room.
Years ago.
After Elena died.
His family home had a room filled with old photographs.
A place where he would sit alone.
A place nobody entered.
Not even after he sold the house.
But Lily had never been there.
She couldn’t have.
“Lily,” he whispered.
“Did you see Mommy?””
The little girl nodded.
“Yes.””
Everything stopped.
Marcello felt like the floor had moved beneath him.
“You saw Mommy?””
“Yes.””
“When?””
“Before she went away.””
His eyes burned.
“How?””
Lily looked toward the old wooden door behind them.
“The mirror showed me.””
Marcello looked at Isabella.
The fear on her face was no longer hidden.
She knew.
She knew exactly what Lily meant.
The woman beside him spoke quietly.
“Your daughter can see memories.””
Marcello looked at her.
“That’s impossible.””
“Is it?””
He had no answer.
Because tonight had already broken every idea of impossible.
A woman with another woman’s face.
A hidden room.
A message warning him.
A child who knew things nobody told her.
The woman continued.
“She doesn’t see the future.””
Marcello looked at Lily.
“She sees what people leave behind.””
A silence followed.
Marcello shook his head.
“No.””
The woman looked at him.
“You know I’m right.””
“No.””
His voice cracked.
“She’s a child.””
“Yes.””
“She doesn’t need to carry this.””
The woman’s expression softened.
“That’s why your daughter is different.””
Marcello looked confused.
“Different how?””
“Because she doesn’t look for secrets.””
The woman looked at Lily.
“Secrets find her.””
Nobody spoke.
Then Isabella stepped forward.
And for the first time, her confidence disappeared.
“Do you know what your daughter saw in that mirror?””
Marcello stared at her.
“What?””
“She saw the night Elena died.””
His entire body froze.
The woman beside him whispered:
“No…”
Isabella continued.
“She saw what happened.””
Marcello’s voice became barely audible.
“Elena died in an accident.””
Isabella tilted her head.
“Did she?””
The question cut through him.
Because there had always been something strange about that night.
Something he never discussed.
The police report said the road was wet.
The car lost control.
A tragic accident.
That was the official story.
But Elena’s phone had disappeared.
Her last conversation was missing.
And the person who called him that night…
Had never been found.
Marcello looked at Lily.
His daughter was staring at him with tears forming in her eyes.
“Daddy…”
He knelt down.
“What?””
“I didn’t want to tell you.””
His heart broke.
“Tell me what?””
She whispered:
“Mommy was not alone.””
The hallway became silent.
Marcello stopped breathing.
“What do you mean?””
Lily looked toward Isabella.
Then toward the staircase.
“She was with someone.””
The woman behind him covered her mouth.
Marcello’s hands trembled.
“Who?””
Lily’s eyes filled with fear.
“I don’t know his name.””
“Then what do you know?””
The little girl whispered:
“He had the same smile.””
Marcello frowned.
“Same smile as who?””
Lily slowly raised her finger.
And pointed behind him.
Not at Isabella.
Not at the woman in the room.
At the mirror.
Marcello turned.
The glass reflected the hallway.
The staircase.
The empty space behind them.
But standing in the reflection…
Was a man.
A man who was not there.
A man Lily had seen before.
A man wearing the same smile she remembered from the night her mother died.
Marcello felt the blood drain from his face.
Because he recognized him.
May you like
It was Adrian.
And the reflection showed him standing beside Elena.
