It was a drawing of a house.
Underneath, in my father's handwriting:
She remembers the red door.
I stared at it.
“I don't remember any red door.”
Natalia picked up the photograph.
Her face changed.
It showed my father standing beside a woman.
My mother.
I had never seen her before.
But there she was.
On her wrist was a thin silver bracelet.
I looked at Natalia.
“Who is she?”
Natalia's eyes filled with tears.
“Your mother.”
I couldn't speak.
Dominic stepped closer.
“When did she die?”
Natalia shook her head.
“She didn't.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Natalia looked at Dominic.
“She disappeared.”
I stared at the photograph.
Then I noticed the date.
The photograph had been taken eight months after the date my father supposedly said my mother had died.
I looked at Dominic.
“You knew.”
He shook his head.
“I didn't.”
Natalia whispered,
“She disappeared because she discovered who was using your father's translations.”
I looked down at the contracts.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Not Anton Belov.
Not Victor.
Not Natalia.
A name I knew.
Our general manager.
I turned toward the stairs.
Simon was standing there.
His face was pale.
He looked at the documents.
Then at me.
I CAUGHT MY BILLIONAIRE HUSBAND PRACTICING HOW TO CRY WHEN HE APOLOGIZED...
PLEASE DON'T DIVORCE HIM!” MY HUSBAND'S MISTRESS SCREAMED, DROPPING TO H...
MY BILLIONAIRE HUSBAND HUNG UP ON MY MOTHER WHILE SHE WAS SAYING “I LOVE...
And quietly said,
“Your father should never have left you that key.”
Simon didn't run.
That somehow frightened me more.
Dominic stepped between us.
“Explain.”
Simon looked at him.
“You won't like the answer.”
Simon glanced at the briefcase.
“The contracts were never supposed to be here.”
“Who put them here?”
“Your father.”
Simon looked at me.
“To protect you.”
I shook my head.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Because it's true.”
My voice cracked.
“Everyone knew something about my family except me.”
Simon lowered his eyes.
“I was told not to tell you until you found the key.”
“By whom?”
“My father.”
I stared at him.
“Your father?”
Simon nodded.
“He worked with Daniel.”
Dominic looked surprised.
“You never told me.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
Simon looked at the documents.
“The same people your father was afraid of.”
Natalia picked up the photograph.
“Who was the woman with Daniel?”
Simon looked at her.
“Her name was Elena Harper.”
My heart stopped.
My mother.
The name I had never been allowed to ask about.
“She wasn't dead,” I said.
“Where is she?”
Simon shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“Then who does?”
Simon hesitated.
“Your father's old contact in Prague.”
Victor's expression changed.
Simon nodded.
Victor looked at Dominic.
“That's impossible.”
“Petrov disappeared six years ago.”
Simon corrected him.
“He disappeared publicly.”
I stared at them.
“How many people in my father's life are supposedly dead?”
Nobody answered.
Then a sound came from the hallway.
A bottle rolled across the floor.
Dominic immediately drew his weapon.
“Stay behind me.”