This… can’t be real
Charlotte’s POV
“Charlotte.”
Someone was shaking me, maybe Kate or Loveth, I couldn’t tell. It felt like I was no longer present, like my thoughts had been pulled into some distant place. My eyes were locked on the passport photo on the license. They burned as I kept staring, and tears started to well up. Slowly, I reached out and picked it up, flipping it open.
“This… can’t be real,” I murmured.
The woman in the photo had different eyes and a different hair colour. She looked much younger, maybe just entering her twenties. But I still knew. Deep down, I knew. It was her. It was my mother.
The license wasn’t from Indiana like I expected, it was issued in Utah. The address was to a place I’d never heard of. I stared harder, as if doing so would explain everything.
Who are you, Mom? The words slipped from my lips.
“Maybe it’s her twin,” Kate said quietly. I wanted to believe that, so badly.
“Kate, not now,” Loveth snapped, reaching to steady me as I took a step back, my chest tightening under the weight of what I was seeing.
“I’m just saying! Her hair and eyes are different, and she looks way younger. What if there’s more to this?”
Kate didn’t take well to being shut down, and I didn’t have the strength to mediate between the two of them.
Loveth turned to me. “Has your mom ever said anything? About having a sister? Or a twin?”
“No… this, this doesn’t make any sense,” I stuttered. My throat felt dry like I had swallowed dust. My head was light, and the room tilted slightly around me.
“Come lie down,” Kate said, sitting beside me. “We’ll help you sort through everything. Piece by piece.”
But lying down was the last thing I wanted to do.
“I need to see everything,” I whispered, lifting paper after paper, even as my hands trembled.
Kate and Loveth saw I wasn’t going to stop, so they started helping me. We spread the documents across the bed, scanning each one carefully.
Then Loveth picked up a sheet and slid it toward me, hesitating. “Here,” he said, almost like he didn’t want me to read it.
PROPERTY SALE AGREEMENT
My heart stopped. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. My eyes widened, and my mouth dropped open.
My mother had told me she was only leasing the house. But this, this said otherwise.
She’d already signed the documents. All that remained was the buyer’s signature, and the house, my father’s house, would be gone. Sold. Without telling me. Without even a warning.
“Mateo?” I repeated, my voice a little more stable now, though my insides were still shaking. I avoided his eyes, not sure what to make of his sudden appearance.
“What are you doing here?” he asked again, but this time his gaze moved from me to the papers on the bed, then back to the one in my hand.
“I could ask you the same thing,” I said, lifting my chin, trying to stay composed even though my brain was racing.
“Well, I came to have a word with Stanley,” he replied, eyes dropping to the floor for a second.
“In the guest bedroom?” I raised an eyebrow, folding my arms.
“Why not?” he answered with a half shrug. But his face didn’t match his words. He looked... tense. Not nervous, exactly, but like he was trying too hard to act normal.
Kate gave him a once-over. Loveth stood quietly by my side, watching him with narrowed eyes.
“You knew something, didn’t you?” I asked slowly, taking a step toward Mateo. “You’re not just here for a chat, are you?”
He didn’t reply. His silence said enough.
“You’ve been watching her,” I said, my voice dropping. “You’re tracking my mom.”
Mateo still said nothing.
I felt my throat tighten again. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, my voice barely above a breath. “Why did I have to find out this way? Through a photo. Through a fake name.”
Mateo looked straight at me now. “Because I didn’t want you getting hurt.”
“Too late,” I snapped.
“We’re trying to protect you, Charlotte.”
“By keeping secrets?”
He stepped toward me. “There’s more going on than you know. A lot more. I came here to speak to Stanley because things are getting dangerous.”
“Dangerous?” Kate echoed, stepping closer.
Mateo hesitated, like he was weighing what to say next.
“Yes,” he finally said. “And your mother... isn’t who you think she is.”
My stomach dropped. The room felt colder all of a sudden.
“I already figured that out,” I muttered, holding up the ID with the name Marya Sanders. “You think I’d be calm if she was just hiding a nickname?"
Mateo sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Look, we don’t have time. Stanley’s out. But we need to talk. Somewhere private. And you need to see something.”
I exchanged a look with Loveth, then with Kate. I didn’t trust Mateo entirely, but I trusted that he knew more than we did. And right now, I needed answers more than anything.
I nodded. “Fine. But you tell me everything. No more secrets.”
“Are you trying to install hidden cameras behind Stanley’s back?!” I shouted, spinning around to face Mateo, my pulse thumping in my ears.
He rubbed his jaw and avoided my glare. “It’s not what you think.”
“Then what is it?” Kate snapped, stepping forward with her arms crossed.
“Stanley lives with a woman who’s not who she says she is,” Mateo said quickly, his voice low and serious. “This isn’t just about protecting Stanley, it’s about protecting you, too, Charlotte.”
“You mean my mother,” I said bitterly, the word almost burning my tongue.
“I mean Marya Sanders,” he corrected sharply, and I flinched at the name. “She’s not the woman you thought she was. You said it yourself, she’s about to sell your father’s house without a word. That’s just the beginning.”
My knees felt weak again, but I didn’t let myself fall this time. I looked back at the two men setting up the ladder, both pretending not to listen even though their hands had paused mid-motion.
“So you’re spying on her?”
“We’re gathering proof,” Mateo answered. “She’s dangerous, Charlotte. And she’s hiding something big, something even Stanley doesn’t know yet.”
Kate reached for my arm. “Babe, if what he’s saying is true…”
I nodded slowly, still trying to catch my breath. “What if she finds the cameras?”
“She won’t,” Mateo assured me. “They’re nearly invisible. And if she doesn’t suspect anything, she won’t go looking.”
“This is insane,” Loveth muttered. “All this just because of a fake ID and some lies?”
Mateo looked at him flatly. “Would you feel the same if those lies were leading her toward killing the people closest to her?”
A chill ran through me. I remembered the look in her eyes the night she found me going through her drawers. The coldness. The way she didn’t even flinch when I mentioned Dad.
“I’m going to Luther,” I said suddenly.
“Charlotte…”
“I have to. He needs to know what I saw. What I found. The sale document. The photo. Everything.”
Mateo didn’t stop me this time. He just nodded once.
“Fine. But go with them,” he gestured at Loveth and Kate. “And wait for my call. I’ll send you footage once everything’s in place.”
I turned back to the house for a moment. The home I grew up in. The place that held all of Dad’s memories. And now? Now it was full of secrets and betrayal. As we got into the car and pulled out of the driveway, I couldn’t stop thinking: What else had she lied about? And how much time did we have left before everything exploded?
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