Chapter 12 - The Woman in the Photograph
They found the house two days later.
It was small.
White siding.
A garden filled with roses.
No guards.
No gates.
No marble.
Victoria knocked.
An elderly woman opened the door.
Her hair was gray.
Her face thinner.
But her eyes—
Victoria stopped breathing.
"Mom?"
The woman dropped the cup in her hand.
It shattered.
Mia began crying.
"Evelyn?"
Their mother stared at them.
Then she whispered:
"My girls."
Mia collapsed into her arms.
Victoria remained frozen.
Twenty-five years of anger.
Twenty-five years of unanswered questions.
And suddenly the woman she had mourned was standing in front of her.
Evelyn cried as she held them.
"I thought you were dead," Mia sobbed.
"I was dead to you."
Victoria finally spoke.
"Why didn't you come back?"
Evelyn looked at her.
"Because Eleanor threatened your lives."
Victoria's eyes hardened.
"She said she would hurt us?"
"She said she would destroy you."
Evelyn reached for her daughter's hand.
"I believed her."
Victoria finally broke.
She hugged her mother.
May you like
For the first time since childhood, she allowed herself to cry.
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