On my wedding night, my wife told me her period had started and went to sleep without letting me near her. At 12:43 I woke up, and her side of the bed was empty. Seconds later, I heard intimate noises in my father’s room and saw a woman enter with the same dress, same hair, and same silhouette as my wife. Five minutes later, she lay back down next to me as if nothing had happened.
“Then Arthur made a mistake last night… because that woman was never supposed to let you see her left hand.”
I felt ice run down my spine.
“Why?”
Silas looked around before answering.
“Because she’s missing her pinky finger.”
I stood frozen.
I mentally went back to the crack in the door.
The hand lifting up.
The ring.
The fingers.
And then I remembered it.
I hadn’t thought about it in the moment.
I had only seen the sparkle of the ring.
But yes.
The hand had looked strange.
“Who is she?” I asked.
Silas gripped the keys tightly in his fist.
“Someone your father swore had disappeared twenty-eight years ago.”
“I don’t understand anything.”
“I know.”
“Then explain it to me.”
My uncle took a deep breath.
“When your mother died, you thought she was the first woman Arthur had lost.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“She wasn’t.”
I felt a sharp sting.
“My mom was married to him for thirty years.”
“Yes.”
“Then what are you talking about?”
Silas pointed toward the main building.
“Before he married your mother, Arthur was engaged to another woman.”
“He never told me that.”
“No one told you.”
“Why?”
Silas lowered his voice.
“Because officially, she died.”
The word landed heavily.
“Died?”
“That’s what they said.”
“And you’re saying she was the one in his room?”
He didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
“What was her name?”
Silas closed his eyes.
“Elena.”
I felt something strange.
The name sounded familiar.
I didn’t know from where.
“Elena what?”
“Vance.”
Then I remembered.
I had seen that last name.
In my father’s old documents.
In a notebook.
And once, as a child, on the back of a photograph that my mother snatched out of my hands way too fast.
“What happened to her?”
Silas sighed.
“Your father says one thing. I believe another.”
“Tell me both.”
“Arthur says she had an accident. That her family took her away. That she died weeks later.”
“And you?”
“I believe she never died.”
I looked toward the windows.
My father was still eating breakfast.
Maya had just come downstairs.
She smiled at him.
He didn’t smile back.
“Why did they hide her?”
Silas stared at me intently.
“Because Elena knew something about your father.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know the whole story.”
“Uncle.”
“Damian, if I knew, I would tell you.”
He pulled the antique key from the ring.
He held it out to me.
“But I do know where the answers are.”
“What does this open?”
“A room.”
“Where?”
“In your grandmother’s old house.”
I felt something click into place.
The house had been boarded up since my mother died.
My father never wanted to sell it.
“And why do you have the key?”
“Because your mother gave it to me.”
I was speechless.
“My mom knew about Elena?”
“Yes.”
That hurt.
“And she never told me anything?”
“She wanted to.”
“When?”
Silas looked at me with deep sadness.
“Right before she died.”
I felt my chest tighten.
“What happened?”
“Arthur never let her be alone with you.”
I remembered my mother’s final days.
My father always hovering nearby.
Always answering for her.
Always saying she was too tired to talk.
I thought he was just protecting her.
Now, everything looked different.
“Where is the house?”
“Forty minutes away.”
“Let’s go.”
Silas shook his head.
“Not today.”
“Why?”
“Because your father already knows you saw something.”
“How?”
“He’s been staring at you for five minutes.”
I turned around.
Arthur was standing behind the glass.
Holding his coffee mug.
Watching us.
Silas put the key away.
“Act normal.”
“Normal?”
“If he knows I told you something, he’s going to move whatever is left in there.”
“And Maya?”
My uncle looked toward the door.
“First, find out if she actually left your room last night.”
“She said she went to get water.”
“Then ask the staff downstairs.”
That was exactly my first test.
I walked into the kitchen and found one of the estate’s employees.
“Excuse me, did my wife come down for water last night?”
The woman thought for a second.
“Mrs. Maya?”
“Yes.”
“Not that I saw.”
“Was anyone down here after midnight?”
“Just me.”
“All night?”
“Until two in the morning.”
My stomach tied in knots.
“And nobody came down?”
“Only Mr. Arthur, right before midnight.”
I went back to the patio.
Silas was gone.
My father appeared behind me.
“What were you asking about?”
“Nothing.”
“It looked like something.”
“I didn’t sleep well.”
Arthur held my gaze.
“That’s normal for the first night.”
“Why?”
He gave a faint smile.
“Too many emotions.”
Then he placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Don’t confuse exhaustion with imagination.”
I felt a shiver.
I hadn’t told him anything.
“Imagination?”
“I know you.”
He walked away.
That morning, Maya acted just like she always did.
