Chapter 6
Elena's POV: "Family Secrets"
CRASH!
I threw my coffee mug against the kitchen wall. It shattered into a million pieces, just like my whole life had broken in the past few hours.
"Elena!" My mom rushed into the kitchen. "What's wrong with you?"
"What's wrong with me?" I screamed. "What's wrong with YOU!"
My dad came running in too. Both of them looked scared and confused.
"Honey, calm down," Dad said. "Tell us what happened."
"I know about Harrison," I said, my voice shaking with anger. "I know about the money. I know about everything!"
My parents looked at each other with guilty faces. That's when I knew for sure that Marcus had been right. They really had taken money to keep me quiet fifteen years ago.
"Elena, sit down," Mom said softly. "Let us explain."
"Explain what? How you sold me out? How you took blood money from a killer?"
Dad stepped closer. "Elena, you don't understand. We were trying to protect you."
"Protect me?" I laughed, but it wasn't a happy laugh. "You protected yourselves! You took Harrison's money and ran away like cowards!"
Mom started crying. "We were scared, Elena. Harrison threatened to kill our whole family if you testified."
"So you chose money over justice!" I was so angry I could barely see straight. "A little girl named Anna died because I didn't speak. She died because you were too greedy to do the right thing!"
"That's not true!" Dad shouted back. "We never wanted money! Harrison forced us to take it!"
"Forced you?" I looked at him. "How do you force someone to take money?"
My parents looked at each other again. There was something they weren't telling me.
"Elena," Mom whispered. "There's something else you need to know about that night."
"What else? What other lies have you been hiding?"
Dad sat down at the kitchen table and put his head in his hands. "Elena, you weren't the only witness that night."
My heart stopped. "What do you mean?"
"Your little sister Emma was with you," Mom said quietly. "She saw the accident too."
I felt like someone had hit me in the stomach. "What little sister? I don't have a sister named Emma!"
My parents both started crying now.
"You did have a sister," Dad whispered. "She was only five years old."
"Where is she now?" I asked, even though I was afraid to hear the answer.
Mom could barely speak through her tears. "Harrison killed her, Elena. He killed Emma to show us he was serious about his threats."
The room started spinning. I grabbed onto the counter to keep from falling down.
"You're lying," I said. "I would remember having a sister."
"You were in shock after Emma died," Dad said. "The doctors said you blocked it out of your memory to protect yourself."
I couldn't move. "Harrison killed my sister?"
"Emma was playing in our front yard the day after the accident," Mom said. "Harrison came to our house to talk to us. He said if we didn't keep you quiet, the same thing would happen to you."
"And then what happened?" I whispered.
Dad was crying so hard he could barely talk. " Harrison grabbed Emma and threw her in front of a car. Right there in our driveway. He made us watch. "
I felt sick. "He killed a five-year-old?"
"Then he gave us a bag full of money," Mom said. "He said we could take the money and move away, or he could kill you too. We had to choose between saving you or getting justice for Emma."
I sat down hard in a kitchen chair. I had a little sister who was killed, and I didn't even remember her.
"Why didn't you ever tell me?" I asked.
"The doctors said telling you might make you remember the trauma," Dad said. "They said it could hurt you even more."
"So you let me live my whole life not knowing I had a sister?"
Mom knelt down next to my chair. "Elena, we were going to tell you when you were bigger. But then you became an activist, and we were proud of you for fighting for fairness. We thought maybe Emma's death had made you into someone who could help other people."
I looked at my parents. They weren't bad people. They were just scared parents who had lost one child and were trying to protect the other.
But I was still angry.
"You should have told me," I said. "I should have known about Emma."
"You're right," Dad said. "We made mistakes. But Elena, we did keep proof."
"What kind of evidence?"
My parents looked at each other one more time.
"We recorded everything," Mom said. "We have proof of what Harrison did."
"What do you mean you recorded everything?"
Dad stood up and walked to the hall closet. He pulled out a small metal box from behind some old clothes.
"We set up a camera in our front yard after someone broke into our house the night of the accident," he said. "We wanted to catch whoever was threatening us."
My heart started beating fast. "You recorded Harrison killing Emma?"
"We recorded everything," Mom said. "Harrison frightening us. Harrison killing Emma. Harrison giving us the money."
Dad opened the metal box. Inside was an old video camera and some tapes.
"We've been saving this for fifteen years," he said. "Waiting for the right time to use it."
I stared at the box. This was the evidence that could show Harrison was a child killer. This could help Sarah put him away forever.
"Why didn't you give this to the police before now?"
"Because we were afraid Harrison would find out and kill you too," Mom said. "But now that he's been arrested, maybe it's safe to tell the truth."
I picked up one of the video tapes. It was labeled "Emma's Last Day."
"Can we watch this?"
Dad nodded and put the tape into an old TV in the kitchen. The screen flickered, then showed our old house from fifteen years ago.
I watched myself as a thirteen-year-old, playing in the yard with a little girl who looked exactly like me, except smaller.
"That's Emma," Mom whispered.
I watched Emma laughing and running around. She looked so happy and living. I couldn't believe I had forgotten her totally.
Then the video showed a black car pulling into our driveway. Harrison got out of the car, walked up to our front door, and knocked.
I watched my parents answer the door. I could hear Harrison talking, but I couldn't understand what he was saying.
Then I saw something that made my blood freeze.
Emma ran toward the black car, like she was excited to see it.
"Why is she running toward Harrison's car?" I asked.
My parents didn't answer.
On the video, I watched Emma run right up to Harrison. She hugged his legs like she knew him.
"Mom," I said slowly. "Why is Emma hugging Harrison?"
Dad turned off the video. "Elena, there's one more thing we never told you."
"What now?"
Mom was crying again. "Elena, Harrison didn't kill Emma because she was a witness."
"Then why did he kill her?"
My parents looked at each other with the most terrible face I had ever seen.
"Elena," Dad whispered. "Harrison killed Emma because she was his daughter."
The world stopped.
"What did you just say?"
"Harrison is Emma's father," Mom said. "And Elena... he's your father too."
I couldn't move. I couldn't think. I couldn't move.
"That's impossible," I whispered.
"Harrison had an affair with your mother before you were born," Dad said. "We've been raising his children for fifteen years, and he's been trying to kill us to keep it secret."
I stared at my parents in horror.
"You're telling me that Harrison - the man who's been trying to kill me - is my real father?"
Mom nodded, still crying.
"And he killed Emma - his own daughter - just to keep his secret safe?"
"Yes," Dad whispered.
I felt like I was going to throw up. Harrison wasn't just a killer. He was my father. And he had killed my sister to protect himself.
That's when my phone rang.
I looked at the caller ID. It was Maya.
"Elena!" Maya screamed as soon as I answered. "Don't trust anyone! Elena isn't who she says she is!"
"Maya, what are you talking about? This is Elena."
"No it's not!" Maya yelled. "I saw someone who looks exactly like you watching the hospital! Elena, I think you have a twin sister!"
My blood turned to ice.
I looked at my parents. "Mom, did Harrison have more children?"
Mom's face went white. "Elena, we never told you this either."
"WHAT NOW?"
"You weren't Harrison's only daughter," she whispered. "You have a twin sister. Harrison took her when you were kids. We never saw her again."
Maya was still yelling on the phone. "Elena! Your twin sister is working with Harrison! She's been pretending to be you!"
I discovered the horrible truth.
"Mom," I said, my voice shaking. "If I have a twin sister who works for Harrison, and Harrison is my father..."
"What, Elena?"
"Then the person everyone thinks is me might actually be her. And the real me might be..."
I couldn't finish the sentence.
Maya screamed through the phone: "Elena! Your twin sister just sent me a message! She says she's been living your life for years! She says the real Elena died in a car accident when you were kids!"
I dropped the phone.
If my twin sister had been claiming to be me, then who was I?
And if the real Elena was dead, then what did that make me?