The Truth About Her Past

The Truth About Her Past
Emma's POV

Emma was still looking at the dead phone when Marcus grabbed her shoulders.
"Emma, we have to go. Right now," he said quickly. "Vincent's men could come back."
"My grandmother," Emma whispered. "He's going to kill my grandmother."
"We'll save her," Marcus promised. "But first, you need to know the truth about why Vincent really wants you."
Emma looked up at him through her tears. "I heard the truth. I watched Morrison's murder. That's why he's been hunting me."
"No," Marcus said softly. "That's what Vincent told you, but it's not the whole story."
Rebecca holstered her gun and knelt beside Emma. "Emma, what do you remember about the night your parents died?"
Emma's head snapped up. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Everything," Rebecca said softly. "Tell me what you remember."
Emma's mind was already spinning from Vincent's discoveries. Now Rebecca was asking about her parents' car crash from fifteen years ago?
"They died when I was fourteen," Emma said slowly. "Car crash on a wet night. I was staying at your house, remember? We were having a sleepover."
Rebecca and Marcus shared a look that made Emma's stomach drop.
"What aren't you telling me?" Emma demanded.
Marcus sat down beside her. "Emma, your parents weren't killed in a car accident."
The words hit Emma like a punch to the chest. "What are you talking about? I went to their funeral. I saw the wreckage." "You saw what someone wanted you to see," Rebecca said gently. "Emma, your father was an FBI agent. He was investigating a human trafficking ring fifteen years ago."
Emma couldn't breathe. "That's impossible. Dad sold insurance."
"That was his cover story," Marcus revealed. "Agent David Martinez was one of the FBI's best undercover agents. He'd been tracking Vincent's group for two years."
Emma shook her head furiously. "No. No, you're wrong. My parents died in an accident."
"Your father discovered something big," Rebecca continued. "Something that would have shut down Vincent's entire business. But before he could report it, Vincent found out he was FBI."
Emma felt like the world was tipping sideways. Everything she thought she knew about her life was crashing down.
"Vincent killed your parents," Marcus said quietly. "He made it look like an accident to cover his tracks."
"Stop," Emma whispered. "Just stop."
But Marcus kept talking. "After your parents died, your grandma Rose took you in. She knew the truth about what happened, but she kept it secret to protect you."
"Protect me from what?"
"From this," Rebecca said, pulling out an old picture. "From what your father found."
Emma looked at the picture and gasped. It showed her father talking to a man in an expensive suit. The man's face was turned away from the camera, but Emma recognized something about him.
"Who is that?" she asked.
"We don't know," Marcus admitted. "Your father took this picture three days before he was killed. It was the last piece of proof he gathered."
Emma studied the picture more carefully. There was something familiar about the guy with her father, something that made her skin crawl.
"Emma," Rebecca said slowly, "there's something else. Something Vincent doesn't know."
"What?"
"Your parents hid something before they died. Something Vincent has been looking for all these years."
Emma's heart started racing. "What did they hide?"
"Files," Marcus said. "Complete records of Vincent's crime network. Names, dates, locations, financial information. Everything the FBI would need to destroy his organization forever."
"Where are these files?"
Rebecca smiled sadly. "That's the trouble. We don't know. Your parents hid them somewhere only you could find them."
Emma felt overloaded. Her parents were FBI agents, not insurance sellers. They were murdered, not killed in an accident. And they'd hidden proof that could destroy Vincent's criminal empire.
"How am I supposed to find something when I don't even know what I'm looking for?" Emma asked.
"Your parents left you clues," Marcus said. "But you were so young when they died, and so traumatized, that you blocked out the memories."
"Like I blocked out witnessing Morrison's murder?"
"Exactly. Emma, your mind has been protecting you from terrible memories for years. But now we need those memories back."
Detective Sarah Chen, who had been quiet during all the reveals, finally spoke up. "There's a way to help you remember. Hypnosis. I know someone who specializes in recovering blocked memories."
Emma stood up shakily. "I can't think about this right now. Vincent has my grandmother. I have to go get that recording from the attic."
"Emma, wait," Marcus said. "If you go alone, you're walking into a trap."
"If I don't go alone, he'll kill Grandma Rose!"
"And if you do go alone, he'll kill you both anyway," Rebecca pointed out. "Vincent doesn't leave witnesses alive."
Emma knew they were right, but she couldn't leave her grandmother. Rose was the only family she had left. The woman who'd raised her, comforted her, and seemingly kept terrible secrets to protect her.
"There has to be another way," Emma said desperately.
That's when FBI Director Williams stepped forward. Throughout all the discoveries about Vincent and Marcus, he'd been standing quietly in the shadows.
"There is another way," he said. "But you're not going to like it."
Emma turned to face him. "What do you mean?"
"Emma, you're not the only person who knows where your parents hid those files."
"What are you talking about?"
Williams's face was sad. "Your grandmother Rose helped them hide the proof. She knows exactly where it is."
Emma felt a chill run down her spine. "So Vincent could torture the location out of her."
"He could try," Williams said. "But Rose Martinez is tougher than Vincent realizes. She's been guarding that secret for fifteen years."
"How do you know so much about my family?" Emma asked suspiciously.
Williams was quiet for a long moment. "Because I was your father's partner, Emma. I was there the night he found Vincent's secret."
Emma stared at him in shock. "You knew my father?"
"David Martinez was my best friend," Williams said softly. "When he was killed, I told him I would protect you. I've been watching over you ever since."
"Then why didn't you tell me the truth?"
"Because the truth would have gotten you killed. Vincent has been looking for David Martinez's daughter for fifteen years. If he'd known you were still alive..."
Emma's legs gave out and she sat down hard on the ground. "Vincent thinks I'm dead?"
"We faked your death in the foster care system," Williams stated. "Changed your name, gave you a new personality. Emma Martinez died when she was fourteen. You've been living as Emma Rodriguez ever since."
Emma's world collapsed. Her name wasn't even real. Her entire life was a lie built on top of another lie.
"So when Vincent found me five years ago," she said slowly, "when I saved Marcus on the bridge..."
"Vincent realized that Emma Martinez was still alive," Williams finished. "He's been hunting you ever since, trying to force you to lead him to your parents' files."
Emma looked around at all the faces looking at her. Marcus, Rebecca, Sarah, Williams - they all knew more about her life than she did.
"Is there anything else?" she asked coldly. "Any other family secrets you want to drop on me?"
Williams and Rebecca shared another one of those looks.
"What?" Emma asked.
"Emma," Rebecca said softly, "there's one more thing about your parents' death."
"What now?"
"They didn't just hide files about Vincent's group. They hid files about someone else too. Someone Vincent was working with."
"Who?"
Williams pulled out another photograph, this one more current. "Someone who's been in this room all night."
Emma looked at the picture and her heart stopped.
It showed Vincent shaking hands with someone she trusted totally.
Someone who had been lying to her from the very beginning.
Someone who was standing right behind her.
Emma spun around, and her blood turned to ice.
The person in the picture was pointing a gun directly at her head.