Memory Lane

Memory Lane
Maya's POV

I threw my water glass at the wall.
It shattered into a thousand pieces, just like my world had been doing all week.
"My mother's name WAS Lisa Romano!" I screamed at Adrian.
"No, it wasn't," he said calmly.
"Stop lying to me!"
"I'm not lying. Your mother's real name was Lisa Chen."
"Chen?" My voice cracked. "Like Agent Chen?"
"Agent Chen took her sister's name when she went undercover."
My legs gave out. I sank into the nearest chair.
"Sisters?"
"Twins, actually."
This was getting worse by the second.
"So Agent Chen really is my aunt?"
"Yes."
"And Isabella Romano isn't my mother?"
"No."
"Then who is she?"
Before Adrian could answer, Luca jumped up from the table.
"Okay, everyone needs to calm down," he said with his usual smile.
But something was different about the smile. It looked forced.
"This is getting way too crazy," he continued. "Maya, sweetie, you're upset about nothing."
"Nothing?" I stared at him. "You just said my dead mother's name!"
"So?"
"So I never told you what it was!"
"Of course you did."
"When?"
Luca's smile flickered for just a second.
"I don't remember exactly when. We talk about lots of things."
"We do not talk about my mother!"
"Maya," Dante interrupted, "sit down and let us explain."
"Explain what? How you all know things about my life that I never told you?"
"We looked into your background," Marcus said. "For security reasons."
"What kind of security reasons?"
"The kind that keep us all alive," Dante replied.
I looked around the table. They were all watching me carefully now. Like I was a bomb about to explode.
Maybe I was.
"What did you find out?" I asked quietly.
"Just basic stuff," Luca said quickly. "Nothing personal."
"Then how do you know her name?"
"Public records."
"What public records? She died twenty years ago!"
"Death certificates are public," Marcus said.
That actually made sense. But something still felt wrong.
"Fine," I said. "What else did you find out?"
"Not much," Adrian said. "Just that she lived in Brooklyn. Worked for the government. Had a daughter who went into foster care."
"That's it?"
"Pretty much."
But Luca was nodding too fast. Like he was trying too hard to agree.
"What aren't you telling me?" I asked him directly.
"Nothing! I swear!"
"Luca," Dante's voice held a warning.
"What? I'm not hiding anything!"
"Then why do you look guilty?" I pressed.
"I don't look guilty!"
But he did. His usual smooth confidence was cracking.
"Maya," Adrian said, "maybe you should go rest. This has been a long day."
"I'm not tired."
"You look exhausted."
"I look suspicious. There's a difference."
"Suspicious of what?"
"Of all of you."
The words hung in the air like a challenge.
"That's fair," Dante said finally. "We haven't been completely honest with you."
My heart skipped. "About what?"
"About how much we know."
"How much DO you know?"
Dante looked at the other three men. Some kind of silent conversation happened.
"More than we let on," he admitted.
"Like what?"
"Like where your mother lived. Where she worked. What she did in her free time."
"Why do you know that?"
"Because we needed to understand who you really are."
"I'm just Maya!"
"No," Marcus said. "You're not just Maya. You're the daughter of a federal agent who was investigating our families."
"So?"
"So that makes you dangerous."
The word hit me like a slap.
"Dangerous?"
"To us. To everything we've built."
"I would never hurt any of you!"
"Wouldn't you?" Luca asked. "If you found out one of us killed your mother?"
There it was. The question I'd been avoiding.
"Did one of you kill her?"
"No," Adrian said immediately.
"Then why are you all acting so weird?"
"Because," Luca said slowly, "your mother wasn't just investigating our families."
"What do you mean?"
"She was getting close to someone on the inside."
"What inside?"
"Someone in our organization. Someone who was feeding information to the FBI."
My blood went cold. "A spy?"
"A traitor," Marcus corrected.
"Who?"
"We never found out," Dante said. "Your mother died before she could expose them."
"But you think the spy killed her?"
"It's possible."
"And you think that spy might be connected to me?"
"It's possible," Dante repeated.
I felt sick. "So you've been watching me this whole time? Waiting to see if I'm a spy too?"
"Maya," Adrian reached for my hand. "It's not like that."
I pulled away. "What is it like then?"
"We were protecting you."
"From who?"
"From whoever killed your mother."
"By lying to me about everything?"
"By keeping you safe."
"I don't feel safe! I feel trapped!"
"Maya—"
"Don't!" I stood up again. "Just don't. I need some air."
"You can't leave," Marcus said.
"Why not?"
"Because now you know too much."
"About what?"
"About the spy. About your mother's investigation. About why she really died."
"I don't know anything! You won't tell me anything!"
"We've told you enough," Dante said.
"I want to know more."
"No."
"It's my mother we're talking about!"
"And it's our lives at risk!"
"From what?"
"From the truth!"
The room went quiet again.
"What truth?" I whispered.
Luca cleared his throat. "Maya, your mother was really good at her job."
"So?"
"So she found out things. Personal things. About all of us."
"What kind of personal things?"
"Like where we lived. Who we cared about. What we were afraid of."
"Okay..."
"She knew Marcus was secretly sending money to his sick brother. She knew Dante was protecting his ex-wife from her abusive boyfriend. She knew Adrian was trying to get his little sister out of the country."
I looked at each of them. They all looked uncomfortable.
"What did she know about you, Luca?"
His smile completely disappeared.
"Nothing important."
"Luca," Dante warned again.
"What did she know?" I pressed.
"Just... stuff."
"What stuff?"
"Personal stuff."
"Like what?"
Luca ran his hand through his hair. He looked nervous for the first time since I'd known him.
"Like my real name isn't Luca Romano."
That wasn't what I expected.
"What is it?"
"Lucas Chen."
My world tilted again.
"Chen? Like Agent Chen? Like my mother?"
"Yeah."
"Are you related to us?"
"Distantly."
"How distantly?"
"I'm your cousin."
I couldn't breathe.
"My cousin?"
"Third cousin. Maybe fourth. The family tree gets complicated."
"You're my family?"
"Sort of."
"And you didn't tell me?"
"I wasn't supposed to."
"Why not?"
"Because your mother found out about me. She knew I was working with the Romanos. She knew I was feeding them information about FBI operations."
The pieces started falling into place.
"You were the spy."
"I was trying to protect my family!"
"By betraying the FBI?"
"By doing what I had to do!"
"Did you kill her?"
"No! I swear I didn't!"
"Then how do you know so much about her?"
"Because I followed her. I watched her. I needed to know what she knew."
"For how long?"
"Months."
"What did you see?"
"Everything. Her morning routine. Her favorite coffee shop on Fifth Street. The way she jogged through Central Park every Tuesday."
These weren't things you'd find in public records.
"What else?" I asked quietly.
"She always ordered a vanilla latte with extra foam. She listened to jazz music while she worked. She kept a picture of you on her desk."
My throat closed up. Those were real details. Personal details.
"How do you know all that?"
"I told you. I watched her."
"For months?"
"Yes."
"Every day?"
"Most days."
"You stalked her."
"I was gathering intelligence!"
"You stalked my mother for months and then she died!"
"I didn't kill her!"
"Then who did?"
"I don't know!"
"But you know other things. Personal things."
"Like what?"
My heart was pounding. There was something else. Something he hadn't told me yet.
"Like why she never went in the basement of her apartment building."
Luca's face went pale.
"How do you know about that?"
"Because you just told me."
"I didn't—"
"You did. You said she was afraid to go down there."
"I never said that."
"Then how do I know it?"
Luca's mouth opened and closed like a fish.
"Tell me why she was scared of basements, Luca."
"I... I don't..."
"Tell me!"
"She was afraid of spiders," he whispered.
The words hit me like lightning.
I never knew that.
Agent Chen never mentioned it.
No public record would have that information.
"How do you know she was afraid of spiders?" I asked slowly.
Luca's charming smile faltered completely.
And for the first time since I'd met him, he looked terrified.