Chapter 9 - THE BOX MY MOTHER LEFT BEHIND
The safety deposit box was registered under my mother's name.
I hadn't known it existed.
Neither had Nathan.
According to the bank, Hannah Carter had opened it twelve years earlier and later designated me as its successor.
My identity was verified.
An independent attorney accompanied me.
Nathan waited outside the secure room.
I appreciated that.
For once, I wanted one part of my life to belong entirely to me.
The bank employee placed a long metal box on the table.
Then she left me alone.
I lifted the lid.
Inside were three items.
A flash drive.
A sealed envelope.
And a small photograph.
I picked up the photograph first.
My mother stood beside a little girl.
Me.
But there was another child in the picture.
A baby boy wrapped in a blue blanket.
I stared at him.
I had never seen that baby before.
My hands began shaking.
I opened the envelope.
The first page was a letter from my mother.
My beautiful Bella,
If you've found this, then the truth has finally caught up with us.
Tears blurred the words.
I kept secrets because I thought hiding them would keep you safe.
I was wrong.
I swallowed hard.
The man you grew up believing had abandoned us was not your father.
I froze.
My mother had always said my father left when I was a baby.
Now she was telling me that wasn't true.
I kept reading.
Your father was a good man. His name was Samuel Carter.
He died trying to expose the people who controlled Drake Harbor Logistics.
My chest tightened.
There was a photograph of Samuel.
He had my eyes.
My smile.
And the same small dimple in his left cheek.
For the first time in my life, I could see myself in my father's face.
Then I read the next paragraph.
You were not our only child.
My breath stopped.
You had a younger brother.
I looked at the photograph again.
The baby boy.
The blue blanket.
My hands began trembling.
His name was Ethan.
I whispered it aloud.
“Ethan.”
Then came the final sentence.
Bella, your brother did not die. He was taken from us when he was six months old.
I dropped the letter.
Twenty-four years of loneliness.
Twenty-four years believing I had no family left.
And somewhere in the world, my little brother might still be alive.
I opened the flash drive.
A single video file appeared.
My mother's face filled the screen.
She was crying.
“Bella, if you're watching this, find Nathan Drake.”
I stared.
“Why?”
My mother continued.
“Because he's the only man who can tell you what happened to Ethan.”
May you like
Then she whispered:
“And he doesn't know the boy he raised was your brother.”
