Chapter 4 - THE PHOTOGRAPH BEHIND THE MIRROR
Milena took me into an unused sitting room.
She closed the door.
Then stood before an antique mirror.
“Your mother hid something here,” she whispered.
I watched as she pressed a small wooden panel beneath the frame.
A compartment opened.
Inside was a faded photograph.
Two women stood beside a fountain.
One was my mother.
The other was younger, blond, and smiling.
On the back, someone had written:
Sofia and Katarina. Summer 2001.
I stared.
“Who is Katarina?”
Milena's expression changed.
“Adrian's mother.”
My blood went cold.
I looked at the photograph again.
My mother.
Adrian's mother.
Together.
Smiling.
I swallowed.
“Why would they know each other?”
Milena hesitated.
“Because they were sisters.”
The room seemed to tilt.
I grabbed the edge of the table.
“No.”
Milena reached toward me.
I stepped back.
“No. That's impossible.”
She looked devastated.
“Your mother was born Sofia Vuković. Katarina was her older sister.”
I stared.
“And Adrian?”
Milena lowered her eyes.
“He knows they were related.”
My stomach dropped.
I looked toward the door.
The man I'd married.
The man who'd brought me here.
The man who'd known something about my mother.
Suddenly, I understood.
This marriage wasn't simply a business arrangement.
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It was connected to a secret that had been buried before I was old enough to remember.
And Adrian had known.
