" Yes, how may I help you?" The smooth female voice asked.

I took in a long deep breath to calm myself down before putting a smile across my face and replying, " We're looking for Ms. Smith. Are we at the right place?" I asked smiling politely.

The old woman's features smoothed over and a small professional smile appeared on her face as she stepped out from behind the half-closed door. " I'm Ms. Smith. What can I do for you? "

My eyes did a quick scan of her appearance. According to Rick's information, she was 62 years old but nothing about her immaculate persona gave it out. She looked ten times younger than her mentioned age, to be honest. Her face had an untimely beauty to it. Her blonde hair were tied up in a neat plaid which complimented her semi-formal clothes very well. Everything about her looks screamed professional. I guess old habits die hard because she was still dressed like a high-profile lawyer that she had once been.

" It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Smith. I'm Evelyn Johnson." I smiled and extended my hand for her to shake. However, instead of taking my hand, she stumbled a step back, a shocked expression on her face. " Ms. Smith?" I asked in a worried tone.

Nora seemed to be trapped in some kind of a horrid trance. Her eyes were glossed over and she was staring at my face as if trying to place me in her memory somewhere. It suddenly clicked that maybe she was seeing my mom and dad in my face and trying to recognize me.

" I... I don't understand... Are... Are you Samuel Johnson's daughter? " She asked in a weak whisper. I smiled politely, " Yes. " That made her gasp loudly and her eyes filled with tears. She moved forward on unsteady feet and lifted her hand to my face as if to make sure I was real.

" Oh my God, is this really you, Evie?" She asked in a broken whisper, brushing her fingers lightly across my cheeks. I was a little surprised by her tender actions. Maybe she really had been close to my parents when they were alive. " You know me?" I asked slowly.

A small painful smile graced her features and she looked at me through her blurred ones, " Know you? I spent 17 years of my life trying to meet you. To see you. To console you when your parents... But... but Katherine never let me. "

My breath hitched and my eyes widened at her words. How did she know about Katherine? Had she known all along?

" How do you know, Katherine?" Evan stepped up next to me. His stance, angry and disturbed. I held his arm to remind him not to do anything stupid. He scoffed but stayed behind me.

" What is more important, though, is how did you know I was alive, Ms. Smith? " I asked. Michael's words came back to me. He told me that everyone had thought I was dead. Everyone who knew my dad before he moved to New York, knew about the fire and thought I was burnt alive in it. So how come Nora, who worked with my parents for years before that incident, know about me being alive?

The file I had read in the morning floated in my memory.

The huge transaction my parents made with Nora two days before the fire. The way dad had hidden her details at the back of his steel box. Nora saying she tried looking for me. Nora knowing about Katherine all this time.

What did she know that we all didn't?

" I... I think we should talk inside, Evelyn." Nora said in a timid voice. I narrowed my eyes at her slightly, before nodding curtly. I beckoned all the three men to follow me inside while the bodyguards lingered behind a little, their stances rigid and alert, assessing our surroundings for any kind of danger.

Nora gestured for us to sit on the couch and offered to make us all some coffee. I almost refused but the anxious look on her face caught my eye. She wanted some distraction to calm herself down, so I didn't object. I understood perfectly. Some situations are just too much to handle sometimes.

This was one of those moments.

A few minutes had passed when Nora entered the living room again, this time she was accompanied by a fairly young man who was surely in his late 20s or so. He was tall and had broad defined shoulders and his posture loomed protectively over Nora which made me assume that he was probably her son. However there was something about him that made me feel like I knew him.

Nora was carrying a tray of coffee mugs in her hands which she carefully placed in front of us. Her son's eyes locked onto mine and he growled under his breath as if in a warning. I cocked an eyebrow at him and he scoffed averting his gaze. What was his problem?

" Evelyn, this is my son, Jared. You both used to be very close friends when you were younger," Nora giggled and Jared scoffed again. I rolled my eyes at his childish act before forcing a polite smile on my face for Nora's sake.

" I know you must have a lot of questions for me, Evelyn. But before you ask them, I just wanted to know how you've been all these days, years actually. " Nora asked in a gentle motherly way. " Ms. Smith, I came here to seek answers to the questions that have been ignored for so long now. I'm afraid I don't have much time to exchange pleasantries right now. I have a lot at stake here. All my friends and my family's lives are in danger. I need to get to the bottom of all of this before Katherine finds out where I am. So please, I need you to tell me all you know about my parents. "

Nora's eye sunk to the floor and her shoulders droop heavily. A painful sigh emerged from her lips just as she slumped back into the sofa. " So it finally did come to all this, didn't it?" She whispered. I frowned, " What do you mean?"

" Your father, he did everything he could to prevent this from happening. He did everything he could to protect you. " Nora said, placing a hand on mine. I shook my head and retracted my hand back, " He... He left me. Alone. They both did. " I whispered.

Ryan tensed up at hearing the pain in my voice and instantly scooted nearer to my side. His arm around my shoulders was the only thing that was making all of this real right now. His presence next to me was the only thing keeping me here.

" He didn't want to, Evelyn," Nora whispered sadly. " That doesn't matter now, does it? " I asked rhetorically. All the bitter and painful memories I had harbored in my heart for years were now coursing through my veins like venom, setting fire to all my organs and unleashing an agonizingly deep pain within my soul. Why did they have to leave me behind? Why couldn't they have taken me with them?

" What happened on the 13th of February, Nora? " I asked, my voice colder than ice. I lifted my head to lock my eyes onto hers, showing her how serious I was. This was it. I needed to know, now. " Tell me everything."

Nora gulped. Her hands were visibly shaking and her forehead was covered in sweat. Her eyes were wide open and blank of any emotion like she was trapped inside a horrid memory. Jared was trying to console his mother but I just couldn't get myself to find any kind of sympathy for her at that moment. I knew she had some kind of a role in all this. I was sure one of her and my parent's actions was what had ultimately snow-balled into that final moment when a three year old me had to watch a crime so horrible that I was terrorised for my entire life.

" That...that fire...was..staged. " Nora gasped out. A shaky breath escaped through my lips. Small guilty sobs were echoing through the room. Nobody said anything. Nobody even moved. All her faces were expectant, waiting for her to continue.

" Your Mom and Dad staged it with my help. We faked your and your aunt's deaths. " My jaw ticked and I clenched my fists tighter. " Why?" I hissed through my gritted teeth. Nora's eyes snapped onto mine and she held me in a weird stare down.

" To escape Katherine Woods. " She whispered so slowly that if the room wouldn't have been drowned in pin-drop silence, we would have never heard her.

My eyebrows furrowed, " I don't understand, Nora. " Nora sighed. She sniffled and wiped her face with the back of her hand before sitting up a little straighter and facing me completely. I could see she was in much more control of herself now. She was slipping behind the shield of professionalism that she must know very well by now.

" I don't know if you know this or not, but Katherine is Samuel and Stella's biological mother. She has had some grudges with the Johnson family ever since Mr. Johnson excluded her from his life after the birth of the twins. She became vengeful after that and tried to hurt the twins multiple times before Mr. And Mrs. Johnson had a restraining order issued against her. "

" However, two weeks after the court had signed the order, Katherine broke inside the Johnson Mansion with a gun and threatened Mr. Johnson to hand her both the kids. Mr. Johnson tried to stop her from harming his family when she shot him in the head and he died on the spot. The security immediately tried to take Katherine down and in the middle of all this chaos, Greta escaped with the two 12-year-old kids. "

" She kept running away trying to outrun Katherine for years. She never tried to contact the police in the fear that Katherine would know and then try to hurt both the kids again. When she finally came to Portland, both Sam and Stella were 14 years old. Katherine didn't show up for years. They thought they had heard the last of her. Greta even thought that she was dead. Your Dad started a family there with your Mom. Stella was about to tie the knot too. "

" But it wasn't over yet. One night, when they were least expecting it, Katherine called. She warned them that if they couldn't give her money then they should hand Stella over to her or she would kill everyone. Katherine was always closer to Stella than Samuel. Stella was a spitting image of her mother. They could almost pass for identical sisters if not anything else. "

" Your father wanted this to end once and for all and so he contacted me. We came up with a plan that we thought was quite solid and could work out in our favor. We decided we would fake Stella's death so Katherine would think that Stella was gone and wouldn't attack them anymore. They also decided to fake your death, Evelyn, so that people would think your parents were moving away to mourn the death of their only daughter. We had built a fireproof basement in the house, which was a little expensive but we knew it would work. I then contacted some forensic doctors and after bribing them a little, I managed to arrange two fake bodies from the staged fire. "

" But we never worked an attack into the equation. That night wasn't the night we had initially planned to do this but when Katherine's men attacked and unfortunately shot Greta, we figured it was now or never. So we went forward with the plan. Nobody suspected anything and even though Greta was a high price to pay, we thought we finally won."

" Your parents moved to New York with you. Stella got married and moved to Santa Monica with her husband. Katherine's men had been arrested and we thought we were safe. Everything seemed normal after a very long time and even though I kept warning Sam about it, he didn't want to listen. And then it happened. Katherine found Samuel and Irena. She was even more vengeful now. She blamed Samuel for Stella's death. Irene got frustrated by this and so she got into a nasty fight with Katherine. "

" Your father immediately called me to inform me about this. But before I could do anything I heard... I heard two loud gunshots through the phone. I couldn't contain my scream of agony and Katherine heard it. She threatened me to keep my mouth shut about all this or she was gonna ruin my entire life."

" I wasn't scared of her so I tried to go ahead and get her punished for what she had done but....but she found you. She threatened to kill you if I opened my mouth and that wasn't a price that I was willing to pay. Neither was Stella. Stella agreed to stay out of your life forever if Katherine promised to not harm you ever. "

" Stella believed in you. She said that you were Sam and Irena's daughter, that there was nothing in this world that would be able to stop you from avenging your parent's deaths. Katherine even got your uncle Pete, Stella's husband killed so Stella would get outraged and take a harsh step. But Stella endured it. It broke her heart to stay away from you, but she believed you would be able to find her one day and that would be the end of all this turmoil once and for all. "

Nora ended her long explanation of all the events of the past with a deep sigh.

I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. Tears were flowing down my face freely and I had no strength to stop them anymore. Everything I ever thought I knew was a lie.

I spent all my days hating a woman who sacrificed her everything just to spare my life.

I spent years cursing my life, even trying to end it once, when my aunt had tried all she could to save it.

Aunt Stella.

Katherine made me hate the woman who had only ever loved me with the purest of intentions. Endured endless pain and suffering just because she believed I would find her one day.

And I will.

I'll find you, Aunt Stella. And I'll make sure Katherine gets what she deserves.

Run, Katherine. Run while you still have a chance because your karma's finally catching up to you.

" Nora, tell me where Aunt Stella is. "

*********

• Author's note •

Oh my! That was a twisted story. Lemme know what you think in the comment section and also tell me if you saw this coming or not. Drop a vote if you liked the chapter.

Much love

M :)