“Mom?”
My entire body froze.
I knew that voice.
Even after twelve years.
“Mary Lou?”
I turned toward the staircase.
A woman stood at the bottom.
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She was thinner than I remembered.
Her hair was longer, pulled loosely over one shoulder.
But it was her.
My daughter.
My little girl.
For several seconds, neither of us moved.
Then she dropped the bag she was carrying.
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“Mom?”
I ran down the stairs.
She rushed toward me.
We collided in the middle of the hallway, and I wrapped my arms around her as tightly as I could.
She was crying.
So was I.
“You’re really here,” she whispered.
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“I came to see you.”
“You weren’t supposed to come.”
The words were strange.
I pulled away.
“What do you mean?”
Mary Lou looked toward the stairs.
Her expression suddenly changed.
“Mom, where did you go upstairs?”
I hesitated.
“I was looking for you.”
“Which room?”
“The last one.”
Her face went pale.
“The bedroom with the boxes?”
“Yes.”
She closed her eyes.
For a moment, she looked terrified.
“Mom,” she whispered, “you weren’t supposed to see those.”
I looked at her.
“Why are there hundreds of thousands of dollars hidden in your house?”
She didn’t answer.
“Mary Lou, where did that money come from?”
Still nothing.
Then I heard something behind us.
A man’s voice.
“Because she didn’t earn it.”
I turned.
A man stood in the doorway.
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He was older than the last time I had seen him.
But I recognized him immediately.
Kang Jun.
My daughter’s husband.
Except he didn’t look like a husband who had just come home to his wife.
He looked like someone who had walked into a crime scene.
He stared at me.
Then at Mary Lou.
Then toward the staircase.
“You told me she was never coming here.”
Mary Lou stepped between us.
“I didn’t know she would.”
Kang Jun’s expression hardened.
“Then we have a problem.”
PART 3 — THE $80,000
I looked from one of them to the other.
“What is going on?”
Nobody answered.
I pointed toward the stairs.
“The money.”
Mary Lou swallowed.
“Mom…”
“Every year, you sent me eighty thousand dollars.”
“Yes.”
“Where did you get it?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I wanted you to have a comfortable life.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
Kang Jun stepped forward.
“Theresa, you should leave.”
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I stared at him.
“You haven’t spoken to me in twelve years, and now you’re telling me to leave my daughter’s house?”
“This isn’t safe.”
“Safe from what?”
He didn’t answer.
Mary Lou suddenly grabbed my hand.
“Mom, please.”
I looked at her.
“Tell me the truth.”
She lowered her voice.
“The money wasn’t mine.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
“It belonged to someone else.”
“Who?”
She looked toward Kang Jun.
He shook his head.
“Don’t.”
But Mary Lou continued.
“I sent it to you because I needed you to believe I was doing well.”
I couldn’t understand.
“You lied to me?”
“I lied about everything.”
My chest tightened.
“Why?”
She began crying.
“Because if you knew what was really happening, you’d come looking for me.”
I stared at her.
“I would have.”
“I know.”
“Then why didn’t you want me to come?”
Mary Lou whispered:
“Because they were watching you.”
PART 4 — THE FIRST SECRET
Kang Jun walked toward the windows and pulled the curtains closed.
I watched him.
“Who was watching me?”
He didn’t respond.
Mary Lou finally said:
“People who don’t want anyone asking questions.”
“What questions?”
She looked at me.
“About the money.”
I glanced upstairs.
“How much is in those boxes?”
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