Chapter 3: The Name That Made Marcus Tremble
Maya read the message twice.
Then a third time.
Each word seemed to press harder against her chest.
Don't tell her who her father is.
She raised her eyes toward Samuel.
“Who is my father?””
Samuel held the phone against his palm.
“I was hoping you'd have more time before you had to ask that question.””
“More time for what? I've spent my entire life asking my mother questions she wouldn't answer. Now you're standing in front of me with a photograph of my childhood, and you're telling me to wait?””
“I didn't say you should wait.””
“Then tell me!””
Her voice echoed across the rooftop.
Several guests turned.
Samuel looked at her with the helpless expression of a man who had carried a heavy secret for decades and suddenly found himself unable to put it down.
Marcus stepped closer.
“Maya, I think we should—”
“No.”” She faced him.
“You knew something. I saw your face when Samuel called. You recognized the name in that photograph, didn't you?””
Marcus's silence answered before his mouth did.
“Mr. Marcus?””
He removed his glasses and wiped them with a folded handkerchief, although they weren't dirty.
“I knew there were questions about your family,” he said.
Maya stared at him.
“What questions?””
“Questions that were never properly answered.””
“By whom?””
Marcus looked toward Victor.
Victor had stopped speaking to the security officer. He was now watching them from beside a cocktail table, his phone pressed to his ear.
When he noticed Maya looking at him, he smiled without warmth and turned his back.
Marcus lowered his voice.
“By people with a great deal to lose.””
Maya shook her head.
“Everybody keeps talking like I'm a problem they need to manage. I'm standing right here. I'm not a child.””
Samuel nodded slowly.
“No,” he said.
“You're not.””
“Then stop protecting me from information about my own life.””
For a moment, Samuel seemed ready to speak.
Instead, he asked, “Does your mother still live in the same house?””
Maya's mouth tightened.
“She lives in Baltimore. I haven't spoken to her in three days.””
“Why?””
“Because she hung up on me when I asked about my birth certificate.””
Samuel's eyes widened.
“What did you say to her?””
“I told her the name on the copy I found didn't match the name she'd always given me for my father.””
Marcus went completely rigid.
Samuel looked down at his phone.
“What name was on it?”” he asked.
Maya hesitated.
“Daniel.””
Marcus gripped the edge of the cocktail table.
A champagne flute rattled against another glass.
Samuel closed his eyes.
“Oh, Lord.””
Maya stepped backward.
“You know that name.””
Samuel opened his eyes again.
“Yes.””
“Who was Daniel?””
Before he could answer, Victor appeared beside them.
“Daniel who?”” he asked casually.
Nobody replied.
Victor looked from Maya to Samuel, then settled his gaze on Marcus.
“Interesting,” he said.
“I thought we'd agreed that certain names were best left in the past.””
Marcus's expression turned dangerous.
“We agreed to nothing of the sort.””
Victor adjusted his bow tie.
“Don't rewrite history just because you're feeling sentimental.””
Maya moved toward him.
“What do you know about Daniel?””
Victor smiled at her, the same smile he had worn before pushing her into the pool.
“Absolutely nothing that concerns you.””
“You recognized the name.””
“I recognize a lot of names. It's what happens when you attend business meetings instead of serving drinks.””
Samuel took one step forward.
“You should leave her alone.””
Victor laughed.
“You really don't know when to stop, do you?””
He turned to Maya.
“Listen carefully. Whatever fairy tale these two men are selling you, don't let it distract you from your own mistakes. You're here because someone gave you a chance to work at an event far above your station. You embarrassed yourself, and now you're trying to make it everyone else's problem.””
Maya's hands trembled.
Then she straightened.
“You shoved me into a pool because you thought nobody here would defend me.””
Victor's smile faded.
“And now,” she continued, “you're frightened because an old photograph has made you realize I might be somebody you can't bully.””
A hush settled over the nearby guests.
Victor's jaw clenched.
“You have no idea who you're speaking to.””
“Then tell me.””
For a split second, his expression betrayed something deeper than anger.
Recognition.
It vanished almost immediately, replaced by contempt.
“You should have stayed quiet,” he muttered.
Marcus stepped between them.
“Victor, that's enough.””
Victor shoved past him, knocking Marcus's shoulder against the cocktail table. Several glasses toppled, spilling sparkling water across the white linen.
“Don't touch me,” Victor snapped.
“You have no idea what this girl is dragging back into our lives.””
Maya froze.
Our lives.
She looked at Marcus.
“What does he mean?””
Marcus didn't answer.
Victor realized what he had said. His face tightened, and he immediately began smoothing the tablecloth with one hand, as though restoring its neatness could undo his words.
Samuel watched him with quiet disgust.
“You've spent a long time pretending the past was buried,” Samuel said.
“But you can't keep it buried forever.””
Victor leaned toward him.
“You should remember what happened the last time someone tried to dig it up.””
Samuel's face went white.
Maya looked between them.
“What happened?””
A security guard approached Marcus and whispered something into his ear.
Marcus's eyes shifted toward the service entrance.
“That's impossible,” he murmured.
“What?”” Maya demanded.
He didn't answer her. He took out his own phone, unlocked it, and stared at a photograph someone had just sent him.
Maya caught a glimpse of the image before he turned the screen away.
It showed a woman standing outside a brick house, her hand pressed against the doorframe.
Maya knew that face.
Her mother.
But Denise looked much younger in the photograph, and beside her stood a tall Black man wearing a dark suit.
The man's face was partly obscured by glare.
Beneath the image was a date from twenty-two years earlier.
Marcus whispered, “She was supposed to have destroyed this.””
Maya reached for his phone.
“Give it to me.””
He pulled it back instinctively.
“Marcus.””
Her voice was low now. Steady.
“Give. It. To. Me.””
He looked at her for a long moment, then slowly turned the screen toward her.
Maya stared at the woman who had raised her.
Then she looked at the unidentified man standing beside her mother.
On the back of the photograph, written in faded blue ink, were six words:
*The night we agreed to disappear.*
Samuel took a sharp breath.
Victor stopped moving.
May you like
And Marcus whispered the name Maya had been waiting her entire life to hear.
“Daniel.””
