Chapter 3: The Girl Nobody Remembered
I spent my entire life trying to disappear.
And in one night, I became the most visible person in New York.
The strange thing about being invisible is that people think nobody sees you.
They’re wrong.
People see everything.
They just don’t care.
I remembered every person who walked past me on the street without looking down.
Every businessman who stepped around me like I was trash.
Every stranger who avoided eye contact because acknowledging me would mean admitting I existed.
Adrian Kane was the first powerful person who looked at me like I was a mystery.
Not a problem.
A mystery.
I hated it.
“You’re hiding something,” he said.
We were sitting in a private office inside his building.
The place looked like a museum.
Glass walls.
Dark wood.
Expensive paintings.
Everything was clean.
Everything was controlled.
Everything except me.
“I’m not.””
“You are.””
I looked out at the city.
“Why do you care?””
“Because people don’t risk their lives for strangers without a reason.””
I turned back.
“I did.””
“No.””
His voice was calm.
“You made a choice.””
That annoyed me because he was right.
“You think you know me?””
“No.””
“Then stop acting like it.””
Adrian leaned back.
“I know enough.””
“Which is?””
“That you spent nine years living on the streets.””
I said nothing.
“That you avoid shelters.””
Silence.
“That you refuse government assistance.””
My hands tightened.
“How did you—”
“That you never use your real last name.””
My blood went cold.
I stood.
“You don’t know my real name.””
Adrian watched me carefully.
“No.””
“Good.””
“Why?””
I looked at him.
Because my real name was a door.
And behind that door was everything I had spent years running from.
“My past doesn’t matter.””
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“Your past matters when someone is willing to kill for it.””
Before I could answer, the office door opened.
Elena walked in quickly.
“We found something.””
Adrian stood.
“What?””
She placed a file on the desk.
“I traced the men from the alley.””
“And?””
“They weren’t random.””
She opened the folder.
Inside were photographs.
My stomach dropped.
Because one of them was me.
Not older.
Not younger.
Me.
Standing outside a hospital.
I grabbed the picture.
“I’ve never seen this.””
Elena looked confused.
“That’s impossible.””
“Why?””
She pointed at the date.
My hands started shaking.
The photograph was taken twelve years ago.
I was seventeen.
But I remembered being somewhere else.
I remembered running away.
I remembered the streets.
I remembered everything except that day.
“What is this?”” I whispered.
Adrian looked at me.
“Wren.””
I didn’t answer.
Because another picture was underneath.
A picture of a little girl.
A little girl with messy hair.
A little girl wearing the same necklace I had worn for years.
The necklace I found after waking up alone.
The necklace I never understood.
I touched my throat.
“No.””
Adrian looked at Elena.
“What else?””
Elena hesitated.
“There’s more.””
She pulled out another document.
“This came from an old private security database.””
“What does it say?”” Adrian asked.
Elena looked at me.
“It says Wren wasn’t reported missing.””
My eyebrows pulled together.
“What?””
“She wasn’t missing.””
The room became silent.
“Then what was I?””
Elena swallowed.
“According to this file…”
May you like
She turned the page.
“You were listed as deceased.””
