I’m not her servant, so I asked Talia to pay rent. She snapped, “Don’t act like you own this house! You’re the outsider here!”
The next day, two men showed up asking for me by my maiden name—Brina. My stomach dropped when they mentioned Vincent Ortiz. No one had spoken his name in over ten years. Vincent was the reason I left Philadelphia, the reason I built a new life with Ray, who never knew the full truth.
That night, I checked our Ring camera. My heart froze—Talia had waved those men down and pointed at our house. When I confronted her, she smirked. “You act like you have nothing to hide. Guess I was right.”
So I told Ray everything: Vincent had vanished after a bad breakup, and fear made me run. To my relief, Ray didn’t turn away—he stood with me.
Later, I messaged Vincent’s sister. She wrote back: We found him. He’s alive under a new name. He just wanted no contact.
I cried, finally free.
Secrets don’t stay buried. Truth, no matter how painful, weighs less than silence.
