Chapter 6: The Fake VIP Guest
The room went completely silent.
Olivia stared at the tablet like it had betrayed her.
But I knew that expression.
It wasn’t shock.
It was panic.
“Olivia,” my father said slowly.
She shook her head.
“Dad, wait.””
“No.””
His voice was different.
I had never heard him speak to her that way.
“Explain.””
She looked around the room.
At Adrian.
At Claire.
At me.
Then she laughed.
A small, nervous laugh.
“This is ridiculous.””
Nobody answered.
She pointed at the tablet.
“That doesn’t prove anything.””
Claire stepped forward.
“It proves your device accessed restricted files.””
Olivia’s face hardened.
“And you expect me to believe your system is perfect?””
Claire didn’t react.
“I designed part of it.””
That shut her down.
I watched Olivia carefully.
For years, she had always been the person who knew exactly what to say.
The charming one.
The innocent one.
The person who cried at the right moment and made everyone feel guilty for questioning her.
But now there was nowhere to hide.
“What did you take?”” I asked.
Her eyes moved to mine.
“I didn’t take anything.””
“Then why access my mother’s files?””
She looked away.
That was the first crack.
“You don’t understand.””
“Then explain.””
She clenched her jaw.
“My whole life, everyone compared me to you.””
I almost laughed.
“Compared you to me?””
“Yes.””
Her voice rose.
“Your mother was talented. You were talented. Everyone saw you as special.””
I stared at her.
“And you thought stealing from me would change that?””
“No.””
“Then what?””
Her eyes filled with frustration.
“I wanted something that was mine.””
The answer was so quiet it almost disappeared.
But it explained everything.
She didn’t just want my ticket.
She wanted my place.
My father stepped forward.
“Olivia, tell me you weren’t involved in this.””
She looked at him.
And that was when I knew.
Because she didn’t say no.
She didn’t deny it.
Instead, she whispered:
“I didn’t know it would go this far.””
My father looked devastated.
“What did you do?””
She covered her face.
“I only sent copies.””
My chest tightened.
“Copies of what?””
She looked at me.
“The songs.””
For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.
My mother’s voice.
Her final melodies.
The pieces of her soul.
Olivia had handed them away.
“Who?”” I asked.
She didn’t answer.
“Who did you send them to?””
“I can fix this.””
“No.””
My voice cut through the room.
“You don’t get to say that.””
She looked at me.
“I made a mistake.””
“A mistake is forgetting a birthday.””
I stepped closer.
“This was my mother.””
Her eyes dropped.
The anger inside me was burning, but beneath it was something worse.
Pain.
Because my mother trusted people.
And people kept proving why she shouldn’t have.
Adrian looked at Claire.
“Can we track where the files went?””
Claire nodded.
“I’m trying.””
Her fingers moved quickly across the tablet.
Then she stopped.
Her face changed.
“What?””
She looked at me.
“Maya…”
“What?””
“The files weren’t sold.””
A strange relief appeared for half a second.
Then disappeared.
“Then where are they?””
Claire looked toward the door.
“The person who received them didn’t want money.””
My stomach tightened.
“What did they want?””
Claire turned the screen around.
There was a message attached to the transfer.
A message from the buyer.
Only one sentence.
*“I don’t want her songs. I want the truth about her death.””*
Nobody spoke.
My father went pale.
I looked at him.
Because suddenly I understood.
The stolen music was never the real secret.
It was just the beginning.
May you like
And whatever happened to my mother…
My father had been hiding it for years.
