Maya couldn't sleep that night. The video haunted her. Her mother had looked so… afraid. Not of dying—but of what Maya might uncover.
Sebastian Cole.
Who was he to her mother?
She typed the name into her browser. Dozens of results flooded the screen.
> Sebastian Cole – Art Curator, Collector, and Philanthropist.
He looked clean. Respected. Safe.
But Maya had seen something else in his eyes—something he wasn't showing the world.
She dug deeper and found an old article, nearly buried.
> "Local Woman Dies in Suspicious Fire – Husband and Business Partner Sebastian Cole Cleared of Charges."
Maya's breath caught.
Her mother's name was in the article. Not as the victim—but as a witness.
---
She printed it out and stared at it until her hands stopped shaking.
Why didn't anyone tell her? Why wasn't this in any of the stories her aunt told?
Something was off. Wrong.
Maya knew she had to talk to her aunt, even if it meant reopening every wound.
---
The next morning, over coffee, Maya slid the paper across the table.
Her aunt's face went pale.
> "Where did you find this?" she whispered.
> "Why didn't you tell me?" Maya asked, voice trembling. "Who was he? What did he do to her?"
Her aunt closed her eyes for a long moment.
> "Your mother tried to protect you, Maya. Sebastian was… dangerous. Not just in business, but in the way he moved through people's lives like smoke. Quiet. Invisible. Deadly."
> "And my father?" Maya asked.
> "He made the mistake of trusting Sebastian."
---
Maya stood slowly, heart pounding.
> "I need to know everything," she said.
Her aunt didn't stop her.
Instead, she said the one thing that both broke and strengthened her:
> "Then you'd better be ready to lose the version of your mother you thought you knew."