Chapter 11: When the Heart Shatters Twice
The next morning wasn't quiet.
It should've been.
But grief doesn't wait for the sun to rise, and neither do the truths you try to outrun.
Marissa woke up to the sound of her phone buzzing violently on the nightstand. Multiple calls. Same name.
Aunt Cecelia.
She hadn't called in over a year.
Marissa's stomach dropped before she even answered.
"Hello?"
Static. Then,
"Sweetheart… you need to come home. Now."
Marissa stood in front of her childhood home less than an hour later, arms folded tight against the chill.
The door creaked open before she knocked.
Aunt Cecelia's eyes were red. Her mouth opened like she wanted to say something, but no words came.
Marissa pushed past her. And then she saw it—photos spread across the living room floor, medical documents, and the small velvet box sitting at the center.
"What's going on?" she asked, voice barely there.
"Your mother… she kept more secrets than I realized," Cecelia whispered.
Marissa dropped to her knees, hands trembling as she reached for the box.
Inside?
A silver locket. One she'd never seen before.
And inside that?
Two pictures.
One of her, age ten.
And one of… Mason.
Not as a teenager.
As a child.
She looked up, the storm in her chest rising like a tidal wave. "What the hell is this?"
Cecelia's lips quivered. "Your mother… and Mason's father… they had a history. Long before you and Mason were ever born."
The world tipped sideways.
"No," Marissa gasped. "No. Don't say it"
"You're not blood," Cecelia rushed to say. "But… Mason is your mother's godson. She took him in for a few years after his mother died. Before your father even knew. She never told you. Or him."
Everything shattered in slow motion.
Memories spiraled. Late nights. Her mother's soft warnings. Mason's last name never being mentioned around the house.
And now....now this?
Marissa staggered back. "So I was… a replacement? A mirror of someone she already loved?"
"She loved you, Marissa. Fiercely. But love isn't always clean."
She couldn't breathe. Couldn't see past the static screaming in her skull.
Mason.
He didn't know.
But she did now.
And it changed everything.
She found him by the lake again.
Same place he used to go when his world felt too heavy.
She didn't call his name.
Just walked up and shoved the locket into his hands.
Mason's brows furrowed. "What is this?"
"Open it."
He did.
And froze.
"What…?"
"My mother took you in," she said, voice like a broken glass. "She never told me. Never told you. But you were a part of her before I ever understood who I was."
Mason looked like he'd been sucker punched.
"I don't know what to do with this," he whispered.
"Neither do I."
And then she did the one thing she swore she'd never do again.
She turned around.
And walked away.
Because sometimes the only way to find yourself… is to let go of the one person who's always held you together.