Chapter Two The Name Beneath Her Own
Chapter Two
The Name Beneath Her Own
By sunrise, Naomi had stopped pretending she might go back to sleep.
She sat at the edge of Lucas’s bed wearing one of his shirts, her bare feet resting against the rug, the two silver pendants placed side by side on the dresser across from her.
They looked almost identical.
Almost.
Her father’s pendant bore a tiny compass pointing north.
The second pointed south.
Two halves of the same symbol.
Two directions.
Two lives.
Two truths.
And somewhere between them sat a question Naomi had never imagined needing to ask.
Who was she?
Lucas stepped out of the bathroom wearing dark trousers and an open dress shirt, his hair still damp from the shower. He stopped when he saw her sitting exactly where she had been twenty minutes earlier.
“You haven’t moved.”
Naomi kept staring at the pendants.
“I’m working on it.”
“You’re thinking so hard I can practically hear it.”
“That would save us both time.”
Lucas crossed the room and sat beside her.
He didn’t touch her immediately.
He had learned that silence sometimes offered more comfort than reassurance.
Naomi finally looked at him.
“Do you think my mother lied about who I am?”
Lucas did not answer quickly.
She appreciated him for that.
“I think she lied about Spain.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“No.”
He rested his forearms on his thighs.
“I don’t know.”
Naomi exhaled.
“I’ve spent my whole life thinking I knew where I came from.”
“You do know where you came from.”
“Do I?”
“Yes.”
She turned sharply.
Lucas continued before she could challenge him.
“You came from Joseph and Evelyn James.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know they raised you.”
“That is not the same as blood.”
“No.”
His voice softened.
“But blood is not the only thing that tells the truth about a family.”
Naomi looked away.
The problem was, right now, she wanted blood to matter.
She wanted certainty.
She wanted the simple truth that Joseph James had been her father, Evelyn James had been her mother, and every childhood photograph told the whole story.
Instead, one handwritten note had cracked the foundation beneath everything.
Ask Evelyn who Naomi really is.
Lucas reached for her hand.
Naomi let him take it.
“What if they adopted me?”
“Then they adopted you.”
“What if Dad wasn’t my biological father?”
“Then he was still your father.”
“What if my mother isn’t my mother?”
Lucas hesitated.
Naomi felt it.
He turned toward her.
“Then whatever the truth is, we deal with it together.”
She stared into his eyes.
“You keep saying together like it can fix anything.”
“It can’t.”
“Then why do you keep saying it?”
“Because I’d rather stand beside you while the truth hurts than let you face it alone.”
That broke through some of the tension in her chest.
Naomi looked down at their joined hands.
“I’m scared.”
Lucas lifted her hand and pressed a kiss against her knuckles.
“I know.”
“This feels different from Serrano.”
“Because it is.”
“I could fight Serrano.”
“I know.”
“I knew what he wanted.”
Lucas nodded.
“This one is inside your family.”
Naomi looked at him.
“That’s worse.”
“Yes.”
The honesty helped more than comfort would have.
She leaned against his shoulder.
For several quiet minutes, they sat together.
Then Lucas said, “We need to talk to your mother.”
Naomi closed her eyes.
“I know.”
“You want me there?”
“Yes.”
“No hesitation?”
“No.”
She sat up.
“If she’s going to tell me my whole life is a lie, I want the man I’m going to marry sitting beside me.”
Lucas smiled faintly.
“I like hearing that.”
“Do not make this romantic.”
“I’m emotionally versatile.”
Naomi almost laughed.
Almost.
Then she looked back at the pendants.
“Call Commander Ross.”
Evelyn James arrived at ten-thirty.
This time, she didn’t pretend confusion.
Naomi saw that immediately.
Her mother entered the penthouse carrying a leather handbag and wearing a plum-colored coat over a simple black dress. She looked elegant, composed, and terrified.
Lucas offered her coffee.
She declined.
Commander Ross remained in the adjoining study with Anthony, monitoring the building’s security but leaving the family conversation private.
Naomi sat across from her mother at the dining table.
Between them lay the note.
Ask Evelyn who Naomi really is.
Evelyn stared at it for several seconds.
Then looked at her daughter.
“Where did you get this?”
“Someone left it on Lucas’s balcony twenty-eight floors above London.”
Her mother’s face tightened.
“That means they’re closer than I thought.”
“Who?”
Evelyn looked toward Lucas.
He remained beside Naomi, not dominating the conversation, but unmistakably present.
Naomi’s voice sharpened.
“Mom.”
Evelyn looked back at her.
“Who am I?”
The question seemed to hurt her.
“You are my daughter.”
“That is not what the note means.”
“You are my daughter.”
“Biologically?”
Silence.
Naomi felt the answer before Evelyn spoke.
Her chest tightened.
Lucas’s hand moved closer on the table.
Naomi didn’t take it yet.
“Biologically?” she repeated.
Evelyn lowered her eyes.
“No.”
The word struck with astonishing force.
Naomi sat absolutely still.
Lucas reached for her hand.
This time she took it.
Her fingers closed around his hard enough to hurt.
“My whole birth certificate says—”
“It was legally amended.”
Naomi stared at her mother.
“Amended?”
“Yes.”
“Who were my parents?”
Evelyn’s eyes filled with tears.
“Joseph was your father in every way that mattered.”
“Mom.”
Naomi’s voice broke.
“Who gave birth to me?”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“Her name was Amara.”
Naomi felt the room tilt.
Lucas’s grip tightened.
“Amara what?”
“Amara James.”
Naomi blinked.
“James?”
“Yes.”
“She was Elias’s daughter.”
Silence.
Naomi stared at her.
“My uncle’s daughter?”
Evelyn nodded.
Naomi pulled her hand away from Lucas and stood.
She walked several steps from the table, then stopped because the room suddenly felt too small.
“So Elias is my grandfather.”
“Yes.”
“Dad was my great-uncle.”
“Yes.”
Naomi laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“Of course.”
Lucas stood.
“Naomi.”
She raised one hand.
“I need a second.”
He stopped.
She turned toward her mother.
“Where is Amara?”
Evelyn looked down.
“She died.”
Naomi’s anger hardened.
“When?”
“Shortly after you were born.”
“How?”
Another hesitation.
“Mom.”
“Officially, complications from childbirth.”
“Officially?”
Lucas’s expression changed.
Evelyn nodded.
“Joseph never believed that was the full truth.”
Naomi slowly sat again.
“Tell me everything.”
Evelyn looked at her daughter.
Not the woman sitting in front of her now.
The baby she once held.
The child she had protected so long that protection itself became a lie.
“Amara was twenty-three when she became pregnant.”
“By whom?”
Evelyn’s face became even paler.
“That is the part Joseph never proved.”
Naomi stared.
“You don’t know who my biological father was.”
“No.”
“Or you won’t tell me?”
“I truly don’t know.”
Naomi searched her face.
For once, the uncertainty looked real.
Evelyn continued.
“Amara had been working with the Covenant.”
Lucas frowned.
“In what role?”
“She was a courier.”
“For Elias?”
“At first.”
Naomi’s expression hardened.
“Then she knew what he had become.”
“Yes.”
“And she turned against him.”
“Yes.”
“Because of me?”
“No.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“Because Elias had crossed a line she could no longer defend.”
Naomi leaned forward.
“What line?”
“He started trading information for power.”
“Information about what?”
“People.”
“Families.”
“Government officials.”
“Victims.”
“Witnesses.”
Evelyn swallowed.
“He kept private records on everyone the Covenant rescued.”
Lucas understood.
“Leverage.”
“Yes.”
Naomi stared at the second pendant.
“And Amara stole something from him.”
Evelyn looked surprised.
“How did you—”
“My life appears to run on theft and hidden documents.”
Despite the tension, Lucas nearly smiled.
Evelyn nodded.
“Amara copied Elias’s private registry.”
“What registry?”
“A list of every protected identity the Covenant had created over three decades.”
Commander Ross, listening from the study, appeared in the doorway.
“That kind of list could destroy hundreds of lives.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Exactly.”
Ross stepped into the room.
“Why did Amara take it?”
“To expose Elias without exposing the people.”
“How?”
“She planned to separate the evidence of his crimes from the protected identities.”
Naomi looked toward her mother.
“Did Dad help her?”
“Yes.”
“Joseph chose her over Elias.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
“That is when the brothers truly became enemies.”
Naomi felt something painful settle inside her.
Joseph had not simply disappeared for eleven months.
He had been helping Elias’s own daughter escape him.
“Did Elias know she was pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“Did he know I survived?”
“No.”
Evelyn answered too quickly.
Naomi caught it.
“You’re lying.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
Lucas’s expression hardened.
“Mrs. James.”
She looked toward Naomi.
“He learned a child survived.”
“When?”
“Years later.”
“How many years?”
“When you were sixteen.”
Naomi touched the pendant.
“My birthday.”
Evelyn nodded.
“That is why Joseph gave you the necklace.”
Naomi stared at the silver charm.
“He knew Elias had found me.”
“Yes.”
“And instead of telling me, he gave me jewelry?”
“It wasn’t jewelry.”
Evelyn’s voice grew urgent.
“It was protection.”
“Protection from what?”
“The pendant identified you to the Bluebird.”
Naomi’s anger paused.
“What does that mean?”
“If something happened to Joseph and me, anyone loyal to the old Covenant who saw that symbol would know you were under protection.”
Lucas looked toward the opposite pendant.
“And the one left on the balcony?”
Evelyn stared at it.
“The inverted compass belonged to Amara.”
Naomi stopped breathing.
“My mother’s pendant.”
“Yes.”
“Who has been carrying it?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Commander Ross stepped closer.
“Who would have had access after Amara died?”
“Joseph.”
“And after him?”
Evelyn’s face shifted.
“No.”
Naomi saw it.
“You know.”
“Evelyn,” Ross said.
Her mother whispered the name.
“Mercer.”
Daniel Mercer.
Naomi felt sick.
Her professor.
Her mentor.
The man who had spent years teaching her how to see meaning inside structure.