Lucas pulled Evelyn towards the window so quickly that she nearly stumbled over the edge of the rug.

"Wait," she whispered, looking back at the bedroom door. "We can't just leave. Whoever is out there..."

"Isn't here to talk." Lucas interrupted.

Just at that moment, the front door splintered. Evelyn flinched at the sound and instinctively grabbed Lucas's arm. He pushed the window higher and looked down into the narrow alley behind the building.

"We're on the third floor," she said.

"I know." He replied.

"You want us to jump?" Evelyn gasped.

"No, there's a fire escape." Lucas said.

He climbed through first, lowering himself onto the narrow metal platform outside. It groaned beneath his weight. "Come on."

Evelyn hesitated only long enough to look at the bedroom door again. The frame had begun to crack around the lock, and whoever was on the other side was no longer bothering to be quiet. She climbed through.

The cold night air hit her face as she followed Lucas onto the fire escape, and the moment her feet touched the metal, he pulled the window shut behind them. "Keep moving."

They descended quickly, Lucas going first while Evelyn followed with both hands wrapped around the railing. She was still wearing the clothes she had slept in, and the thin fabric did little against the cold, but she barely noticed.

Her thoughts were somewhere else; the photograph, the little girl standing beside the woman she had never seen before, the words written on the back, but the worst part is that she remembers nothing.

"What does that mean?" she asked.

Lucas glanced up at her. "Not now."

"You said that before." She retorted.

"Because now isn't the time." He responded with a note of finality.

"When exactly will be the right time, Lucas?"

He stopped on the next landing and looked at her, the frustration in his face disappeared, replaced by something else... fear. "I don't know."

It was the first honest answer he had given her all night, and before Evelyn could ask another question, a window above them shattered and someone shouted. Lucas grabbed her and pulled her against the wall as glass rained onto the fire escape. "Stay down."

She crouched beside him, her heart racing. A man's voice came from the apartment. "Check the back!"

"They're on the fire escape!" Another person shouted.

Lucas looked at Evelyn. "We have to go."

They hurried down the remaining stairs and reached the alley just as a black SUV turned into it. Lucas pushed Evelyn behind a parked car. The SUV stopped and two men got out.

They were dressed in dark suits, and neither looked particularly hurried. They simply stood there, scanning the alley as though they already knew exactly where to look.

Evelyn held her breath.

One of the men lifted his phone. "She's not here." He listened for a moment, then said, "We're checking the surrounding streets."

Lucas waited until the men turned away before pulling Evelyn towards the opposite end of the alley. They ran and didn't stop until they reached the next street, where Lucas hailed a taxi and pushed Evelyn inside.

"Drive," he told the driver.

The taxi pulled away. Evelyn sat beside him, still trying to catch her breath.

Lucas leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes. For several moments, neither of them spoke.

Then Evelyn turned towards him, "who am I?"

His eyes opened. She hadn't meant to say it aloud, but now that the question was there, she couldn't take it back.

Lucas looked out through the window, "I don't know."

"Don't lie to me." She said coldly.

"I'm not." Lucas replied quite calmly.

"You knew there were no pictures of me as a child." She pointed out.

"Because you told me." Lucas defended.

"I never told you that." She denied.

He looked at her and she held his gaze. Something changed in his expression, it was subtle, but she saw it.

"You've known something about me for a long time." She finally said.

Lucas sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "I knew your parents."

Evelyn went still. "What?"

"I knew them before I met you." He clarified.

"My parents died when I was twelve." Evelyn said slowly, an eyebrow raised.

"I know." He said, trying to find the right words.

"Then how did you know them?" Evelyn asked impatiently.

Lucas didn't answer immediately. The taxi passed beneath a streetlamp, briefly illuminating his face. "When I was younger, my father worked for a man who had business with your family."

"My family?" Evelyn questioned.

"Yes." He replied.

Evelyn stared at him. "What kind of business?"

"I don't know." He replied.

"You're lying again." She said through gritted teeth.

"I'm trying to keep you safe." He said with frustration.

"By lying to me?" Evelyn asked with even greater frustration.

"By keeping you away from things you don't understand." Lucas said, hoping the words would calm her down a bit.

She turned towards the window, anger burning beneath her skin.

She had spent 26 years believing she knew who she was. She had grown up with the same stories, the same photographs, the same memories of a happy childhood and parents who had loved her before their deaths.

Now, in the space of one night, every certainty had begun to crack, and Lucas was standing in the middle of all of it.

"Take me home," she said.

Lucas frowned. "Where?"

"My parents' house." She said.

"You can't go there." He warned, showing that he wasn't negotiating.

"Why?" She questioned.

"Because that's the first place they'll look." He explained sharply.

"Then tell me where we can go." She was beginning to calm down now.

He was silent.

Evelyn turned to him. "You've spent the entire night telling me what I can't do, I want one answer about what I can do."

Lucas looked at her for a long moment, then he gave the driver an address and the taxi instantly changed direction.

Evelyn didn't recognise the neighbourhood, but Lucas did. He watched every passing car and checked the rear window often enough to make her nervous.

After several minutes, he finally spoke. "There's someone I want you to meet."

"Who?"

"An old friend of my father's."

"Will he know about my parents?"

"He might."

"And you waited until now to tell me about him?"

Lucas's mouth tightened. "I was hoping you'd never need to know."

The taxi stopped outside a small brick house tucked between two rows of older buildings. Lucas paid the driver, then took Evelyn's hand, they walked towards the front door.

Before he could knock, it opened and an elderly man stood there, his expression grim. He looked at Lucas first, then at Evelyn. The moment his eyes settled on her face, the colour drained from his own.

"No," he whispered.

Evelyn frowned. "Do I know you?"

The old man didn't answer, instead, he looked at Lucas. "You brought her here?"

"I had no choice." Lucas was resigned.

"You always have a choice." The man said.

"Not tonight." Lucas replied.

The man stepped aside. "Get inside."

Evelyn entered, and the door closed behind them. The house smelled of old books and wood smoke. There were photographs covering almost every wall, most of them faded with age.

She stopped when she saw one, a young woman stood beside a dark-haired man, both smiling at the camera.

Evelyn knew the woman, she had seen her in the photograph from the apartment... The woman who looked like her. She's obviously her mother.

She stepped closer. "Where did you get this?"

The old man said nothing.

Evelyn turned towards him. "Who is she?"

He looked at her with something that resembled grief. "Your mother."

Her breath caught. "I know that."

"No," he said quietly. "You don't."

Lucas lowered his head.

The old man walked towards the photograph and touched its frame. "Your mother didn't die when you were twelve."

Evelyn stared at him. "What?"

"She disappeared." He said.

"That's not what I was told." Evelyn replied, her face betraying her emotions.

"I know." He said.

The old man looked at Lucas, Evelyn followed his gaze, but Lucas looked away. Her stomach sank.

Before she could demand an explanation, headlights swept across the curtains.

The old man's expression changed instantly. "Someone followed you."

Lucas moved towards the window. "How many?"

"Two cars." The man replied.

Evelyn's heart began pounding again. The old man hurried to a cabinet and removed a small wooden box.

He handed it to her. "Take this."

She looked down at it. "What is it?"

"Everything your mother left behind." He hurriedly said.

Evelyn stared at him. "Why are you giving it to me now?"

"Because they have found you." The revelation was straightforward and emotionless.

Outside, a car door slammed, then another. Lucas reached for his gun.

The old man looked directly at Evelyn. "And if Adrian Moretti comes for you, don't run from him."

She frowned. "Why?"

The old man's eyes filled with something she couldn't understand. "Because, child, he may be the only reason you're still alive."

The lights outside went dark. A second later, the front door shook beneath a violent blow, Evelyn clutched the wooden box against her chest as Lucas moved in front of her. The second blow came harder.

The old man whispered something that made her blood run cold. "They're not here for the box." His eyes settled on Evelyn. "They're here for you."