559: Identity Unknown

Identity Unknown

Safe House2

Styles was busy on his workstation while Chris and the rest of the team all had papers in their hands. They had been helping out looking for Chris's sister. Although they wouldn't be able to accurately decide whether the women they were looking at could be his sister, it was still good to have a different pair of eyes to check on them. So far, they had narrowed it down to twenty, and it still felt like the number was plenty.

It had been almost an hour since Styles called Katherine to come over, and any time soon, she and Damien would arrive.

"This has to be a perfect coincidence," Felix commented, his eyes glued to one particular woman on a paper. They had all twenty potential 'sisters' laid out on the dining table and they hovered over it. "I don't really believe in fate, but ever since I met Katherine and Damien, they've proven me wrong several times already. This is just—"

"We don't know that yet," Gus interrupted. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves." He glanced at Chris, who had been quiet the whole time, made him wonder if his mentor already knew the truth. Chris's eyes would scan the table, his eyes carefully examining the women, but his attention would constantly fall on the same woman that Felix was talking about.

They had asked him what he thought earlier, but Chris remained quiet. He hadn't spoken, looking as if he was afraid to speak his mind only to be disappointed.

The time was ticking, and each passing second, the room got colder. December was really cold in Esmea, and the furnace was broken—it was an old house after all. So everyone couldn't wait for Katherine and Damien to arrive as they said they brought heaters with them. 

Amelia blew air and rubbed her hands together, a cloud of mist lingered before her mouth. She glanced at the door, anticipating for her son to arrive.

She felt a tap on her arm, and when she looked, a heat pack was handed to her by Felix.

"Use it."

"What about you?"

"I'm good," he reassured, placing the pack in her palm. 

"Thank you." Amelia closed her hand around it, and her hand instantly warmed up. She smiled at him, thankful for his kindness.

The sound of an approaching car caught everyone's attention, and they knew that Katherine and Damien arrived. In the next minute, a few men from the Beta Team entered the house—each of them bringing a sizeable electric heater inside. They placed them in several areas of the house and plugged them in. The entire space instantly felt better right after.

"What do we have?" Katherine asked as she approached the table with Damien. She saw the papers laid on the table, and her eyes skimmed over some of the women's faces before she looked at Chris.

Styles joined them at the table and explained what they were up to. "We've narrowed down to twenty women who could be Chris's sister. All of them with a questionable or unclear background. All of them are adopted or grew up in foster care."

"Okay… So why did you sound urgent on the phone?"

Felix nodded his chin at the table and urged her, "Look at them carefully. See if you can find anything."

The papers were laid out in fives—five across, four down. She nodded in agreement as her stare landed at the first woman on the top left of the rows, carefully assessing each feature as though she was trying to make sense—matching them to Chris's feature. The second woman was a bit similar to the first one, with only their noses different. The third one was also the same, and that one, the shape of her eyes were different.

Katherine continued to look at each of them until she reached the twelfth woman. Her eyes grew wide upon seeing a familiar face that she didn't think she would see on the table. "Why…"

"You see it?" Felix probed.

Damien came up behind her, and she felt his hand resting on her waist. "Isn't that your friend?" he asked.

Without answering anyone's questions, she darted her gaze towards Chris who had been waiting for her to say something. She shifted her stare back to the woman and then back at Chris, and she did this several times over as if she was trying to make sure because it was just mind-blowing. "Oh my god…" was the only thing she could mutter.

Looking at the photograph of the woman for the last time, her brows deeply knitted together. She couldn't understand why or how it was even possible. But the more that she looked at it, the more that she was slowly convinced that the woman was the only one who matched Chris's features. But how come she had never seen it before?

"Your friend…" Chris spoke in almost a whisper.

With her heart racing, Katherine hesitantly responded, "Her name is Emma."

"Styles and Felix told me about her. You two are friends? Do you think…"

"Chris, you put me in that neighborhood," she spat. "How could you not have known?" This was weird for Katherine. She had known her friend for five years, and all this time, she had never questioned her identity. Why was she all of a sudden—possibly—related to Chris? That was ridiculous.

He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "I couldn't. I only planned it, but I never went anywhere near that place, nor have I checked the people around you. It was to lessen the risk, so I had someone else arrange and execute it, and I asked them not to tell me anything unless it was something that could compromise your situation—"

"How is this even possible? Emma has a family… she couldn't—"

"She has no record from seven years ago," Styles cut her off.

"What do you mean she has no record?"

Handing her a paper, Styles pointed at a section of the paper where it showed details of his search. "I mean… Emma Chang doesn't exist anywhere else. There are only superficial records of her and her family in a few databases. But she was nothing before seven years ago. It's not her real name. And her identity before this is unknown."

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