Chapter 2 - Emma Doesn’t Go Home Alone
Emma made it to the front steps before her knees began shaking. The cut
near her forehead was small, but blood had reached her eyebrow.
“Emma!” Daniel rushed outside.
“Go back inside.”
“Let me take you to urgent care.”
“You had your chance to stand beside me.”
His face tightened. “I froze.”
“Yes.”
Then Vanessa appeared in the doorway wearing Margaret’s emerald
bracelet—the one Margaret never allowed anyone to touch.
Emma stared. “Where did you get that?”
Vanessa covered her wrist.
Emma’s phone vibrated. An unknown number had sent a photograph of
Vanessa and Daniel entering a hotel three months earlier.
The message beneath it read:
ASK DANIEL WHAT HAPPENED IN ROOM 814.
Daniel saw the photograph.
His face changed—not with guilt, but recognition.
“I can explain.”
Emma stepped backward.
“Not tonight.”
May you like
As her car pulled away, another message arrived.
VANESSA DIDN’T ENTER YOUR FAMILY BY ACCIDENT.
