Chapter 2 - The Envelope Had Her Full Name
Emma stared at the sealed envelope in Richard Hale’s hand.
Her full name was written across the front.
Emma Grace Collins.
Not Emma Collins.
Not Miss Collins.
Emma Grace Collins.
Her mother had been the only person who used her middle name when she was frightened.
The room had gone silent around them.
Coffee still dripped from Emma’s gray uniform onto the cream carpet.
Claire stood near the dining table with one hand pressed to her mouth.
Victoria looked like someone had just pulled the floor from beneath her.
“Richard,” she said. “Don’t.”
He did not look at her.
“This belongs to Emma.”
Victoria moved forward again.
Security stepped between them.
Emma took the envelope.
Her hands shook.
“Why did my mother give you this?”
Richard’s expression softened.
“Because she was afraid she wouldn’t live long enough to give it to you herself.”
Emma’s throat tightened.
Her mother, Anna Collins, had died when Emma was nine.
A hit-and-run accident outside a grocery store in Connecticut.
That was what Emma had always been told.
Richard continued.
“She asked me to wait until you were old enough to understand what was inside.”
Emma looked at him.
“I’m twenty-four.”
“I know.”
“Then why now?”
Richard’s eyes shifted toward Victoria.
“Because somebody made sure I couldn’t find you.”
Victoria’s face changed.
Claire noticed.
So did Emma.
Emma slowly turned.
“You knew about me?”
Victoria answered too quickly.
“No.”
Richard laughed once.
Coldly.
“That’s your second lie tonight.”
Victoria’s eyes flashed.
“You have no idea what you’re doing.”
Richard stepped closer.
“I know exactly what I’m doing.”
Emma looked down at the envelope.
She wanted to open it.
She was terrified to.
Then she saw one more detail.
The seal was broken.
Someone had already opened it.
Emma looked up.
“Who read this?”
Richard’s jaw tightened.
Victoria looked away.
May you like
And Emma understood.
Whatever her mother had tried to hide for twenty-four years, Victoria already knew.
