Chapter 6: The Woman Who Left A Warning
The handwriting on the note was unmistakable.
I had seen it before.
Not in letters.
Not in journals.
In the margins of old recipe cards my father kept hidden in a wooden box at the back of his closet.
My mother's handwriting.
The same elegant curves.
The same slight tilt of every letter.
My fingers trembled as I held the paper.
FROM YOUR MOTHER.
Four words.
Four words that shouldn't have existed.
My mother had been dead for twenty-eight years.
At least, that was what I had been told.
"Claire," my father whispered.
I looked at him.
His face had lost all color.
"You knew.""
It wasn't a question.
My father sat down slowly.
"I knew there was a possibility.""
"A possibility?""
My voice rose.
"My mother wrote me a note after she died, and you knew there was a possibility?""
"I didn't know she was alive.""
"Then why are you scared?""
He didn't answer.
Because he knew.
I had finally asked the right question.
Evelyn Mercer stood near the doorway, watching me.
For the first time, she wasn't the terrifying woman from the front pew of St. Augustine's Chapel.
She looked like someone who had spent years regretting a decision.
"You deserve the truth," she said.
I turned toward her.
"Do I?""
Her eyes lowered.
"No.""
The honesty surprised me.
"No, you deserved it years ago.""
She walked toward the table and placed another envelope beside the photograph.
"Jonathan wasn't the only one who survived.""
My stomach tightened.
"Survived what?""
Evelyn looked at my father.
Then at me.
"The night they tried to erase everyone who knew.""
A cold silence filled the room.
My father closed his eyes.
"Robert," Evelyn said softly, "we can't protect her anymore.""
My father looked exhausted.
"I was trying to keep her away from this.""
I laughed bitterly.
"By letting Daniel marry me?""
Neither of them answered.
Because that was the cruelest part.
They had both been protecting me from a storm that had already reached me.
Evelyn pushed the envelope closer.
"Your mother left this with someone she trusted.""
"Who?""
"Jonathan.""
I looked at the photograph.
The impossible photograph.
The dead man standing beside Daniel.
"Jonathan is alive?""
Evelyn nodded.
"Yes.""
"Where?""
"I don't know.""
The answer frustrated me.
"Then why bring this to me?""
"Because Daniel knows he is alive.""
That sentence hit harder than anything else.
Daniel.
My almost-husband.
The man who whispered ownership into my ear at the altar.
The man who hurt me.
He knew.
"You said he was standing beside Jonathan.""
Evelyn nodded.
"Three years ago.""
"Three years?""
I stared at the photograph.
"Why would Daniel meet the brother everyone thought was dead?""
Evelyn's face tightened.
"Because Jonathan came back.""
"To expose him?""
"No.""
Her voice dropped.
"To make a deal.""
I felt a wave of confusion.
"A deal?""
"Jonathan had information.""
"What kind?""
Evelyn looked toward the window.
"The kind that destroys families.""
Nobody spoke.
Then my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I looked at the screen.
A photo appeared.
Not from the past.
From tonight.
My house.
The front gate.
Someone had taken it minutes earlier.
Underneath was a message.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE MERCERS ALONE.
My heart stopped.
Maya immediately reached for her phone.
"Don't respond.""
"I wasn't going to.""
Another message appeared.
THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING.
Then a third.
FROM SOMEONE WHO KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR MOTHER.
I looked at Evelyn.
"Who sent this?""
She didn't answer.
My father did.
And his response terrified me.
"Charles.""
The room went silent.
"Your father thinks Charles sent it?""
I asked.
My father shook his head.
"No.""
May you like
He looked at me.
"I know.""
