Chapter 8 - The Child Who Never DiedThe bracelet changed everything.
Claire insisted they leave the bank immediately.
Adrian drove them to an abandoned estate outside the city.
Emma barely spoke.
She kept staring at the bracelet.
"Lily is alive."
Adrian gripped the steering wheel.
"We don't know that."
"The bracelet was inside the vault."
"Someone could have planted it."
Emma looked at him.
"You don't believe that."
Adrian didn't answer.
They entered the estate.
Daniel was waiting.
When he saw the bracelet, he went pale.
"Where did you get that?"
"The bank."
Daniel swore under his breath.
Emma stared.
"You know something."
Daniel hesitated.
"Three months ago, I received a photograph."
"Of Lily?"
He nodded.
"Alive."
Emma's heart raced.
"Show me."
Daniel opened his phone.
The photograph showed a young woman in her early twenties standing beside a lake.
She looked familiar.
Too familiar.
Emma stared.
The shape of her eyes.
The curve of her smile.
The tiny scar above her eyebrow.
Emma slowly looked at Adrian.
"She looks like your mother."
Adrian whispered:
"She has my eyes."
Emma felt dizzy.
"Where is she?"
"We don't know."
Daniel continued.
"The photo came from an unknown sender."
"Was there a message?"
Daniel nodded.
He turned the screen toward her.
Lily knows who killed your mother.
Emma's blood ran cold.
"Then we find her."
Adrian nodded.
But before anyone could move, a phone rang.
Claire answered.
Her expression changed.
She handed the phone to Adrian.
A female voice whispered:
"Stop looking for me."
Adrian stood frozen.
"Lily?"
Silence.
Then:
"You are putting Emma in danger."
Emma leaned closer.
"Lily, please."
The caller breathed shakily.
"I remember your mother."
Emma's heart slammed.
"What happened to her?"
"She was betrayed."
"By who?"
The line went silent.
Then Lily said:
"By the person you trust most."
The call ended.
Emma looked at Adrian.
Everyone in the room looked at everyone else.
"Who does she mean?"
Daniel's phone buzzed.
A message appeared.
Tomorrow. Midnight. Saint Mary's Chapel. Come alone, Emma.
Adrian immediately shook his head.
"No."
Emma looked at him.
"I'm going."
"It's a trap."
"Maybe."
"You can't."
Emma stepped toward him.
"You've spent years telling me what I can and cannot do."
"Because I love you."
The room fell silent.
Adrian realized what he had said.
Emma stared at him.
He swallowed.
"I never stopped."
For a second, everything else disappeared.
Then Claire interrupted.
"There's something else."
She held a file.
"Your mother left another message."
Emma opened it.
A single sentence.
The truth about Lily is buried beneath the chapel.
Emma looked up.
Saint Mary's Chapel.
The same place where her mother had been married.
The same place where Emma had spent her childhood Sundays.
The same place her father had forbidden her to visit after her mother's death.
Adrian reached for her hand.
"This time, I go with you."
Emma looked at him.
"No."
"Emma."
"I need to know who I can trust."
Adrian's expression fell.
"I understand."
She walked away.
Behind her, Claire quietly told Daniel:
"There's no way Lily survived all these years alone."
Daniel nodded.
"Someone raised her."
"Who?"
May you like
Daniel looked toward Adrian.
"I think we already know."
