Chapter 13 - THE SISTEREveryone turned toward the window.
Nobody was there.
Then a shape appeared in the garden.
A woman.
Dark coat.
Wet hair.
Standing completely still.
Chloe ran outside.
Gabriel followed.
The woman didn't move.
When Chloe got closer, she saw the face.
It was like looking into a version of herself that belonged to another life.
“You're Chloe.”
The woman nodded.
“I'm Elise.”
Chloe's breath caught.
“Our mother told me you were dead.”
Elise smiled sadly.
“She told me that so you wouldn't come looking.”
“Why?”
“Because she knew what our father was capable of.”
Chloe stared.
“Our father?”
Elise nodded.
“Gabriel's father wasn't the only monster in this story.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
“Who is yours?”
Elise looked at him.
“Our father.”
Gabriel's face hardened.
“What are you talking about?”
Elise pulled out a photograph.
A young man stood beside Gabriel's father.
Chloe looked at it.
She recognized the face.
Marco's.
But Marco had died hours ago.
She shook her head.
“No.”
Elise whispered:
“That wasn't Marco.”
Silence.
“The man at the restaurant wasn't your manager.”
Gabriel's expression changed.
“Then who was he?”
“An actor.”
“Who hired him?”
“Elise looked at Chloe.
“Your father.”
Chloe stepped backward.
“My father is dead.”
Elise shook her head.
“No.”
Again.
“No.”
“He has been alive this entire time.”
Gabriel's phone rang.
He answered.
A distorted voice spoke.
“Now you finally understand.”
Gabriel recognized it.
His eyes hardened.
“Where are you?”
The voice laughed.
“Closer than you think.”
The line died.
Then every television in the house switched on.
A live security feed appeared.
Beatrice.
Lena.
Chloe.
Gabriel.
All of them.
A timestamp blinked in the corner.
11:47.
A message appeared.
YOU HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT.
Elise whispered:
“He wants us to find him.”
Gabriel looked at the screen.
“No.”
He understood.
“He wants us to find something else.”
The screen changed.
A hospital room appeared.
On the bed lay a man.
Alive.
Old.
Weak.
Chloe stepped closer.
May you like
She recognized him.
Her father.
