Chapter 3 - The House My Parents Left BehindWe drove west through the fading Texas light.
Eventually, the city disappeared behind us.
A gravel road led to a massive stone house surrounded by oak trees.
I stared at Crawford.
“What is this?”
“Yours.”
My parents had bought the property when I was born.
They had intended it as a refuge.
A place I could return to if the world ever became dangerous.
I had never known it existed.
That night, Lila cried herself to sleep.
I sat beside her until two in the morning.
Then I went downstairs.
Files waited on the kitchen table.
My real identity.
Ryan's criminal history.
His first wife, Linda.
His second wife, Clara.
Two children.
Two lives.
And suddenly I understood.
I wasn't his first victim.
I was simply the latest.
At three in the morning, Crawford arrived.
Someone had tried to break into the mansion.
Ryan had taken clothes and valuables.
But the accounts were frozen.
“He won't get another penny,” Crawford said.
I looked at Linda's photograph.
“Did he kill her?”
“The police called it suicide.”
I stared at her face.
She could have been me.
The next morning, Lila asked for pancakes.
I made them.
She pushed her plate away.
“Is Daddy in trouble?”
I swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Does that mean I have a brother and sister?”
I nodded.
“Jake and Mia.”
She thought about that.
“Are they nice?”
“I don't know.”
She looked at me.
“Can I meet them?”
For the first time, I realized Ryan's other children weren't my enemies.
They were victims too.
Then someone knocked.
Vanessa stood outside.
She looked terrified.
May you like
She held a USB drive.
“Emily,” she whispered. “Ryan has been lying to all of us.”
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