Chapter 5: AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR

I couldn’t sleep. 

The city outside my window was quiet, a stark contrast to the whirlwind inside my head. Oliver’s offer replayed over and over, each word dissected and analyzed until it lost all meaning. The man was a master of manipulation, that much was clear, but his intentions remained a mystery, one that gnawed at me relentlessly.

I had barely closed my eyes when a sharp knock echoed through the apartment. My heart leapt to my throat, my mind immediately jumping to the worst conclusions. I hadn’t been expecting anyone, and at this hour, the possibilities were far from comforting.

I slipped out of bed, pulling on the silk robe that hung on the back of the door. The floor was cold beneath my bare feet as I made my way to the front door, each step heightening the tension that coiled in my chest.

Another knock, louder this time, more insistent. Whoever it was, they weren’t going away. I paused in front of the door, my hand hovering over the knob. 

“Who is it?” My voice was steady, but I could feel the tightness in my throat.

There was a moment of silence, then a voice I hadn’t heard in years, a voice that was both familiar and foreign, crackled through the intercom. “It’s me, Emily.”

My breath caught in my throat, a thousand emotions colliding all at once. I hadn’t heard that voice in so long that I wondered if I was dreaming. But I knew better. This wasn’t a dream, and that voice could only belong to one person.

“Dad?” My voice was barely above a whisper, the word foreign on my lips.

“Can you let me in, sweetheart?” The voice on the other end was softer now, almost pleading.

For a moment, I was frozen, the world narrowing down to the sound of his voice, the weight of his words. I hadn’t seen or spoken to my father in nearly a decade. Not since he had walked out on us, leaving nothing but a trail of broken promises and shattered trust.

But here he was, on the other side of my door, asking to be let in. 

I could feel my hand trembling as I unlocked the door, my mind racing with questions I wasn’t sure I was ready to ask. The door creaked open, revealing the man who had once been the center of my world, now a stranger in so many ways.

Jimmy Carter stood before me, older, grayer, but still carrying that same aura of defiance that had once been his trademark. His face was etched with lines that hadn’t been there before, the years having carved their story into his skin. His once vibrant blue eyes, the same shade as mine, were tired, haunted by something I couldn’t quite place.

“Emily,” he said, his voice thick with emotion, as if the years of silence had weighed heavily on him, too. 

For a long moment, neither of us moved, the air between us heavy with the unspoken words of a decade’s worth of pain and abandonment. I didn’t know what to say, what to feel. 

Finally, I stepped aside, allowing him to enter. He walked in slowly, almost cautiously, as if unsure of his place in this new chapter of my life.

The apartment suddenly felt too small, the walls closing in as memories of the past flooded back with painful clarity. I had spent years trying to forget him, to erase the hurt of his departure. But here he was, and with him came the undeniable truth that some wounds never fully heal.

He glanced around the apartment, taking in the modern decor, the sleek lines, the hints of my success that were scattered throughout. His gaze finally settled on me, and for a moment, I saw a flicker of pride in his eyes before it was replaced by something heavier, something more complicated.

“You’ve done well for yourself,” he said, his voice gruff. “This place... it suits you.”

“Thanks,” I replied, my tone clipped. The tension between us was palpable, a chasm that neither of us knew how to bridge.

I led him to the living room, where we sat across from each other, the coffee table a barrier between us. The silence stretched on, both of us unsure of how to start the conversation that had been ten years in the making.

“What are you doing here, Dad?” I finally asked, my voice sharper than I intended.

He winced at the question, his hands clasping together as if to steady himself. “I know I’m the last person you expected to see, and I don’t blame you for that. I wasn’t there when you needed me most, and for that, I’m truly sorry.”

His apology hung in the air, but I wasn’t ready to accept it. Not yet. “You didn’t answer my question.”

He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face, the years of regret evident in his every movement. “I came because... because I have something to tell you, something important. It’s about your mother.”

The mention of my mother was like a punch to the gut. My heart skipped a beat, the old wounds of her passing reopening with a searing pain. “What about her?”

His eyes met mine, and for the first time since he walked in, I saw a flicker of fear in them. “Emily, your mother’s death... it wasn’t what we thought it was.”

I felt the ground shift beneath me, the world tilting on its axis. “What are you talking about? She died in a car accident.”

He shook his head slowly, his expression grim. “No, sweetheart. It wasn’t an accident. Your mother was murdered.”

The word hung in the air like a death knell, cold and unforgiving. My mind couldn’t process it, couldn’t reconcile the idea with the woman who had raised me, who had been my rock after my father left. But the look in his eyes told me that he was telling the truth, or at least what he believed to be the truth.

“Murdered?” The word slipped out, barely a whisper, as if saying it out loud would make it real.

He nodded, his hands trembling as they gripped the edge of the table. “I didn’t know until recently, Emily. I swear. But when I found out... I knew I had to come back, had to tell you.”

My mind raced, trying to make sense of the revelation, to piece together a puzzle that had been incomplete for so long. “Why now? Why after all these years?”

His gaze dropped, the weight of his guilt pressing down on him. “Because I’ve been running, Emily. I’ve been running from the truth, from my own mistakes. But I can’t run anymore. You deserve to know what really happened. And... there’s something else.”

I stared at him, the anger and betrayal warring with the grief and confusion that threatened to consume me. “What else?”

He swallowed hard, his voice breaking as he spoke. “There’s a man... someone powerful, someone dangerous. He’s been looking for you, Emily. He’s the one who... who killed your mother. And now, he’s coming for you.”

The world spun around me, my heart pounding in my chest as the gravity of his words settled in. I could barely breathe, the room closing in as the walls of my carefully constructed life began to crumble.

“Who is he?” I demanded, my voice shaking with a mixture of fear and fury.

“I don’t know his name,” my father admitted, his voice filled with desperation. “But I know he’s connected to something bigger, something that goes back years. Your mother... she knew something, something dangerous. And now, he’s after you because of it.”

My mind raced, trying to connect the dots, to understand how my mother’s death, my father’s abandonment, and this mysterious threat could all be tied together. But nothing made sense, nothing felt real. And yet, the fear in my father’s eyes, the terror that had driven him to my doorstep after all these years, was undeniable.

“You have to be careful, Emily,” he pleaded, his voice raw with emotion. “This man... he’s ruthless. He’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants. And right now, that’s you.”

I felt a cold chill run down my spine, the reality of the situation crashing down on me. My life had been turned upside down in a matter of minutes, the truth I had believed for so long shattered by the revelations of a man I barely recognized as my father.

But even as the fear gripped me, a new resolve began to take root, a determination to uncover the truth, to find out who was behind my mother’s death, and to protect myself from whatever danger lay ahead.

I looked at my father, my heart heavy with a mixture of emotions I couldn’t begin to untangle. “What do we do now?”

He met my gaze, his expression grim but resolute. “We find out who he is, and we stop him. But you need to be careful, Emily. You can’t trust anyone, not even the people you think you know.”

His words echoed in my mind, a stark reminder of the dangers that now surrounded me. My world had been upended, my safety and security ripped away in an instant. But I knew one thing for certain—I wouldn’t let fear control me. I would find out the truth, no matter what it took.

As I stared out at the city, the lights flickering like distant stars, I felt a storm brewing within me, a fire that wouldn’t be extinguished. The road ahead was fraught with danger, but I was ready. Whatever secrets my mother had left behind, whatever darkness lay in wait—I would face it head-on.