Chapter 45 - Chasing Clues

Isabel’s POV

I hugged myself tightly, curled up on the cold, hard floor of my father’s study. The night seemed endless, each passing hour filled with the suffocating weight of dread. The images of Lilith from my father’s hidden safe haunted me. And there were photos of other young girls too.

I kept asking myself the same question over and over: What had my father done?

My heart ached as my mind wandered to the darkest corners of possibility. Could my father, the man who had always been my hero, have committed something so unforgivable? I felt sick just thinking about it.

When I finally drifted off, my nightmares mirrored my deepest fears. Lilith's face was there, but younger, more innocent. “Your father has done the unspeakable. The unforgivable,” she said.

And then, other girls—so many of them—echoed her words. “Unspeakable. Unforgivable.” They all looked terrified. The images swirled around me, trapping me in a whirlwind of horror until I jolted awake. My heart was pounding. I was