Chapter 39EVA POINT OF VIEW I hate this place. The lights above me keep buzzing, making everything look ugly and pale. It's just another day in prison, but something feels wrong. Really wrong. The air feels different, like right before a storm hits. I can't explain it, but my gut tells me somethin
Chapter 40: Eva's Point of ViewI can't breathe. The smoke is everywhere. My chest hurts so bad. It feels like someone is squeezing all the air out of me. The prison is on fire, and I can't see anything through all the smoke. My whole body feels weak, like I just ran for miles.I try to stand up. M
Chapter 41: Eva's Point of ViewI looked around the big room. I didn't know how I got here or where I was. The room was really fancy with nice furniture and a big, shiny chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The walls had lots of paintings on them. It was like those rich homes I saw in movies. All o
"Hello, Eva," he said in a steady voice. "I know this must feel like too much, but we're here to help you. To make sure you're safe."I felt tears starting to come to my eyes. I'd been alone for such a long time, trying to survive by myself, going through really hard things that nobody should have t
Chapter 42: Eva's Point of ViewI couldn't sleep. Not really. You know that feeling when your mind just won't shut up? That's how I felt, sitting on my bed as the sun started to peek through my curtains. My whole body felt heavy, like I was carrying rocks in my pockets, but my brain wouldn't let me
Chapter 43 Sara's Point of ViewThe morning sun pours through our windows, making bright spots on our living room floor. I'm sitting on the couch with my legs tucked under me, just like I used to do when I was small. Mom's next to me, and her coffee's getting cold on the table. We can't stop watchi
Chapter 44MAX POINT OF VIEW The sun is setting outside my study. Its light makes long shadows on my floor. I sit at my desk, tapping my fingers on the wood. The quiet in here feels heavy, like it's hard to breathe. My eyes keep going to her picture in the corner. Eva's picture. No one has touched
I look up at her picture, my eyes wet. "I wanted to just hate you. But now I'm lost. You should have been my friend, my partner. Instead, you became my enemy. Now you're gone, and I don't know who I am."More whiskey. Anything to stop the memories. But they come anyway. I remember when we were kids,
"Age is just a number," Leo declared grandly, another line I suspected came from Eva's romantic comedies. "And my heart wants what it wants." "Your heart wanted to marry the pizza delivery girl last week," Sam reminded him. "That was before I met Clara," Leo said with dignity. Then he turned back
Chapter 187 Max's Point Of View I stared at the stack of reports on my desk, each one thicker than the last, but none containing the answers I needed. Finding Emily's secrets was like trying to catch smoke, just when we thought we had a lead, it would slip through our fingers. "Mr. Graves?" Clar
Chapter 186 Max point of view I sat at Eva's dining room table, watching my kids do their homework. It had been a week since the cookie incident, and things were... well, different. Not perfect, but different. James was actually letting me help him with his math now. He still rolled his eyes whe
Chapter 185 Eva's point of view I got up from the floor as fast as I could, trying to brush cookie crumbs out of my hair. My face felt like it was on fire as I met Josh's stare. Even though he's only a few years older than me, that look on his face still made me feel like a little kid who got cau
Chapter 184 Max sat on the living room floor, surrounded by opened presents and four very different reactions to his presence. Mia beamed at him, clutching her new stuffed unicorn like it was made of gold. The boys, however, radiated waves of barely contained hostility that made the room feel ten d
"Sometimes," Sam continued, his young voice unnaturally steady, "she would look at pictures and get really quiet. Was that because of you too?" I swallowed hard. "Yes." "Then why should we want you here?" Leo demanded. "You hurt Mom. You didn't want us." "That's not true," I said quickly, too qui
Chapter 183 MAX POINT OF VIEW My hands wouldn't stop sweating on the steering wheel as I pulled up to Eva's house. The trunk was loaded with wrapped presents, toys, books, games, everything I could think of that five-year-olds might like. But somewhere deep in my gut, I knew no mountain of gifts c
Chapter 182 Mia couldn't contain her excitement as she ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Her heart was racing, but not from the climb. She'd just overheard the most amazing news, and she had to tell her siblings right away. Their dad was coming to see them tomorrow! She burst into Jame
Opening my laptop, I pulled up Emily's company records. If she and Sara were behind everything that has been happening, they must have left some trace. People always did, no matter how careful they were. I just had to find it before they made their next move. Financial records, meeting minutes, trav