All Chapters of The Calm After the Storm: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

A private jet touched down on a cozy little island where the sun always seemed to shine just right. Walter owned this slice of paradise, and these days, every nook and cranny had been tweaked to Anna's liking. That afternoon, when Walter and Anna were out fishing in the sparkling sea, Walter's phone buzzed with a news alert from the capital. A villa in the fancy part of town had gone up in flames late last night. By the time the fire trucks rushed over, the place was nothing but ash and broken walls.It was such a bad fire that they could not find anyone inside. The cops checked the surveillance cameras around the area and saw that nobody got out. It looked like whoever was inside did not make it. Walter's hand shook a little as he flicked past the news, his mind somewhere else for a second. "Hey, Walter, give me a smile," Anna said, snuggling up with her selfie stick. Walter's nose was filled with the light scent of jasmine as he slung an arm around her, smiling for the

In the car, Walter looked very upset."Sorry, the number you have dialed is not available right now. Please try again later."The same message came from the phone three times.Walter tried calling Matthias.There was no answer.Anna noticed that Walter was not even looking at her, so she hugged her arm and made a soft sound.Walter did not react.He could not get through to either sibling over the phone and was feeling really annoyed. "Drive faster!" he told the driver.The driver pushed the gas pedal down harder.Anna gently pulled on Walter's shirt. "Walter, please don't be like this. I'm scared."Before, Walter would have calmed down and hugged her to make her feel better.However, now, he just gave her a quick look and frowned.Anna felt really worried and said in a small voice, "Walter, do you think something bad has happened to Emma?"She's always so worried about getting hurt and looking bad..."Walter almost laughed. "You're right. She's always been too sensitive

Walter and Matthias got to the police station one after the other.Matthias told them who he was and asked to see the security footage.After they watched the video, a young officer brought out Emma's things."The video shows Ms. Lawson never left the villa after she got back. She probably didn't make it out of the fire."Here are some things we found there."A diamond and a red bracelet were in a clear plastic bag, both hardly recognizable.The diamond was just like the one from Emma's mother's necklace.Seeing that, Matthias turned ghostly white."This is Emma's favorite bracelet and necklace."Matthias whispered to himself, his voice rough and scratchy as if his throat was stuffed with cotton.His chest ached as if invisible hands were ripping at his heart. The pain was too much to bear.Regret flooded over him like a tidal wave, drowning him in its depths.Walter's head spun as his vision faded in and out of darkness. He was struggling to stay on his feet.By the time

I had to get ready to go on the trip.That night, I logged onto Messenger, which I had not used in a long time, and joined a group chat. I was determined to make sure I would not bump into Walter or Matthias in Nexus City.The group chat was always busy, with more than twenty people active at the same time.I did not care about all the fancy stuff the rich kids in the group were doing. I just looked up Walter and Matthias.Walter had made Anna look really bad over the last two years. As for himself, he was not doing great either.About a year and a half ago, Anna said she was having his baby and cried about it on television.The scandal made Walter's family really unhappy with him.Less than a month later, Anna had an accident at home and lost the baby.Anna and her mother were kicked out of the Lawson family.They left the capital and moved to a smaller city outside.However, with Walter and Matthias keeping an eye on them, life was not easy for them.I saw from their chats

I called the cops.Walter was not his usual confident self when I saw him again after so long. He looked pretty down.I thought he would be sad without me around for a bit before he returned to having fun with Anna.It turned out I still meant a lot to him.However, who cared about that now?The police got there fast."This guy's got me mixed up with someone else and won't leave me alone."I looked really frustrated and showed them my ID. "I'm Fiona. That's always been my name.""No! You're Emma, not Fiona. We've known each other since we were kids. I can't be wrong!" Walter insisted even after seeing my ID."What proof do you have?" I asked him.Walter did not know what to say.I knew he did not have a single picture of me at his place.I had even gone to Natalie's to get back the old photos from when we were kids back then.Before I decided to leave for good, I burned every last one of them. Not a single picture was left.I could not help but chuckle. "See? You can't ev