Chapter 2: The Call That Changed Everything
My phone lit up at 6 a.m.
Jason.
Then Brooke.
Then a number I didn't recognize.
I let them all ring.
Lily was asleep across my chest in the hotel bed, her left cheek still faintly swollen, her fist curled tight around my shirt.
I hadn't slept.
I had spent the night reading through three years of notes I had kept in a locked app — dates, descriptions, exact words.
Things I had written down the same night they happened, because I knew one day I would need them.
At 7 a.m., the unknown number sent a text.
*"Emily.
This is Carol — Jason's aunt.
I was watching Brooke's livestream last night.
I saw everything.
I want you to know…
this is not the first time.
There was another child.
Years before you."*
I sat up.
My hands were shaking.
I typed back: *"Which child?"*
Three dots appeared.
Then stopped.
Then appeared again.
Before her answer came through, my phone rang.
It was Jason.
"Emily, don't do anything yet," he said.
His voice was low, almost a whisper.
"There are things about my family you don't understand.
Things my mother made us promise never to—"
He stopped himself.
"Jason." My voice was steady.
"What child?"
The line went silent for four full seconds.
Then he said: *"How do you know about that?"*
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May you like
What Jason is hiding is darker than anything Emily expected.
Click the link below to read the full story — and find out what Diane has been covering up for years.
