Chapter 3: Buried Alive
For several long seconds, neither of them could speak.
Emma looked between them, confused.
"You know my mommy?"
Claire slowly walked forward, every step hesitant.
She reached toward Ethan's face but stopped inches away, afraid he might disappear.
"I watched your funeral," Ethan whispered.
"I stood beside your grave."
Claire closed her eyes.
"There wasn't a body."
"What?"
She looked around the empty shop before lowering her voice.
"I survived the fire."
"The explosion happened before I reached the house. Someone pulled me into a van."
Ethan felt the room tilt.
"I was unconscious for days."
"When I woke up, they told me you were dead."
"They took my identification."
"They kept moving me from city to city."
"I escaped almost a year later."
"Why didn't you come home?"
Claire looked toward Emma.
"I was pregnant."
Ethan's eyes widened.
"I didn't even know."
"I found out after I escaped."
"I wanted to come back."
"But every time I tried..."
Her voice cracked.
"They found me."
"They said if I contacted you, they'd kill both of us."
Emma quietly slipped her small hand into Ethan's.
"I told Mommy someday Daddy would find us."
Ethan stared at the child.
"Daddy..."
The word shattered everything inside him.
He pulled Emma into his arms for the first time.
She hugged him back as if she'd been waiting her whole life.
At that exact moment...
The flower shop's front window exploded.
Glass rained across the floor.
A black SUV sped past without slowing.
Attached to a brick that landed near Ethan's feet was a single envelope.
May you like
Inside were seven handwritten words.
Stop looking. Next time, your daughter dies.
