Chapter 4

The blinding fluorescent lights snapped back on, cutting through the darkness and illuminating the flower-lined crystal coffin.

Inside, my body remained in the same contorted position it had landed in when Ethan kicked the frame. I didn't move an inch.

Alexandra was vibrating with excitement as she unlocked her phone and restarted her live stream.

Lifting the edge of her skirt, she strutted over to the coffin like a proud peacock.

"Hey, Cassie, wake up. Take a look at this! Ethan gave me this gorgeous white dress. Doesn't it look amazing on me?"

I lay there motionlessly.

When I didn't answer, Alexandra pouted for the camera, playing up the disappointment. "Oh, man. Looks like Cassie's still mad at me. She won't even look at me."

Ethan stepped forward and rapped his knuckles sharply against the glass.

"Cassie, cut the crap," he barked. "Just sit up, apologize to Alexandra, and we'll call it even. I'll buy you a nicer dress later."

Nevertheless, the coffin remained terrifyingly quiet—no breathing, no movement, nothing.

A flash of satisfaction crossed Alexandra's eyes, but she masked it instantly, pulling on Ethan's sleeve with a look of feigned maturity.

"It's fine, Ethan. If she wants to ignore us, just let her."

Ethan stared at my unresponsive body, and impatience flickered in his gaze.

"Fine! Since you love lying in there so much, knock yourself out! Nobody is allowed to let her out tonight. She stays right there until morning!"

With that, he turned toward the wall to hit the garage door switch.

Liam and Julian shook their heads, turning around to follow him out.

Just then, a few eye-catching messages flashed across the chat.

"Wait, is the girl stuck in that coffin, Cassie? The one who works the graveyard shift washing dishes at the diner on Penwood Street?"

"Holy shit, it's her! I used to talk to her all the time when I got off work late!"

"One time, I asked why a young girl like her wasn't in school, and why she was out scrubbing plates in the cold until her hands were raw and bleeding. I even asked her what she was working so hard for."

The chat started moving at lightning speed as random viewers expressed their shock and confusion.

Then, a much longer comment popped up.

"She just smiled at me and said she finally found her biological brothers. She said she was saving up every penny to buy them the gifts they'd always wanted. So... why do you guys have her locked in a coffin?"

The smile instantly froze on Alexandra's face, and a suffocating silence fell over the garage.

Ethan's voice shook. "Graveyard shift… washing dishes?"

My brothers turned around in unison. Their eyes were glued to the text on the screen.

Fragments of memories from the past few months suddenly started flashing through their minds.

It had been the dead of winter, during the coldest stretch of the year, when I started coming home in the early hours of the morning.

Back then, Alexandra had sworn up and down that I was out sleeping around with random men.

Enraged, Ethan had slapped me across the face before throwing me out into the snow, forcing me to stay out in the cold for the night.

"No way… I'm sure she was out with…"

Liam's voice trembled violently.

Panic set in for Alexandra. She lunged forward, trying to block the phone screen with her hands as she yelled, "It's a lie! It's all fake! You can't believe random people on the internet! She definitely paid people to say that just to make us feel bad!"

"Get out of my way!" Ethan roared, shoving Alexandra so hard she hit the floor.

His eyes were bloodshot, and he looked unhinged as he threw himself toward the crystal coffin.

Shaking uncontrollably, he fumbled through his pockets, only to realize he didn't have the keys on him.

"The keys! Where are the damn keys?" he screamed at Liam.

Liam scrambled over to the tool bench on the far side of the room to dig through the mess for the spare key he had tossed aside earlier.

Ethan's patience was running thin.

He grabbed a sledgehammer leaning against the corner of the wall, raised it high over his head, and brought it down against the brass lock of the crystal coffin.