Chapter 81

ABIGAIL'S POV

I didn’t go back to Richardson’s house.

I just couldn't bring myself to go there. The walls felt too tight, the air too thick, like if I stayed still for even a second, the truth would catch up to me and crush me under its weight. My mother’s room, my uncle’s lies, that hoarse whisper on the phone, they all collided inside my chest until breathing felt like work.

I left the house without looking back or even telling anyone.

The warehouse address was scribbled beneath the phone number, written in the same shaky ink, like whoever had written it had been afraid they wouldn’t get the chance to finish. I sat behind the wheel with trembling hands, staring at the paper for a full minute before turning the key.

As the car pulled onto the road, my phone buzzed and when I looked it was Richardson.

I answered immediately.

“I’m on my way to a warehouse,” I said before he could speak. My voice sounded distant to my own ears. “It was written inside my mother’s bracelet box.”

There wa