All Chapters of The Heart Never Forgets: Chapter 51 - Chapter 58

Those words drained every bit of strength from my body.I didn’t remember running - only the echo of my heels, the sting of cold air filling my lungs, the panic that kept twisting tighter with every step.By the time I reached the security doors, my hands were trembling too badly to swipe my ID.A guard let me in.Daniel lay on a narrow cot, pale and sweating, his breathing shallow. His shirt was damp. His lips are colorless. For one terrifying moment, all I saw was Daniel broken, barely conscious, slipping away from me.I stumbled to his side.“Daniel,” I whispered, brushing my fingers against his forehead.He flinched, then blinked slowly, trying to focus. His voice was barely there, hoarse and shredded.“Jane…”“I’m here.” I swallowed hard. “What happened to you?”He tried to sit up, but the effort sent his body shaking. I slid my arm behind him, helping him lean against the pillow.“Someone drugged me,” he breathed.My stomach dropped.“What do you mean…drugged you? How? You’re un

The envelope sat in my palm like something alive, pulsing with secrets I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. Mrs. Calloway’s words still echoed through my head.“Your father wanted you to have this.”I stood there in her office, unable to speak, unable to even breathe normally. My hands were shaking as I stared at the envelope’s edges, yellowed, soft, and familiar.My mother’s handwriting.I knew it instantly. I’d recognize those looping curves anywhere. She used to write little notes and tuck them in my lunchbox. Have courage, sweetheart. You shine everywhere you go. Never let fear decide your future.I swallowed hard.“My mother wrote this?” My voice cracked.Mrs. Calloway gave a slow nod, her eyes unreadable. “Your father gave it to me years ago. Told me to protect it. Told me to give it to you only… when the past caught up.”“When the past caught up?” I repeated, stunned. “What does that even…”But I stopped myself. I didn’t want another word from her. Not after what she’d confessed. No

The confusion clung to me like fog as Daniel and I stood in the middle of my living room, staring at the sheet of paper lying on my desk – the missing page.The one someone had broken into my home to deliver. A message. A threat. A warning. I didn’t know which.My pulse hammered. Daniel stepped closer, gently touching my arm. “Jane… we should read it.”I wasn’t ready. I was terrified of whatever truth waited on that page. But I nodded, because we had already gone too far to turn back.I picked it up with trembling fingers.My mother’s handwriting, the soft, looping cursive I recognized from childhood notes tucked into lunchboxes and birthday cards, stared back at me.And from the very first sentence, my world cracked open.The missing page explained everything. Everything I was never supposed to know. Everything that destroyed my family long before I understood there was anything to break.I sank onto the sofa as the words burned into me:“If the warehouse ever goes up in flames, it w

I told my father I would be back.The words tasted hollow as I said them, like a promise made with fingers crossed behind my back. He lay there in the hospital bed, smaller than I remembered, his eyes tired but sharp with fear.He nodded, squeezing my hand as if he wanted to hold me there, to keep me from walking straight into whatever fire Pierce was planning next.“I need to stop him,” I said quietly. My father swallowed. “Be careful, Jane.”I didn’t trust myself to answer, so I just turned and left.The moment the hospital doors slid shut behind me, the weight crashed down again. Pierce is planning another fire. The words replayed in my head, over and over, like a match striking again and again, refusing to go out.I should have gone straight to Daniel.That was the logical choice. He had the resources. The connections. The experience of fighting Pierce and surviving it. And yet, as I stood in the parking lot, keys shaking in my hand, doubt crept in.What if Pierce was right?What