جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 40

At Evelyn Sterling’s house, Daphne sat at the kitchen table long after midnight, both hands wrapped around a cup of hot coffee because it's freezing outside.Evelyn moved quietly through the small house, checking the locks and windows again. A police cruiser waited at the curb outside, but its presence offered little comfort.Not after the strange call Evelyn had received.Not after Detective Harris revealed that Thomas Keene’s address book included Evelyn’s home.Not after Arthur’s warning.The house was filled with Warren in small, painful ways. A photograph from his university graduation stood on a bookshelf beside Daniel Sterling’s old engineering award. His childhood drawings remained pinned near the refrigerator.One showed a crooked house with a yellow roof and four stick figures.“Who are they?” Daphne asked softly.Evelyn followed her gaze. “Warren, Daniel, me.” Her mouth trembled faintly. “And the dog he begged for but never got.”Daphne almost smiled. “What was the dog’s na

Evelyn gasped.Warren moved in front of both women immediately.He was injured, exhausted, and barely steady on his feet, but his stance was not uncertain. The rolling pin looked absurd in his hand. The expression on his face did not.Daphne stared at him.At the man she had mourned.At the man she had believed had betrayed her.At the man who had survived something terrible and still placed himself between them and danger.“I believe you,” she said.Warren looked at her.The words seemed to strike him harder than any blow.“You do?”“Yes.” Daphne stepped beside him, not behind him. “I believe you.”He closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, the pain in his expression was impossible to hide.Then the door rattled again.Warren’s gaze fell to the diamond ring on her finger.The softness vanished.“Before we go,” he said quietly, “I need you to tell me the truth.”Daphne’s breath caught. “About what?”He looked at the ring, then at her.“Has Mason touched your life beyo

A door opened somewhere behind Lila.“Dad is outside my room,” she whispered.“Lock the door,” Daphne said.“I already did.”Arthur’s voice carried faintly through the phone.“Lila. Open the door.”“Do not open it,” Daphne said.“He knows I’m speaking to you.”“Tell him it’s me.”“I can’t. He told me not to speak to you tonight.”Daphne looked at Warren.“What did he say?” she asked.“He said you were upset. That I should let you calm down.”“Go to the window,” Daphne said. “Can you get out?”“It’s the second floor.”“Then call a cab. Call anyone. Just do not let him take your phone.”A key entered the lock.Lila cried out.“He has a key.”“Go to the window. Now.”The door opened.“Give me the phone,” Arthur said.“No,” Lila replied, trembling.“Give me the phone.”“You do not get to control everything,” Lila said.Daphne heard Arthur inhale.Then he said, “Your sister has put dangerous ideas into your head.”“No,” Lila whispered. “You did.”Daphne’s eyes filled.“Lila,” she said, “te

Daphne answered while Warren led them down the dark stairwell.“Lila?”For a moment, all she heard was wind.Then her sister whispered, “I got away.”Daphne nearly missed a step. “What?”“Mason did not take me. He tried to. I ran when his driver opened the back door.”“Where are you?”“I do not know. I took a bus. Then another one. I think I’m near the city.”“Are you alone?”“I think so.”Warren stopped halfway down the stairs. “Ask her if she sees anyone watching her.”Daphne repeated the question.Lila was quiet for several seconds.“I do not see anyone,” she said. “But that does not mean they are not there.”“Listen to me,” Daphne said. “Do not go back to the estate. Do not go to Camille’s apartment. Go somewhere public.”“I called Camille,” Lila said. “She told me about a clinic near Yonge and Eglinton.”“That is good. Go there. Stay inside where people can see you.”“What about you?”“We are moving somewhere safe.”“Mason sent you the message?”“Yes.”“I’m sorry.”“You have noth

Warren turned the moment Daphne reached the bottom of the stairs.His eyes searched her face.“Are you sick?”“No.”The lie came easier this time.That frightened her.“Did you take something?” he asked.“Yes. Painkillers.”He nodded, but concern remained in his eyes.Evelyn was watching Daphne too closely. Daphne looked away first.“We need to get to Lila.”“Mr. Baines’s friend is already at the clinic,” Evelyn said. “Lila is with her for now.”“Good.” Daphne tightened her grip on her bag. “Then we should go.”They left through the rear entrance and took a taxi toward Yonge and Eglinton.Warren sat in the front passenger seat, watching the roads behind them through the mirror. Evelyn and Daphne sat in the back.Daphne kept looking at Warren’s reflection.He was alive. He was here.But he felt far away.She imagined telling him about the test. Imagined the silence that might follow. The grief, confusion, and unfairness of it.She could not ask him to absorb another devastating truth w