PART 1

The funeral ended just before sunset.

Everyone hugged Sarah.

Everyone said the same thing.

“Matt was a wonderful man.”

“He’s in a better place.”

“Time heals everything.”

She nodded politely until the last car disappeared from the cemetery.

Then she sat alone beside her brother’s fresh grave.

The dirt was still dark from the rain.

“I failed you,” she whispered.

The wind carried away the words before anyone else could hear them.

That night she couldn’t sleep.

Every room in the apartment reminded her of Matt.

His coffee mug.

His jacket hanging behind the kitchen door.

His running shoes still covered in dried mud from the trail they planned to finish together the following weekend.

She walked into his bedroom.

Nothing had moved since the accident.

The baseball cap on the dresser.

The guitar leaning against the wall.

Even his phone charger remained plugged in.

She sat on the edge of his bed.

“I’m sorry…”

Her voice cracked.

As she reached to straighten the blanket, something hard pressed beneath the mattress.

She lifted it.

An old wooden shoebox.

Inside were childhood treasures she hadn’t seen in years.

Baseball cards.

Birthday drawings.

A tiny toy police car.

Then…

their mother’s carved jewelry box.

Sarah froze.

She remembered asking about it when she was ten.

Her mother had smiled.

“One day.”

Apparently…

today had become that day.

Inside rested an emerald necklace wrapped around a yellow envelope.

The paper had her name written across it.

Sarah.

Her hands trembled as she unfolded it.

The first sentence stole the air from her lungs.

If you’re reading this, both Matt and I are gone.

“No…”

She kept reading.

Every line felt impossible.

Their parents had hidden another daughter.

Her name was Lila.

She had never been abandoned.

She had been hidden.

Protected.

For reasons their mother couldn’t explain in writing.

At the bottom was only one instruction.

Find your sister before someone else does.

Sarah read the letter again.

And again.

Nothing made sense.

If Lila existed…

Where had she lived?

Why had Matt never mentioned her?

Or…

had he known?

She rushed back to the shoebox.

Hidden beneath the old photographs was a folded city map.

Three places were circled in red ink.

An abandoned church.

An old diner on Hollow Street.

And…

St. Gabriel Children’s Home.

Her phone suddenly vibrated.

Unknown Number.

I know you found the letter.

Sarah’s heart stopped.

Another message appeared.

Don’t call the police. They won’t protect Lila.

She stared at the screen.

Her fingers barely obeyed.

Who are you?

The reply came instantly.

Someone your mother trusted.

Then another.

Meet me tonight. Come alone.

Attached was an address.

The abandoned diner on Hollow Street.

Sarah looked back toward Matt’s empty room.

Everything she believed about her family had changed in less than ten minutes.

She grabbed her coat.

Locked the apartment.

And drove into the darkest night of her life.