Page 245 of At the Edge of Surrender

A frown hooked into my brow when I noticed the broken frame that had a picture of me and my mother, but what curled around me in a crushing fist was what was on the ground next to it.

Could barely get my hand to cooperate as I reached out and picked up the delicate strand of gold.

A bracelet.

A bracelet with three roses spread out across the top.

My mother’s bracelet.

Ice slithered down my spine.

What the fuck? What the fuck?

How did she have this? It had been missing since that night.

The night when the sordid life I’d been living had come up on a sharp dead end.

When I’d realized my purpose.

I couldn’t breathe, my lungs closing off with the weight that pressed down on my chest, though a frenzy took me over as I started to rush through the ton of shit that had been poured out on the floor.

There were lots of pictures of Maci. Most of them with Emmalee, some with Emery. There were older images of Emery and Emmalee from when they were teenagers, another girl their age grinning with the same eager smile.

There was a large notebook beside them. Frantic, I flipped it open.

It felt like I was being gutted.

A thick blade dragged across my abdomen and my insides spilling out.

It was news article after news article that had been printed out. All of them reporting about an incident that had taken place in San Diego ten years ago.

One where a man had been found dead.

Four young women rescued, their identities concealed to protect their privacy. The different stories and reports of the ones who hadn’t gotten away were more detailed. Their faces and names and histories printed all over the pages.

The pleas from their families for them to be found.

A flurry of handwritten notes had been made on the articles.

Speculation.

Desperation.

A clear obsession as the writer had tried to draw lines to come to a conclusion.

It was there with me again. That same unease that I felt when I found Emmalee Voss sneaking around my office. Way I was sure something was off with her.

Horror wrapped its spindly fingers around my heart.

She’d been seeking me out.

My mind raced to Emery. To that familiarity. To the way it feltlike I knew her the moment I met her. The connection that had blazed between us.

And fuck.

I knew.

I knew.

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