Chapter 2: THE WARNING

Amara stared at the message until the words seemed to blur.

Leave that house before you discover what your mother did.

“Who sent that?” the young man asked.

Amara quickly locked her phone.

“I don't know.”

He held out his hand.

“Let me see.”

“Why?”

“Because whoever sent it knows you're here.”

His voice was serious now.

Amara studied him.

“You still haven't told me your name.”

There was a brief silence.

“Daniel.”

“Daniel what?”

“Daniel Collins.”

Amara's eyes widened.

“You're Mrs. Collins's son?”

He nodded.

Before Amara could ask another question, Mrs. Collins hurried toward them.

“Daniel, take her upstairs.”

“But—”

“Now.”

Daniel looked as though he wanted to argue, but he eventually nodded.

As Amara followed him upstairs, she couldn't stop thinking about the photograph.

And about her mother.

Why would a stranger mention her?

At the top of the stairs, Daniel opened a bedroom door.

“You can stay here tonight.”

Amara placed her suitcase beside the bed.

“I need answers.”

“So do I.”

She looked at him.

“What does that mean?”

Daniel leaned against the doorway.

“My mother has been hiding things from me for years.”

“And you think I know something?”

“I think your arrival isn't a coincidence.”

Amara folded her arms.

“My mother sent me here because she trusted Mrs. Collins.”

Daniel's expression changed.

“Did she tell you why?”

“No.”

“Then don't trust anyone who says they know the whole story.”

He turned to leave.

“Daniel.”

He stopped.

“Why did my necklace scare your mother?”

For several seconds, he said nothing.

Then he looked at the necklace.

“That necklace belonged to someone in my family.”

Amara's heart skipped.

“Who?”

Daniel's face became unreadable.

“My father.”

He walked away.

Amara stood frozen.

Her mother had given her the necklace years ago.

She had always told Amara it was a family keepsake.

So why had Daniel's father owned it?

That night, Amara couldn't sleep.

Around midnight, she heard footsteps outside her room.

She quietly opened the door.

The hallway was empty.

Then she noticed a light coming from the study downstairs.

She crept down the stairs.

The study door was slightly open.

Inside, someone was searching through a drawer.

Amara stepped backward.

The floor creaked.

The person turned.

Amara caught only a glimpse before they ran through the back door.

She rushed into the study.

A drawer had been left open.

Inside was an old envelope.

Written across the front were four words:

FOR AMARA'S MOTHER ONLY.

Amara's hands trembled.

She opened it.

There was a single photograph inside.

Her mother stood beside a young man.

And the young man was unmistakably Daniel's father.