Emma's POV
I stare at my phone, my mother's voice still echoing in my ears.
Impossible. This is impossible.
"Emma?" Nathan touches my shoulder gently. "What is it? What did the message say?"
I can't form words. My mother's face fills my phone screen—alive, real, looking exactly like she did five years ago before the accident. Before the funeral. Before I watched them lower her casket into the ground.
"My mother," I finally whisper. "She says she has Lily. She says she's alive."
Nathan takes the phone, watches the video, his face going pale. "Emma, your mother died in a car crash. I read about it. There was a body—"
"I know!" My voice cracks. "I identified her body myself. I saw her face. It was her."
"Then this is another trick. Someone using deepfake technology or—"
"No." I snatch the phone back, playing the video again. "That's her voice. Her exact voice. The way she says 'sweetie' with a little laugh at the end. The way she tilts her head when she's being serious. Nobody could fake that."
Cooper steps forward. "Ms. Sullivan, I need you to stay calm. We'll trace the message, find the location—"
"There's no time!" I'm already heading for the door. "She sent an address. I have to go now."
"It's obviously a trap—"
"I don't care!" I spin to face him. "Someone who sounds exactly like my dead mother has my daughter. Whether it's really her or the world's best impersonator, I'm going. You can either help me or get out of my way."
Cooper and Nathan exchange looks. Then Nathan nods. "I'm going with you."
"She said come alone."
"I don't care what she said. I already lost you once tonight. I'm not losing you again." Nathan's voice is firm. "Cooper, can you track the address?"
Cooper's already typing on his phone. "It's a house on Riverside Lake. The old Morrison property. It's been abandoned for years."
My heart stops. "The Morrison house? That's where my mother grew up. Her parents owned it before they died."
"All the more reason this is a setup," Cooper says. "Someone knows your family history and they're using it against you."
But something in my gut tells me this is different. This feels real in a way nothing else has.
"I'm going," I say firmly. "With or without you."
Nathan grabs his keys. "Then we're going together."
The drive to Riverside Lake takes twenty minutes that feel like hours. My mind races with impossible thoughts. What if my mother is really alive? What if she faked her death like Sophie did? But why? And how?
"Talk to me," Nathan says as he drives. "Tell me about your mother. What was she like?"
I close my eyes, remembering. "Strong. Protective. She never liked Ryan from the start. She told me he was controlling, that he isolated me from everyone who loved me. We fought about it constantly."
"And then?"
"And then she died in a car accident six months after I married him. Single-car crash, late at night. The police said she fell asleep at the wheel." I open my eyes, a horrifying thought forming. "What if it wasn't an accident? What if Ryan—"
"Don't jump to conclusions yet. Let's find out what's really going on."
We pull up to the Morrison house. It looks exactly like I remember from childhood visits to my grandparents—big, old, with a wraparound porch. But now it's dark, silent, seemingly empty.
"This doesn't feel right," Nathan mutters. "Cooper and his team are five minutes behind us. We should wait—"
"Lily might not have five minutes." I'm already out of the car, running toward the front door.
It's unlocked. I push it open slowly.
"Lily?" I call out. "Mom? Anyone?"
Silence.
Then, from somewhere upstairs: "Mommy?"
Lily's voice. My baby's voice.
I run for the stairs, Nathan right behind me. We take them two at a time, following Lily's cries to a bedroom at the end of the hall.
I burst through the door and freeze.
Lily sits on a bed, unharmed, holding a cup of juice. She looks confused but not scared. Not hurt.
And sitting next to her, alive and real and impossible, is my mother.
"Hello, Emma," Mom says softly. "I've missed you so much."
I can't breathe. Can't move. Can't process what I'm seeing.
"Mom?" The word comes out broken. "How—how is this possible?"
"It's a long story." Mom stands slowly. She looks older than I remember, more tired, but it's definitely her. Same eyes, same smile, same presence that always made me feel safe. "And I know you're angry. You have every right to be. But I need you to listen. Everything I did, I did to protect you."
"Protect me from what?" Tears stream down my face. "You let me think you were dead for five years! Do you have any idea what that did to me?"
"I know. And I'm sorry." Mom's voice breaks. "But Ryan was going to kill me, Emma. That car crash wasn't an accident. He tampered with my brakes because I threatened to expose what he was doing to you. I barely survived. A friend helped me disappear, helped me fake my death. It was the only way."
Nathan steps forward. "Why not go to the police?"
"Because Ryan had connections. He would have found me and finished what he started. But more than that, I knew if I disappeared, Emma would finally wake up. She'd finally see Ryan for what he was without me there to blame for their problems."
"You manipulated me," I whisper. "You let me grieve you. You let me suffer through his abuse alone—"
"I was never far away." Mom's eyes are intense. "I've been watching over you this whole time. I'm the one who suggested Dr. Martinez as your therapist. I'm the one who left evidence for Detective Cooper to find. I'm the one who made sure you had resources to escape when you were finally ready."
The room spins. "Dr. Martinez worked for you?"
"No. She worked for Ryan. I thought she was helping you, but I was wrong." Mom's face hardens. "When I found out she'd been betraying you, feeding information to Ryan, helping Sophie plan her revenge—I had to act. I couldn't let them destroy you."
"So you kidnapped my daughter?" Anger floods through me. "You terrified me for hours, let me think she was in danger—"
"She was never in danger. Not from me." Mom reaches for Lily, who's watching us with wide, confused eyes. "But she was in danger from Sophie and Dr. Martinez. They were planning something tonight, Emma. Something terrible. The only way to keep Lily safe was to take her first."
"How did you even find her? She was at the cabin—"
"I've been tracking Dr. Martinez for months. I knew about the cabin. I got there first and took Lily before anyone else could hurt her." Mom's voice is fierce with protection. "I know my methods were extreme. I know you're angry. But I had to make you understand the truth. I had to make you see that everyone around you has been lying. Everyone except Nathan."
She looks at Nathan with something like respect. "You're the only one who never gave up on her. The only one who came when she called after ten years of silence. Thank you for that."
Nathan doesn't answer, his expression hard to read.
I sink onto the bed next to Lily, pulling her into my arms. She feels solid, real, safe. "I don't understand any of this. Sophie's alive. You're alive. Dr. Martinez is evil. Ryan's behind everything. How am I supposed to know what's real anymore?"
"I know it's overwhelming." Mom sits on my other side. "But you need to focus. Sophie and Dr. Martinez escaped. They're still out there, still dangerous. And Ryan—" She pauses, her face going pale. "Emma, there's something else you need to know about Ryan. Something worse than everything I've told you."
"What could possibly be worse?"
Mom pulls out a folder, hands it to me with shaking fingers. "These are DNA results. From Sophie's baby. The one she lost after faking her death."
I open the folder, not understanding. "She said Ryan was the father—"
"She lied." Mom's voice drops to barely a whisper. "Or she didn't know the truth. Emma, the baby wasn't Ryan's."
The DNA results swim before my eyes. I see the names, see the percentages, see the conclusion.
And my blood turns to ice.
"The father was Nathan," Mom says softly.
Nathan makes a strangled sound behind me. "That's impossible. Sophie and I never—we were just friends—"
"You were drugged," Mom interrupts. "At a party eight years ago, the summer before Sophie disappeared. Someone slipped something in your drink. You don't remember it because you weren't conscious. But Sophie was there. And someone else was there too, orchestrating the whole thing."
"Who?" My voice is barely audible.
Mom's face is grim. "Ryan. He drugged you both. He wanted Sophie pregnant with Nathan's child so he could manipulate both of you. It was all part of his plan even back then."
Nathan's face has gone white. "I don't remember any of this."
"That's the point of the drug. But Sophie remembered. Not everything, but enough. She knew something happened that night, knew she was pregnant, and when she confronted Ryan about it, he threatened to kill her unless she blamed him for the pregnancy instead of Nathan. He wanted everyone to think he was the father so he'd have leverage over Sophie."
My mind can't process this. "So Sophie's baby—the one she lost—"
"Would have been Nathan's child." Mom's voice is gentle but firm. "A child neither of you knew about. A child Ryan created through assault and manipulation. And when Sophie lost the baby due to stress from faking her death, she blamed everyone—Ryan, you, Nathan, the whole world. That's why she wants revenge. That's why she's allied with Dr. Martinez. They both lost something because of Ryan's games, and now they want you to suffer too."
I look at Nathan. His face shows everything—shock, horror, grief for a child he never knew existed, rage at Ryan for what he did.
"We were both victims," Nathan says hoarsely. "Sophie and I. He assaulted us both."
"Yes." Mom's voice is steel. "And he needs to pay for it. All of it. But first, we need to stop Sophie and Dr. Martinez before they—"
She's cut off by the sound of glass shattering downstairs.
We all freeze.
"They found us," Mom whispers. "They followed you here."
Footsteps on the stairs. Multiple people, moving fast.
Nathan positions himself between us and the door. "Get Lily out the window. There's a porch roof right below. Go now."
"I'm not leaving you—"
"GO!"
The bedroom door explodes inward.
But it's not Sophie or Dr. Martinez standing there.
It's Ryan, holding a gun.
And behind him, smiling like a demon, is someone I never expected to see.
Detective Cooper.
"Sorry, Emma," Cooper says, not sounding sorry at all. "But the game's over. Ryan's been paying me for years to keep Sophie's death investigation closed. To ignore evidence. To look the other way. I'm in too deep to let you expose everything now."
Ryan's gun points directly at my mother. "Get away from them, Emma. Unless you want to watch your mother die for real this time."
I don't move. Can't move.
"I said MOVE!" Ryan's voice rises.
Nathan lunges for the gun.
A shot rings out.
Someone screams.
And the world goes black.