Emma's POV
I wake up screaming.
Strong hands grab my shoulders. "Emma! Emma, it's me. You're okay."
Nathan's face swims into focus above me. We're still in the Morrison house bedroom. Lily is crying in my mother's arms. Mom is pressing something against Nathan's shoulder—a towel, soaking red with blood.
"Nathan!" I try to sit up, but the room spins. "You're shot—"
"Just grazed me." Nathan winces but manages a weak smile. "Takes more than that to kill me."
"Where's Ryan?" I look around wildly. "Where's Cooper?"
"Gone." Mom's voice is tight with rage. "They ran when backup arrived. Real backup, not Cooper's corrupted team. But Emma, we don't have much time. Ryan texted me while you were unconscious. He has Sophie and Dr. Martinez now. He's holding them at Camp Hollow."
"Why would he text you?"
"Because he wants all of us in one place." Mom shows me her phone. The message makes my blood freeze: "Bring Emma, Nathan, and Lily to Camp Hollow. Midnight. The dock where Sophie 'died.' Come alone or I start killing hostages. Time to end this once and for all. —R"
I check my watch. It's 11:30 PM. Thirty minutes.
"This is a trap," Nathan says, clutching his wounded shoulder. "He'll kill all of us."
"Maybe." Mom's eyes are fierce. "But he also said 'hostages,' plural. If Sophie and Dr. Martinez are really there, they might need our help. Even after everything they've done."
"They tried to destroy me," I say, my voice hollow. "Why would I save them?"
"Because you're not like Ryan." Mom touches my face gently. "You're not like any of them. You're better. That's why you'll survive this when they won't."
Lily tugs on my sleeve, her face wet with tears. "Mommy, I'm scared."
I pull her close, breathing in her little-girl smell—strawberry shampoo and innocence. "I know, baby. But I'm going to keep you safe. I promise."
"Can I come with you?"
"No." Mom and Nathan and I all say it at the same time.
Mom continues, "Lily stays here with the officers who just arrived. They're good men, not corrupted like Cooper. They'll protect her while we handle Ryan."
"We?" Nathan tries to stand, then sits back down quickly. "I can barely walk. I'll slow you down."
"Then I'll go alone—"
"No!" Nathan's voice is sharp. "Emma, Ryan wants you isolated. He wants you weak and alone so he can manipulate you one final time. You're not going without me."
I look at him—bleeding, determined, refusing to abandon me even though it might kill him. Something inside my chest cracks open. "Why are you doing this? After everything I did to you—"
"Because I love you." Nathan says it simply, like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "I've loved you since we were kids. I loved you when you left me. I loved you while you were gone. I love you now. And I'm not letting Ryan take one more thing from you. Not one more."
Tears blur my vision. Before I can stop myself, I lean forward and kiss him. It's quick, desperate, full of all the words I can't say. When I pull back, Nathan's eyes are wide with surprise.
"Come back alive and we'll do that again," he whispers. "Properly this time."
"Deal." I turn to Mom. "What's the plan?"
Mom pulls out a map of Camp Hollow, marking points with a pen. "Cooper may be corrupted, but I still have contacts in the police force. They're sending a SWAT team, but they won't arrive until 12:15 at the earliest. That gives us fifteen minutes alone with Ryan."
"Fifteen minutes for him to kill us," Nathan mutters.
"Or fifteen minutes for us to outsmart him." Mom's smile is predatory. "Ryan thinks he's the master manipulator. But he's never faced someone who's spent five years planning his downfall. He doesn't know half of what I know. And he certainly doesn't know what I've prepared."
"What have you prepared?" I ask.
Mom pulls something from her jacket—a small recording device. "I've been documenting everything. Every crime, every manipulation, every connection. Cooper's corruption. Sophie's pregnancy. The drugs Ryan used on Nathan. Dr. Martinez's betrayal. All of it, backed up with evidence he doesn't know exists. This recorder is synced to cloud storage. If anything happens to us tonight, it all goes public automatically."
"Insurance," Nathan says with approval.
"Better than insurance. It's justice." Mom hands me the recorder. "Keep this on you. Record everything Ryan says. He won't be able to resist gloating. Narcissists never can."
We arrive at Camp Hollow at 11:55 PM. The place looks even more abandoned in the darkness—buildings falling apart, the lake a black mirror reflecting nothing.
Nathan leans on me as we walk toward the dock. His shoulder wound has stopped bleeding but I can feel how much it's taking for him to stay upright.
"You should have stayed behind," I whisper.
"And miss the grand finale? Never." He manages a weak grin. "Besides, someone needs to catch you if you faint. You've had a rough night."
Despite everything, I almost laugh. "That's an understatement."
The dock stretches ahead of us, wood rotting and dangerous. At the far end, I can see three figures.
Ryan, standing tall and confident.
Sophie, kneeling with her hands bound behind her back.
Dr. Martinez, also bound, both women looking terrified.
"Welcome!" Ryan calls out cheerfully. "So glad you could make it. I was worried you'd disappoint me."
"Let them go, Ryan," I call back. "This is between us."
"Oh, but they're part of this too. They all played their roles beautifully. Dr. Martinez feeding me information about your therapy sessions. Sophie pretending to be a ghost come back for revenge. Even your mother—" He pauses, looking past us. "Where is mommy dearest?"
"Somewhere safe," I lie. Mom is actually circling around through the trees, getting into position.
"Pity. I was hoping for a family reunion." Ryan pulls out a gun—Cooper's gun, I realize with horror. "Well, three out of four isn't bad."
We walk onto the dock slowly. Each step makes the wood creak and groan. I can feel how unstable it is, how it's barely holding together after years of rot.
"That's far enough," Ryan says when we're about ten feet away. "Emma, you look tired. This has been quite a journey for you, hasn't it?"
"What do you want, Ryan?"
"Want? I want what I've always wanted. Control. Power. You." His smile is chilling. "See, when I first saw you at that college party, I knew. You were perfect—smart enough to be interesting, damaged enough to be moldable, isolated enough to be mine. So I orchestrated everything. Sophie's pregnancy was just step one."
"You drugged them," I say, making sure the recorder catches every word. "You drugged Nathan and Sophie at a party."
"I created an opportunity," Ryan corrects. "Then I used it. When Sophie got pregnant, I had leverage over her. When she threatened to tell you the truth, I made her disappear. Problem solved."
Sophie makes a muffled sound through her gag. Her eyes are streaming with tears.
"But then things got complicated," Ryan continues. "Sophie actually faked her death and went into hiding. Your mother figured out I sabotaged her car and faked her own death too. Suddenly I had ghosts everywhere, and they were all planning to expose me."
"So you allied with Dr. Martinez," Nathan says.
"She approached me, actually. Needed money for her gambling debts. I needed someone on the inside watching Emma. We helped each other." Ryan shrugs. "Then Sophie came back wanting revenge, and Dr. Martinez suggested we work together to drive Emma insane. It was almost too easy."
"Why?" My voice breaks. "Why go through all of this? Why not just leave me alone?"
"Because you're MINE!" Ryan's composure cracks, showing the monster beneath. "You'll always be mine. Even when you left, even when you took Lily, you were still mine. And now, finally, I get to tie up all the loose ends."
He points the gun at Sophie. "First, the ghost who wouldn't stay dead."
"NO!" I scream.
But before Ryan can pull the trigger, Sophie does something unexpected. She throws herself backward off the dock, her bound hands making it impossible to swim.
She hits the water with a splash and immediately starts sinking.
"Sophie!" Nathan tries to run forward but his wounded shoulder makes him stumble.
Ryan laughs. "Perfect. She'll drown just like everyone thought she did eight years ago. Poetic justice."
Without thinking, I run past Ryan and dive off the dock.
The water is ice-cold and black as ink. I can't see anything. I kick down, searching desperately with my hands, finding nothing but water and weeds.
My lungs start burning. I need air. But I keep searching, keep reaching—
My hand touches fabric. I grab it and pull, kicking upward with everything I have.
We break the surface together. Sophie gasps for air, choking and crying. I drag her toward the shore, away from the dock, away from Ryan.
Behind us, I hear shouting. Gunshots. Nathan yelling my name.
I get Sophie to shallow water and pull the gag from her mouth. She's sobbing, shaking, barely coherent.
"I'm sorry," she keeps saying. "I'm so sorry, Emma. I never wanted any of this. He made me—Ryan made me—"
"I know. It's okay. We're okay."
But when I look back at the dock, my heart stops.
Ryan has Nathan on his knees, gun pressed to his head.
"Emma!" Ryan shouts. "Get back here now or I blow his brains out!"
I start running through the water, but Mom appears from the trees, her own gun raised.
"Let him go, Ryan!" she commands.
"Or what? You'll shoot me? Please." Ryan's laugh is unhinged. "You won't risk hitting Nathan. You're too soft. All of you are too soft. That's why I always win."
"You haven't won," a new voice says.
Detective Cooper walks onto the dock, hands raised peacefully. "It's over, Ryan. We're both finished. I'm turning myself in. I've already given my statement about everything—the bribes, the cover-ups, all of it. You have no leverage anymore."
Ryan's face goes pale. "You're lying."
"I wish I was. But your insurance policy of keeping me corrupted? That ended when you tried to kill these people. I'm dirty, but I'm not a murderer. I draw the line somewhere." Cooper looks at Nathan. "I'm sorry, son. For all of it."
For a moment, everything is frozen. Ryan, realizing he's lost. Cooper, waiting for arrest. Mom with her gun raised. Nathan bleeding and exhausted. Me standing in waist-deep water with Sophie.
Then Ryan does something none of us expect.
He drops the gun and starts laughing. "You think you've won? You think it's over? None of you understand. You never did."
He reaches into his jacket.
"Ryan, don't!" Mom shouts.
But Ryan pulls out a remote control—the same kind Dr. Martinez had earlier.
"Remember when I said I wanted all of you in one place?" His smile is demonic. "I wasn't lying. See, while you've been playing detective, I've been playing chess. And you're all standing exactly where I need you."
He presses the button.
For a heartbeat, nothing happens.
Then the dock explodes.
The blast throws me backward into the water. My ears ring. I can't hear anything but a high-pitched whine.
When I surface, coughing and disoriented, the dock is gone. Just splinters and smoke.
Bodies in the water. Someone screaming. Flames reflecting off the black surface.
I see Nathan floating face-down twenty feet away.
Not moving.
"NATHAN!" I swim toward him as fast as I can, my whole body numb with terror.
I reach him, flip him over. His eyes are closed. Blood runs down his face from a cut on his forehead.
"Nathan, please. Please don't leave me. Not now. Not after everything."
I drag him toward shore, sobbing, begging him to wake up.
Finally, we reach shallow water. I lay him on the muddy bank and check for a pulse.
Nothing.
"No. No, no, no." I start CPR, pressing on his chest, breathing air into his lungs, praying harder than I've ever prayed.
"Come on, Nathan. You promised. You promised we'd do this right. You have to wake up."
Press. Breathe. Press. Breathe.
"I love you. Do you hear me? I love you too. I've loved you since we were kids. I never stopped. I just forgot how to say it."
Press. Breathe. Press. Breathe.
Nothing.
"Please!" I'm screaming now, completely broken. "You don't get to die! I won't let you!"
One more breath. One more compression.
Nathan's body convulses. He coughs up water, gasping and choking.
His eyes open.
"Emma?" he rasps.
I collapse onto his chest, sobbing with relief. "You're alive. Oh God, you're alive."
"Did we win?" he whispers.
Before I can answer, I hear sirens. The SWAT team, finally arriving. Police cars everywhere, lights flashing.
I look around at the destruction. The demolished dock. The bodies being pulled from the water—Sophie, alive but unconscious. Dr. Martinez, also alive. Detective Cooper, helping officers despite his own injuries.
And Ryan, being dragged from the lake in handcuffs, still laughing his insane laugh even as they read him his rights.
Mom appears beside me, soaking wet but unhurt. She pulls both Nathan and me into a fierce hug.
"It's over," she whispers. "It's finally over."
But as the ambulances arrive and EMTs rush to help Nathan, as I hold Lily who's been brought from the safe house, as I try to process that we actually survived—
My phone buzzes.
One new message from an unknown number.
My hands shake as I open it.
A photo appears. Recent, taken tonight. It shows all of us at the dock before the explosion—me, Nathan, Mom, Sophie, Dr. Martinez, Cooper, Ryan.
But there's someone else in the photo. Someone standing in the trees behind us that none of us noticed.
A figure in a dark hood, face hidden.
Below the photo, a message: "Ryan was just a pawn. Did you really think he was smart enough to orchestrate all of this alone? The game isn't over, Emma. It's only just beginning. And this time, you won't see me coming. —Your True Enemy"
The phone slips from my numb fingers.
We didn't win.
We survived round one.
But whoever is really pulling the strings—whoever has been manipulating all of us, including Ryan—they're still out there.
Still watching.
Still waiting.
And they just declared war.