Emily
773 Words
Silence fell over Blackwood Estate.
Aria couldn’t take her eyes off Xavier.
Just moments ago, he had looked calm and untouchable.
Now…
His face had gone pale.
His blue eyes remained fixed on the name written on the back of the photograph.
Emily.
“…Who is she?” Aria asked quietly.
Xavier didn’t answer.
She stepped closer.
“I asked you a question.”
Still nothing.
The guards exchanged uneasy glances.
Even they seemed shocked by Xavier’s reaction.
Finally, he folded the photograph and slipped it into his jacket.
“Inside.”
Aria frowned.
“No.”
His gaze met hers.
“I’ll explain once we’re inside.”
“No.”
“You are no longer safe out here.”
“And you’re the one who’s supposed to keep me safe?”
“I am.”
“Then stop keeping secrets!”
For a long moment, neither of them spoke.
Finally, Xavier turned toward the mansion.
“Everyone else, leave.”
Within seconds, the guards and staff disappeared into the house, leaving only Xavier and Aria in the courtyard.
He faced her again.
“Emily…”
His voice was quieter than before.
“…was my younger sister.”
Aria blinked.
“You have a sister?”
“I had one.”
The past tense caught her attention.
“What happened to her?”
Xavier looked toward the night sky.
“She disappeared fifteen years ago.”
Aria’s expression softened.
“You never found her?”
He slowly shook his head.
“No.”
“There wasn’t even a body.”
“So… she’s missing?”
“Officially.”
He let out a bitter laugh.
“But after fifteen years…”
“…most people believe she’s dead.”
Aria looked down at the photograph.
“Then why would someone tell me to ask about her?”
“Because whoever sent that message knows something.”
“Something about your sister?”
He nodded.
“And that’s impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because only four people knew what really happened that night.”
Aria’s heartbeat quickened.
“Who?”
“My father.”
“My mother.”
“Myself.”
He paused.
“And the person who took Emily.”
A cold breeze swept through the estate.
Aria wrapped her arms around herself.
“You think the kidnapper is still alive?”
“I know he is.”
“How?”
Xavier reached into his wallet.
He removed a faded photograph.
It showed a smiling little girl with bright blue eyes sitting on the shoulders of a teenage boy.
The boy was unmistakably a younger Xavier.
“This was taken the day before she disappeared.”
Aria smiled faintly.
“She looks just like you.”
Xavier’s eyes darkened.
“The police never found a single clue.”
“So I searched on my own.”
“For fifteen years.”
Aria looked at him in surprise.
“You’ve been looking for her all this time?”
“Every single day.”
Before she could respond—
A security guard came running from the mansion.
“Mr. Blackwood!”
“What is it?”
“We’ve received an emergency call from St. Mary’s Hospital.”
Aria’s heart skipped.
“My father?”
The guard nodded.
“The hospital has been attacked.”
“What?”
“There was a fire in the east wing.”
Aria’s face turned white.
“My father…”
“The doctors tried to move him…”
The guard hesitated.
“What happened?” Xavier demanded.
The guard swallowed hard.
“His room was empty.”
Aria felt the world spin.
“They took him?”
“We don’t know.”
The guard handed Xavier a hospital security tablet.
“The surveillance cameras caught someone entering his room five minutes before the fire.”
Xavier turned the screen toward Aria.
The footage was blurry.
A man wearing a black hood pushed open Richard Vale’s hospital door.
His face wasn’t visible.
But as he turned to leave…
A familiar silver wolf emblem flashed on the back of his jacket.
Aria’s stomach dropped.
“The Wolf…”
The guard nodded.
“There’s one more thing.”
“What?”
He zoomed in on the footage.
The hooded man wasn’t alone.
Someone else walked out of the room behind him.
A woman.
Her face was hidden beneath a hood.
But around her neck…
Hung a necklace.
A silver butterfly necklace.
Aria froze.
Her hand instinctively went to her own neck.
The necklace in the video…
Was identical to the one her mother had worn every single day.
She whispered,
“…That’s impossible.”
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD