Chapter 9 - The Memory Her Mother Buried
Emma couldn't move.
Her mother stepped into the light.
Sarah Lawson looked older than the photographs.
But her eyes were the same.
Emma knew them immediately.
She had spent years dreaming about those eyes.
“Mom.”
Sarah reached for her.
Emma backed away.
“You're alive.”
“I am.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I had to.”
“You left me.”
“I saved you.”
Emma's voice broke.
“You don't get to decide whether that was saving me.”
Sarah accepted the words.
“I know.”
Behind them, gunfire echoed.
Victor shouted her name.
Sarah looked toward the sound.
“He's protecting you.”
“He always has.”
Sarah smiled sadly.
“He doesn't know what your mother asked him to do.”
“What?”
“Remember.”
Emma frowned.
Sarah touched the bracelet.
“The memories are not gone.”
Emma stared.
“They were suppressed.”
“How?”
“Your mother used a technique she learned from Eleanor.”
Emma shook her head.
“This is insane.”
“No.”
Sarah opened the bracelet.
“You remembered everything when you were six.”
“Then why can't I?”
“Because I made sure you couldn't.”
A gunshot exploded nearby.
Sarah pulled Emma behind a wall.
“Listen to me.”
She held her face.
“Your father was alive when you were six.”
Emma's eyes widened.
“He took you to Eleanor.”
“Why?”
“Because Eleanor knew Thomas was planning to take control of the Blackwood organization.”
Sarah continued.
“You saw Thomas enter the room.”
Emma's breathing changed.
Something flashed in her mind.
A man.
A black coat.
A silver ring.
A chair.
Her mother crying.
A voice.
Don't tell anyone.
Emma grabbed her head.
“I remember.”
Sarah held her.
“What?”
“Thomas.”
Sarah nodded.
“You saw him.”
“He killed someone.”
“Who?”
Emma's eyes widened.
“Eleanor.”
Sarah closed her eyes.
“No.”
Emma shook her head.
“I saw him standing over her.”
“You saw the aftermath.”
“Then who killed her?”
Sarah whispered:
“Eleanor wasn't killed.”
Emma stared.
“What?”
“She staged her death.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“Then where is she?”
Sarah didn't answer.
Victor appeared.
His weapon was raised.
He stopped when he saw Sarah.
“You.”
Sarah looked at him.
“I'm sorry.”
Victor lowered the gun.
“You knew my father was alive.”
“Yes.”
“You knew my mother was alive.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe both were dead.”
Sarah nodded.
Victor looked devastated.
“Why?”
“Because Thomas was watching you.”
Victor's jaw tightened.
“Where is my father?”
“Safe.”
“Where is Eleanor?”
Sarah looked at Emma.
“She is the reason you survived.”
Emma's heart raced.
“Where?”
Before Sarah could answer, the church lights went out.
A voice came through the speakers.
Thomas.
“You should have stayed forgotten, Emma.”
Victor raised his gun.
Thomas laughed.
Then every screen in the church turned on.
Images appeared.
Emma as a child.
Victor as a teenager.
Their parents.
Eleanor.
The chair.
The recordings.
Everything.
Thomas had been watching for years.
Then one final image appeared.
A live camera feed.
Blackwood Manor.
The forbidden chair.
Someone sat in it.
Emma recognized the person.
Eleanor Blackwood.
Alive.
Older.
Calm.
Looking directly into the camera.
She raised one finger to her lips.
May you like
Then the screen displayed one sentence:
COME HOME, EMMA.
