Chapter 1 - THE REPORT THAT SHOULD HAVE KILLED ME
The laboratory report was sealed in a waterproof plastic sleeve.
My hands shook as I opened it.
Caleb watched me from the darkness beneath the railway bridge, his wet shirt clinging to his shoulders.
I unfolded the first page.
Patient: Maren Hale.
I stopped breathing.
There were dates.
Blood tests.
Toxicology results.
And medication records I had never seen before.
At the bottom of the first page, one sentence had been highlighted in yellow.
Repeated exposure to a cardiac-suppressing compound detected in patient samples.
I stared at the words until they blurred.
“What does that mean?”
Caleb crouched beside me.
“It means Nathan has been poisoning you.”
“No.”
The answer came automatically.
Not because I believed Nathan.
Because admitting it meant admitting that every memory of the last four years had been built on a lie.
The tea he made before bed.
The vitamins he insisted I take.
The supplements he ordered from an expensive private clinic.
The headaches.
The dizziness.
The unexplained exhaustion.
I had blamed stress.
Caleb pointed toward the second page.
“Look at the prescription.”
I did.
The medication had been prescribed under the name of a doctor I knew.
Dr. Elaine Porter.
My personal physician.
My stomach twisted.
“Elaine wouldn't do this.”
“She might not have.”
I looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
Caleb pulled another document from the pouch.
A photograph.
Nathan stood outside a private medical facility.
Beside him was Dr. Porter.
And beside her was Serena.
My half sister.
The photograph had been taken three months before my wedding.
I covered my mouth.
Then I noticed something else.
A handwritten note was attached to the back.
Phase Three begins after marriage.
My blood ran cold.
“What is Phase Three?”
Caleb looked toward the river.
“Your death.”
A distant vehicle passed over the highway.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then Caleb reached inside his jacket and removed a small key.
“This belonged to Dad.”
I frowned.
“Where did you get it?”
“From the wreckage of his car.”
My eyes widened.
“You said the wreckage was destroyed.”
“It was supposed to be.”
He closed his fingers around the key.
“But someone missed one compartment.”
“What compartment?”
Caleb looked directly at me.
“The one our father hid before he died.”
Then, from somewhere beyond the trees, headlights appeared.
Someone was coming.
Caleb grabbed my hand.
“We have to move.”
May you like
Because whoever had been waiting on that shoreline had just found us.
And they weren't there to rescue us.
