Her face—
Something about it struck him immediately. A familiarity he couldn’t explain, yet felt deep in his bones.
She stepped inside slowly.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” she said.
Her voice was steady, but her eyes carried years of something unspoken.
“I’m Lily.”
The name landed like a shockwave.
She held out a folder.
“These are his,” she said. “Everything he did. The crimes. The cover-ups. The truth he buried.”
Daniel took it, his hands unsteady.
Before he could speak, another sound cut through the moment.
A car.
Close.
Too close.
Evelyn’s expression shifted instantly.
“He’s here.”
Daniel’s blood ran cold.
“How—?”
“There’s no time,” Evelyn said sharply. “Come on.”
The house seemed to tighten around them as footsteps approached.
Lily grabbed his arm, pulling him toward the shed.
“There’s another way,” she said.
They moved quickly, Evelyn leading them to a hidden entrance beneath the floorboards.
Behind them, the house erupted into noise.
Voices.
Shouting.
Then—
fire.
The shed caught first.
Flames rising fast, swallowing wood and memory alike.
Daniel stumbled through the narrow passage, his heart pounding as everything he had known began to collapse behind him.