Emma's POV
"Sophie?" Her name comes out as a broken whisper.
She looks exactly like I remember—blonde hair catching the sunset, blue eyes that once knew all my secrets, that smile that used to make everything okay. But there's something wrong. Something cold in her expression that was never there before.
"Surprised to see me?" Sophie tilts her head. "You shouldn't be. I told you I never left."
Nathan steps in front of me, protective. "Who are you really? Sophie Bennett is dead."
"Am I?" Sophie's laugh sends chills down my spine. "Or did everyone just assume I was dead because that's what they wanted to believe? It's amazing how easy it is to disappear when no one's actually looking for you."
"The funeral—" I start.
"Closed casket. No body. Just a pretty box full of rocks and broken dreams." Sophie takes a step closer. "Tell me, Emma, did you cry at my funeral? Or were you too busy with Ryan to care?"
The words hit like a slap. "I cried for months. I blamed myself—"
"As you should." Sophie's voice turns sharp. "I called you that night. I told you I was in trouble. I begged you to come. But you were too wrapped up in your new boyfriend to save your best friend."
Guilt crashes over me in waves. "Sophie, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. If I could go back—"
"But you can't." Sophie pulls something from her pocket. My phone buzzes at the exact same moment. "And now your daughter pays for your mistakes."
I look at my phone. A new photo of Lily, still unconscious, now with Sophie standing next to her in the frame. It's real. Sophie really has my daughter.
"Where is she?" My voice breaks. "Please, Sophie. She's six years old. She has nothing to do with this."
"Neither did I. I was innocent too, once. Before you abandoned me. Before I had to die to escape what was coming for me."
Nathan's hand finds mine. "What was coming for you? Who were you running from?"
Sophie's eyes flick to Nathan, and for a moment, something like the old Sophie appears—soft, vulnerable. "You really don't know? Neither of you figured it out?"
"Figured what out?" I ask desperately.
"Why I had to disappear. Why I had to become a ghost." Sophie's voice drops to barely a whisper. "I was pregnant, Emma. And the father wanted me dead."
The words hit me like a truck. "Pregnant? But you never said—"
"I tried to tell you! That whole summer, I kept calling, kept trying to meet up. But you were always too busy with Ryan. So I called Nathan instead."
Nathan goes rigid beside me. "You never called me."
"Didn't I?" Sophie pulls out a phone—old, cracked, but still working. She scrolls through it and shows us the screen. Call logs from eight years ago. Multiple calls to Nathan's old number, each one lasting less than ten seconds.
"Those all went to voicemail," Nathan says slowly. "I never got any messages."
"Because someone deleted them before you could hear them." Sophie looks directly at me. "Someone who had access to your friends' phones. Someone who wanted me isolated and alone. Someone who needed me gone."
My mouth goes dry. "Ryan."
"Finally, she catches on." Sophie's smile is cruel. "Ryan was the father, Emma. We had a brief thing before you two met—just a few weeks, nothing serious. At least, that's what I thought. But he became obsessed. And when I told him I was pregnant and wanted nothing to do with him, he threatened me."
The world tilts. "No. No, that's not possible. Ryan and I met at a college party. He said he'd never been to Riverside before—"
"He lied. He was here all summer, working at his uncle's law firm. We met at a bar. Had a fling. Then he saw you at some mutual friend's party in the city and decided you were a better target—richer family, better connections, easier to control."
Nathan's grip on my hand tightens. "You're saying Ryan got you pregnant, then started dating Emma to cover it up?"
"And when I wouldn't get rid of the baby quietly, he threatened to kill me. So I faked my death. I had help—someone who understood what Ryan was capable of. Someone who helped me disappear."
"Who?" I demand.
Sophie's smile widens. "You'll find out soon enough. But first, you need to do something for me, Emma. You need to make this right."
"Anything. Just please don't hurt Lily. She's innocent in all this."
"So was my baby." Sophie's voice cracks. "The baby I lost three months after I went into hiding. The stress, the fear, the trauma of faking my own death—my body couldn't handle it. I lost everything because of Ryan. Because you chose him over me."
Tears stream down my face. "I didn't know. I swear, I didn't know."
"But you should have known. You were my best friend. You should have seen the signs. You should have been there." Sophie's phone buzzes. She looks at it and curses. "We're out of time. They found the clearing."
"Who found it?" Nathan asks.
"Detective Cooper and his team. Your little text earlier?" Sophie waves Nathan's phone—when did she get that? "They've been tracking you this whole time. They think I'm the bad guy here. They think I'm holding your daughter hostage."
"You are holding her hostage!" I shout.
"No. I'm keeping her safe. From them. From Ryan. From everyone who wants to keep the truth buried." Sophie backs toward the trees. "You have a choice, Emma. Come with me now, alone, and I'll take you to Lily. Or wait for the police, let them arrest me, and never see your daughter again. I have friends who will take her far away where you'll never find her."
"That's not a choice—"
"It's the same choice I had eight years ago. Disappear or die. Now you get to feel what that's like." Sophie starts running. "You have ten seconds to decide. Ten... nine..."
I look at Nathan. His face is torn between wanting to protect me and knowing I have to go.
"Eight... seven..."
"Emma, don't," Nathan pleads. "Let Cooper handle this—"
"She has my daughter!" I pull away from him. "I have to go."
"Six... five..."
"Then I'm coming with you—"
"She said alone!" I'm already running after Sophie. "Call Cooper! Tell them to follow but stay back! I'll leave a trail!"
"Four... three..."
Nathan shouts something behind me, but I can't hear it. I'm crashing through the forest, following Sophie's blonde hair as it flashes between trees.
"Two... one..."
Sophie stops in a small clearing. I catch up, panting, and she smiles.
"Good girl. I knew you'd choose right." She grabs my wrist—her grip is iron-strong. "Now let's go get your daughter. But Emma? When you see where I've been keeping her, when you see who's been helping me all along, you're going to wish you'd never started looking for the truth."
She pulls me deeper into the woods, away from Nathan, away from help, away from any chance of rescue.
After five minutes of running, we reach a small cabin I've never seen before. Sophie kicks open the door and pushes me inside.
The cabin is dark except for a single lamp in the corner. In its light, I can see someone sitting in a chair.
Not Lily.
Someone else.
As my eyes adjust, I recognize the figure, and my blood turns to ice.
Dr. Martinez. My therapist. The woman I've trusted with my deepest secrets for three years.
She stands and smiles at me. "Hello, Emma. I'm glad you could finally join us."
"Dr. Martinez? What—what are you doing here?"
"Helping an old friend." She gestures to Sophie. "Sophie and I go way back. I'm the one who helped her fake her death. I'm the one who's been keeping her hidden all these years."
The room spins. "But you're my therapist. You've been helping me—"
"Helping you?" Dr. Martinez laughs coldly. "I've been documenting every session, Emma. Every fear, every weakness, every trauma Ryan inflicted on you. And I've been sharing it all with him. How do you think he always knew exactly which buttons to push? How do you think he built such a perfect case against you in court?"
I can't breathe. Can't think. The one person I trusted completely has been betraying me for three years.
"Where's Lily?" My voice comes out as a broken whisper.
Dr. Martinez's smile widens. "Safe. For now. But whether she stays that way depends entirely on what you're willing to do next."
"Anything. I'll do anything."
"Good." Dr. Martinez pulls out a video camera and sets it on a tripod, pointing it at me. "Then you're going to confess. On camera. To killing Sophie Bennett eight years ago. You're going to describe in detail how you pushed her off the dock, how you watched her drown, how you've been lying about it ever since."
"But I didn't—"
"We know that." Sophie steps beside Dr. Martinez. "But Ryan doesn't. And when he sees this confession, he'll have everything he needs to take Lily permanently. You'll go to prison, and he'll raise your daughter alone. Just like he wanted from the beginning."
"Why?" Tears blur my vision. "Why are you doing this? I thought we were friends—"
"We were friends," Sophie says softly. "Until you chose Ryan over me. Until your selfishness cost me everything. Now you get to lose everything too. That's justice."
Dr. Martinez turns on the camera. The red recording light blinks at me like an evil eye.
"Start talking, Emma. And make it convincing. Your daughter's life depends on it."
I open my mouth, but before I can speak, the cabin door explodes inward.
Nathan bursts through, Detective Cooper and three officers behind him.
"Nobody move!" Cooper shouts, gun drawn.
But Dr. Martinez is faster. She grabs a remote control from her pocket and presses a button.
Somewhere in the distance, an alarm starts blaring.
"You just killed her," Dr. Martinez says calmly. "That alarm triggered a timer. Lily has exactly fifteen minutes before the room she's in fills with carbon monoxide. The only way to stop it is with my fingerprint on a scanner at the location. And if you arrest me, she dies."
Cooper's gun wavers. "You're bluffing."
"Am I?" Dr. Martinez holds up her phone, showing a live feed. Lily, awake now, crying, trapped in a small room as a red digital timer counts down. 14:47... 14:46... 14:45...
"Where is she?" I scream.
"That's the fun part." Dr. Martinez smiles. "I'm the only one who knows. So here's what's going to happen. You're going to let Sophie and me walk out of here. You're going to give us a fifteen-minute head start. And then—maybe—I'll send you the location."
"Maybe?" Nathan growls.
"I haven't decided yet if Emma deserves to save her daughter. After all, she didn't save mine." Sophie's hand rests on her stomach, where her baby should have been.
The timer keeps counting down. 14:12... 14:11... 14:10...
Cooper looks at me, his face anguished. "Emma, I can't let them go—"
"Let them go!" I sob. "Please! She's my baby!"
"You have ten seconds to decide," Dr. Martinez says. "Then Sophie and I walk. Ten... nine... eight..."
I look at Nathan. At Cooper. At the timer counting down my daughter's life.
At Sophie, my former best friend, now my worst nightmare.
"Let them go," I whisper.
Cooper slowly lowers his gun.
Dr. Martinez and Sophie back toward the door, smiling.
Just before they leave, Sophie turns to me one last time.
"By the way, Emma? Your daughter isn't dying from carbon monoxide. She's with someone who actually cares about her. Someone who's been watching over both of you from the beginning. Someone you'll never expect."
She tosses me her old phone. "Check the last message."
Then they're gone, disappearing into the darkness.
With shaking hands, I open the phone. One new message from a number I recognize immediately.
Ryan's number.
But the message isn't from Ryan. It's a video. I press play.
The screen shows Lily, awake and safe, sitting in a clean, comfortable room. She's not crying. She's not hurt.
She's playing with someone off-camera, laughing.
Then a woman's voice speaks—gentle, kind, familiar: "Emma, sweetie, I know you're scared. But Lily's safe with me. She's always been safe with me. I'm sorry for the deception, but there was no other way to get you to listen. No other way to make you understand the truth about what Ryan did. Come to the address I'm texting you now. Come alone. It's time you met the grandmother you thought was dead."
The video ends.
My mother's voice.
My mother, who died in a car accident five years ago.
My mother, who I watched being buried.
My mother, who can't possibly be alive.
But is.