CHAPTER 2: THE HOUSE THAT LIED
The Reed family mansion had never looked so threatening.
Daniel stood in the doorway long after Lena fell asleep on his couch, staring at the childhood home he had once believed was the safest place in the world.
Inside, everything smelled the same. Polished wood. Expensive candles. Control.
His mother sat in the living room, perfectly composed.
“You’re late,” she said.
Daniel didn’t sit.
“Where is she?” he asked.
His mother looked up. “Who?”
“My sister.”
Silence.
Then a sigh. “We’ve been over this, Daniel.”
“No,” he said. “You talked. I listened. That’s not the same thing.”
His mother’s eyes hardened. “You’ve been upset. I understand. But digging into the past—”
“She tried to come back,” Daniel said.
His mother froze.
Just for half a second.
It was enough.
“You knew,” Daniel whispered.
She stood slowly. “You don’t understand what she was.”
“What you made her,” Daniel said.
She slapped him.
The sound cracked through the room.
“She was dangerous,” his mother hissed. “She embarrassed us. She talked about abuse. About crimes. Do you know what that would have done to this family?”
Daniel stared at her, stunned.
“You locked her away to protect the family name?”
“She chose it,” his mother snapped. “We gave her treatment. Privacy.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“You erased her.”
A door creaked behind them.
His father stood there, older, smaller, avoiding Daniel’s eyes.
“Where is she?” Daniel asked again.
His father’s voice was barely audible.
“She’s alive.”
Daniel’s knees nearly gave out.
“Where.”
May you like
His father swallowed.
“She never left.”
