Chapter 8 - The Girl Who Remembered.
Chapter 8 - The Girl Who Remembered.
Nora stared at the message on her phone.
The picture of Emma remained on the screen.
Her daughter.
Alive.
Afraid.
Waiting.
Every instinct inside Nora screamed to run toward her.
But another part of her knew this was a trap.
Someone wanted her emotional.
Someone wanted her careless.
Ethan looked at the phone.
His expression changed instantly.
“No.”
Nora looked at him.
“No what?”
“You cannot go alone.”
She tightened her grip on the phone.
“I have already spent six years without her.”
Her voice shook.
“I am not losing another minute.”
Ethan looked down.
Because he knew she was right.
The meeting location was an abandoned community center twenty minutes outside the city.
The same place where Nora used to volunteer before her daughter was born.
A place filled with memories.
A place someone had chosen intentionally.
When Nora arrived, the building was dark.
The parking lot was empty.
She stepped inside slowly.
The door closed behind her.
“Emma?”
Her voice echoed.
No answer.
Then she heard something.
A soft melody.
A lullaby.
The same lullaby from the supermarket.
Nora followed the sound.
At the end of the hallway, she saw her.
Emma.
Sitting on a chair.
Holding the rabbit.
The moment their eyes met, Emma stood up.
“Mommy.”
Nora ran toward her.
She dropped to her knees and held the child.
For a few seconds, nothing else mattered.
Not the lies.
Not the hospital.
Not the people who took six years away.
Only her daughter.
“I knew you would come.”
Nora held her tighter.
“I looked for you.”
Emma touched Nora’s necklace.
“Grandma said you would forget me.”
Nora pulled back.
“Why would she say that?”
Emma looked down.
“Because she said people would take me away if they knew.”
Nora felt anger and sadness together.
“Who told Grandma that?”
Emma hesitated.
“Dr. Cole.”
The name hit Nora immediately.
The doctor.
The man who told her daughter was dead.
“What did he tell you?”
Emma looked scared.
“He said I wasn’t supposed to remember.”
Nora felt a chill.
“What memories?”
Emma touched her rabbit.
“This.”
“What?”
“The night I left the hospital.”
Nora froze.
Emma continued quietly.
“I remember you singing.”
Nora’s eyes filled with tears.
“You remember me?”
Emma nodded.
“You held me.”
“You told me I was your little heart.”
Nora covered her mouth.
Because those words were real.
Words only she and her baby knew.
Then Emma whispered:
“But then someone took me.”
Nora’s heart broke.
“Who?”
Emma looked toward the dark hallway.
“Dr. Cole.”
A noise interrupted them.
A door opened.
Nora immediately turned.
A shadow moved.
Someone was watching.
Then a voice spoke.
“You were never supposed to find her.”
Nora stood in front of Emma.
Protecting her.
The person stepped into the light.
May you like
Dr. Adrian Cole.
The man who had destroyed her life six years earlier.
