Chapter 6
I never imagined anything so absurd and terrifying could exist in this world-this horror surpassed even watching Lukas die, blood pouring from his mouth right before my eyes.
Cruz had clearly noticed something strange about my pregnancy, but it wasn’t time yet. Neither of us could bring our- selves to say it out loud.
Desperate, I slammed my head against the door, screaming at the top of my lungs, “Lukas is dead! I have nothing left! I don’t want to live anymore!”
My cries drew a crowd of onlookers, all eager to see the spectacle. They rushed inside, staring at Lukas’s lifeless body, then turning their pitying gazes on me.
Someone tried to intervene, pleading, “She’s already this pitiful-what more do you cops want from her? Somebody stop her, or she really will follow her boyfriend to the grave!”
“She’s pregnant, for God’s sake! She’s just suffered a massive shock-don’t let her do anything rash, or we’ll lose both her and the baby!”
People argued loudly, pulling me away by force, and a few older women gathered around, trying to comfort me.
Cruz was pushed out of the room by the crowd, but as he left, he shot me a look that said he wasn’t giving up. In a low voice, he made it clear he wouldn’t let this go.
I knew Cruz was a good cop, but I also knew there were some things the police simply couldn’t touch.
The only person who could end this was me-and it had to be me.
After Lukas’s funeral, I met with Cruz one last time and let him place his hand on my now unmistakably swollen bel- ly.
“I really am pregnant,” I told him softly. “And I’m not the one who drove Lukas’s family to their deaths.”
But that was all I could say. I urged Cruz to stop chasing after me. “There’s clear evidence that Lukas’s family all died by suicide. I’m not the culprit. Please, let this go.”
Cruz was silent, but I could tell he hadn’t given up his investigation.
To shake him off, I hid out in a dingy apartment in a rundown part of the city, racking my brain until I finally cracked the password to Lukas’s computer.
Right on the desktop was a single conspicuous file. When I opened it, the first line read, “Evie, I’m sorry. I was too much of a coward and ran away, leaving you to face all of this alone.”
I clamped a hand over my mouth, unable to stop the tears from falling.
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Chapter 6
The day Lukas took his own life, he told me not just the secret, but also that the truth behind everything was stored on his computer.
He never told me the password-maybe because he wanted me to know the truth, but didn’t want me to be trapped by
Beyond that, every word he left behind was an apology.
But I never felt he owed me one. Lukas was the kindest person I’d ever known.
Yet as I opened the file and read every single word, my heart pounded so wildly with terror I thought it might burst.
I never imagined Lukas’s family could do something like this!
