Now, her words made Daniel uneasy and confused.
Behind him, a bodyguard sneered:
“Mr. Reed, she’s probably just a crazy old woman. You can’t trust what she says.”
“And didn’t Emily just text you? How could a dead person send messages?”
Daniel nodded, his expression easing.
“You’re right.”
He turned and left with his men, while behind the door Mrs. Thompson shook violently, tears streaming down her face as she muttered over and over:
“I’m sorry, Emmy. I’m so sorry. They threatened my grandson. They said if I didn’t burn you, they’d break his legs…”
“It’s Grandma’s fault. Forgive me…”
I drifted not far away, shaking my head, wanting to reach out and comfort her.
Grandma, it’s not your fault.
The true culprits were the ones who wanted me dead.
Thinking of Chloe, I clenched my fists and returned, intending to frighten her.
And there she was, clutching the very phone that had once been mine—
pretending to be me as she typed messages to Daniel.
Memories I had almost buried came surging back.
Two months ago, Ryan Brooks had beaten me within an inch of my life, then tossed me to a group of vagrants to be violated.
Afterward, he had me dumped back at the Miller family’s door.
But Chloe intercepted me.
She publicly claimed I had gone missing, while secretly bribing professional killers to drag me to that countryside cottage.
“Emily, why should you be the true daughter? You never should have appeared in front of our parents. You never should have lived in this world.”
“Now I’ll send you where you belong.”
Towering above me in high heels, she looked down with contempt.
She reveled in watching me kneel and beg for my life.
In return, she only inflicted harsher torment and revenge.
She forced someone close to me to burn me alive, then scattered my ashes.
After covering her tracks, she confiscated my phone.
And for these past two months, she had been secretly holding it, reading Daniel’s endless texts to me.
But Chloe never truly replied.
Sometimes, she deliberately sent a short message back—
just enough to make Daniel Reed believe I wasn’t dead, only hiding.
I watched as Daniel’s texts came one after another, piling up higher than all his earlier accusations.
His tone shifted from anger, to helplessness, to something almost pleading.
“Emmy, sweetheart, I’ve been looking for you for so long. Please stop hiding from me, okay?”
Chloe’s smile froze instantly.