“Mom… I have a fever. Can I stay home today?”
Emma Collins’s voice was small, shaky. Laura Collins gently pressed her daughter’s forehead—warm, but not burning—and nodded.
“Alright, sweetheart. Rest. I’ll check on you during lunch.”
Laura rushed out the door, never noticing the fear hiding behind Emma’s flushed cheeks.
By noon, the fever had eased, and silence filled the house. Emma dozed lightly until the click of a key turning in the front door snapped her awake.
Mom shouldn’t be home yet.
Emma sat up, listening.
Footsteps… soft, slow, too careful.
She slipped out of bed, moving toward the crack of her bedroom door—and froze.
Aunt Caroline.
Elegant coat. Straight posture. Sharp, icy eyes.
But something was off—Caroline wasn’t acting like herself. She closed the door behind her, scanning the living room like someone entering a crime scene.
Emma watched as her aunt walked straight to Laura’s coat hanging by the entryway.
Then she saw it.
An envelope.
Thick. Heavy. Slightly crumpled.
Caroline slid it deep into the inner pocket of Laura’s coat, glancing over her shoulder with a look Emma had never seen on her face—cold satisfaction.
Emma’s breath hitched.
Caroline took out her phone and spoke in a low voice—controlled, dangerous.
“It’s done. Tonight she can call the police. That fool won’t suspect a thing.”
Emma’s blood turned to ice.
What was “done”?
Who was “she”?
Who was the “fool”?
Caroline left as quietly as she came, the door clicking shut behind her.
For a moment, Emma couldn’t move. Her small hands trembled as a sick mixture of fear and determination knotted in her stomach.
The envelope.
The police.
Her mother.
Something terrible was being set up—something Caroline wanted Laura to walk straight into.
Emma backed into her room, her mind racing. Should she call her mom? Should she hide the envelope? Should she pretend to know nothing?
Before she could decide, she heard the familiar rumble of her mother’s car pulling into the driveway.
Her heart lurched.
The envelope was still in Laura’s coat.
Emma wiped her tears, steadied her breathing, and stepped out of her room. She didn’t know what her aunt was planning.
But she knew one thing for sure:
She had to protect her mother—no matter what it took.