I Was Dared to Dance With the Quiet Girl—Then She Whispered Something Unforgettable
Chapter 5
We didn’t sleep that night.
Emily stayed at my house because neither of us wanted to return to the warehouse alone.
My mother was working a night shift at the hospital, so we had the living room to ourselves.
We spread the documents across the floor.
There were dozens.
Contracts.
Invoices.
Photographs.
Names.
One name appeared again and again.
Richard Morgan.
Jake’s father.
I stared at it.
“No.”
Emily didn’t respond.
“Jake’s dad couldn’t be involved.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I’ve known Jake since kindergarten.”
“That doesn’t mean you know his father.”
I hated hearing it.
Because she was right.
Then I found something else.
A photograph of my father meeting Richard Morgan outside a restaurant.
The date was two days before Dad disappeared.
Behind the photograph, my father had written:
He knows.
Another document showed payments from Carter & Mills to a company called Northbridge Holdings.
The owner was listed as R. Morgan.
My stomach turned.
“What about Jake?”
Emily shook her head.
“We don’t know anything about him.”
“I have to tell him.”
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because if his father is involved, Jake could be in danger too.”
She was right again.
I hated that too.
At 2:17 a.m., someone knocked on the front door.
We froze.
Another knock.
Slow.
Heavy.
Emily grabbed my wrist.
“Don’t.”
The porch light flickered.
I moved toward the window.
A black SUV sat across the street.
No headlights.
No visible driver.
Then my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
One message.
Stop looking.
A second message appeared.
Your father should have listened.
Emily read over my shoulder.
Her face went pale.
Then the front door handle moved.
Someone was trying to get inside.
I grabbed a kitchen knife.
Emily whispered:
“Ethan.”
“What?”
She pointed toward the hallway.
There was another door at the back of the house.
It was open.
Someone had already entered.
