My Cute Neighbor Invited Me to Watch the Meteor Shower… Then Whispered, “Stay After Everyone Leaves.”
Chapter 6
Emma couldn’t speak.
Her mother was alive.
Her father was alive.
Noah’s father was alive.
Everything she believed about her childhood had been built on lies.
She sat on the floor of the old farmhouse.
“I don’t understand.”
Noah crouched beside her.
“We’ll find them.”
“Why did they leave us?”
“To protect us.”
“That’s what everyone says.”
Noah sighed.
“I know.”
Emma looked at him.
“You knew?”
“No.”
“Then why are you so calm?”
“I’m not.”
He gave a small smile.
“I’m just trying to look calm.”
Emma laughed through her tears.
They traveled to the clinic listed in the records.
A doctor confirmed that a man named David Collins had been admitted years earlier.
“He was alive,” the doctor said.
“How long?”
“Six months.”
“Then what happened?”
“He disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
“Yes.”
“Did someone take him?”
The doctor hesitated.
“I don’t know.”
“Who paid the bills?”
The doctor checked.
“An account belonging to Horizon Holdings.”
Emma froze.
Noah clenched his jaw.
“Then they found him.”
They left.
The evidence had become overwhelming.
Horizon.
Crawford.
Their parents.
But one question remained.
Why had they all disappeared?
They returned to the tower.
The cassette was still there.
Noah played another recording.
This time, Thomas Crawford spoke.
“My son will eventually meet Emma.”
Emma froze.
Thomas continued.
“When they do, the truth will begin.”
Noah looked at her.
The recording went on.
“The meteor shower is not the key.”
Emma frowned.
“What?”
“The meteor shower is a signal.”
“To what?”
“To the people watching.”
Thomas explained that Horizon had created a secret network decades earlier.
It wasn’t only financial.
It involved surveillance.
Manipulation.
Corporate takeovers.
The network monitored families.
When someone discovered too much, they were forced to disappear.
Emma whispered:
“That’s what happened to our parents.”
“Yes.”
Thomas continued.
“There is one person who can stop them.”
A pause.
“Emma.”
Her heart stopped.
“Why me?”
The recording didn’t answer.
Instead, Thomas said:
“She carries the final key.”
The tape ended.
Emma stared.
“What key?”
Noah opened the metal drive.
A hidden file appeared.
It asked for a password.
Then showed a photograph.
Emma’s childhood necklace.
She touched her neck.
She had worn it every day for fifteen years.
It was a simple silver necklace her mother had given her.
Noah looked at it.
“Take it off.”
She did.
There was a tiny mark on the clasp.
A symbol.
The same symbol appeared on the drive.
They entered the sequence.
The file opened.
Inside were names.
Hundreds.
Government officials.
Executives.
Judges.
Bankers.
The network was enormous.
But there was one final folder.
FAMILY.
Inside were three files.
EMMA.
NOAH.
LILY.
Noah stared.
“Who’s Lily?”
Emma frowned.
“My little sister.”
“You have a sister?”
“I did.”
She looked at the file.
Lily had disappeared when she was four.
Her family had been told she died.
Emma had never seen the body.
Noah looked at her.
“She may be alive.”
Emma couldn’t breathe.
The file contained a recent photograph.
A young woman.
Twenty-one.
Emma recognized her.
It was Lily.
Her missing sister was alive.
And someone had been tracking her.
Emma whispered:
“She has been alive this entire time.”
Then her phone buzzed.
A message.
Unknown number.
We know you found her.
Emma looked at Noah.
Another message arrived.
Leave the archive.
Or Lily disappears again.
