She Thought She Was Saving a Homeless Old Man — Then She Discovered Why He Had Chosen Her
CHAPTER 2
Emily barely slept.
At six in the morning, she knocked on Arthur’s motel door.
There was no answer.
She opened it carefully.
Arthur was sitting beside the window.
He was holding an old photograph.
“You know my mother.”
It wasn’t a question.
Arthur lowered the photograph.
“Yes.”
“How?”
He hesitated.
“Your mother worked for me.”
Emily stared.
“My mother was a receptionist.”
“She was much more than that.”
“My mother never mentioned you.”
“She was protecting you.”
“From what?”
Arthur looked at the photograph.
“People who didn’t want her asking questions.”
Emily’s heart began racing.
“What questions?”
Arthur didn’t answer.
Instead, he handed her the photograph.
Emily looked down.
A much younger Arthur stood beside her mother.
Laura was smiling.
Arthur wasn’t.
Behind them was the headquarters of Reed Meridian Holdings.
Emily recognized the building.
Everyone in the city did.
Her mother had died seventeen years earlier.
Emily had been eight.
She remembered almost nothing about the accident.
Only fragments.
Rain.
A hospital hallway.
Her mother’s perfume.
And a policeman telling her that sometimes terrible things happened for no reason.
“Where did you get this?”
Arthur’s voice softened.
“Your mother gave it to me.”
“When?”
“Three days before she died.”
Emily looked up sharply.
“What did she say?”
Arthur’s jaw tightened.
“She said that if anything happened to her, I should find you.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
Arthur looked toward the window.
“Because I couldn’t.”
“Couldn’t?”
“Someone made sure I couldn’t.”
Before Emily could ask another question, Arthur’s phone rang.
The number was blocked.
He answered.
Silence.
Then a man’s voice came through.
“You should have stayed dead.”
Arthur’s face hardened.
The voice continued.
“Your little friend won’t save you.”
The call ended.
Emily stared at him.
“Who was that?”
“No one.”
“You’re lying.”
Arthur looked at her.
For the first time, Emily saw fear in his eyes.
Not ordinary fear.
The kind of fear that came from knowing exactly what another person was capable of.
“You need to leave,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because whoever made that call knows about you now.”
Emily stepped closer.
“Who are you?”
Arthur looked at the photograph again.
“I promise you’ll have your answers.”
“When?”
“When it’s safe.”
Emily shook her head.
“It’s never going to be safe, is it?”
Arthur didn’t answer.
That was answer enough.
The next morning, he was gone.
