Chapter 3
William Blake, Crestwood Hills‘ wealthiest resident, took his wife and son Jason on a week–long vacation.
Not once during that trip did he bother to call me.
On the last day of their vacation, something must have jogged his memory, because he finally picked up his phone and tried.
Too bad for him, my number was no longer in service.
By that point, I’d already started my new life at the research lab, locked away in a facility where no one could reach
- me.
William stared at his phone, confused by the unanswered calls.
“Why isn’t Emma picking up?” he muttered.
“She’s probably busy with work,” Rachel, my mom, offered.
“Didn’t she say she picked up a couple of extra tutoring jobs? She must be swamped.”
William sighed, running a hand through his hair.
“Do you think we were too hard on her? I mean, look at Jason, and then look at her.”
“Same age, but she’s been working nonstop her entire life.”
Rachel shrugged.
“Emma’s tough. She can handle herself.”
“She doesn’t need us checking in on her all the time. That’s a good thing, right?”
William nodded.
“She’s independent, that’s for sure. I guess I should feel proud, but… sometimes I wonder if we went too far.”
When they got home, something immediately felt off.
The house was eerily quiet.
“Why didn’t Emma clean up?” William asked, frowning as he noticed the layer of dust on the furniture and floors.
The old house was right by the highway, so dust collected fast.
Normally, I’d have cleaned everything before they returned.
“Maybe she’s just tired,” Rachel suggested.
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Let’s talk to her when she gets back.”
“We’ll tell her we got a nice bonus and she doesn’t need to work so hard anymore.”
William r
her a sideways glance.
You’re feeling guilty, aren’t you?”
“Of course I am,” she snapped. “She’s my daughter too, you know.”
“Well, let’s get this place tidied up. She might be out, but she’ll be back soon,” William said, rolling up his sleeves.
Rachel hesitated, her voice dropping.
“Are you sure she even believed us this time?”
“Telling her we were working late over Christmas again… it’s starting to feel cruel.”
William waved her off.
“She’s believed it every other year. Why would this year be any different?”
But as Rachel walked into my room, her heart nearly stopped,
“William!” she called out, her voice shaking.
“Get in here!”
He rushed in, alarmed, and followed her gaze to the photo on my nightstand–a picture of Jason on his motorcycle,
the one I’d taken the last time I saw him.
“She’s been to the mansion,” Rachel whispered, her face pale.
“When?” William demanded, grabbing his phone.
He dialed my number again, only to be met with the same automated message: “This number is no longer in service.”
Frustrated, he called Jason.
When Jason picked up, he sounded as smug as ever.
“Yeah, she came by about a week ago,” Jason said, clearly unconcerned.
“I told her everything. Figured it was better to get it over with.”
William’s voice rose, furious.
“You what? You weren’t supposed to talk to her! Do you even realize what you’ve done? She’s completely cut us off!”
Jason scoffed.
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Good. She was always the problem, wasn’t she?”
“You raised her like she was nothing, just like the plan, and now she’s out of our way.”
“I’m the only one who matters now, so why are you freaking out?”
Jason, you have no idea what you’ve done!” William shouted.
Rachel, standing nearby, burst into tears.
“What are we going to do? She knows we’ve been lying to her this whole time. She’s going to hate us forever!”
Jason’s voice on the line turned colder.
“She doesn’t matter. She never did.”
“Remember what the consultant said when she was born?”
“That she’d bring bad luck to me? You should be happy. She’s gone now, so it’s a win–win.”
William slammed the phone down, too angry to speak.
Rachel buried her face in her hands, sobbing.
“We ruined everything. She’ll never forgive us.”
Meanwhile, I was in the lab, completely unaware of the chaos back home.
The experiments were grueling and slow.
We’d run the same tests over and over again, trying to get results that felt just out of reach.
My phone had been turned in the day I arrived, locked away with everyone else’s to ensure total focus and isolation.
No calls.
No distractions.
No contact with the Blakes.
And honestly?
I preferred it that way.
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