“And Chloe?” I screamed, tears finally cutting through the dust on my face. “You killed her! You buried her and pretended she was my sister!”
My father stopped. He tilted his head, a strange, twisted smile spreading across his lips.
“Chloe?” he whispered. “Oh, Leo… you still don’t understand, do you? I didn’t kill Chloe to fake Valeria’s death.”
He took another step closer, the crowbar raised slightly, his knuckles white around the iron grip. The shadows cast by the moonlight made him look like a towering monster.
“Chloe died because Valeria asked me to kill her,” he whispered, his voice dripping with a malice that froze the blood in my veins. “The bones in that urn aren’t a cover-up for my crime, Leo. They were a cover-up for hers. Your sister isn’t the victim you think she is. And right now… she’s leading you straight into a trap.”
Before the words could fully sink into my brain, a loud, violent smash shattered the silence. The window directly above my head exploded inward in a shower of deadly glass shards.
Through the shattered frame, a hand reached in, grabbing me tightly by the shoulder. I screamed, twisting around, expecting one of my father’s accomplices.
But through the jagged glass, illuminated by a flash of lightning, was a pale, scarred face.
It was Valeria.
She wasn’t at a police station. She wasn’t safe. Her eyes were wide, bloodshot, and frantic. In her other hand, she held a heavy, rusted hunting knife.
“Leo, move!” she shrieked, but she wasn’t looking at my father. She was looking directly at me, her grip tightening on my shirt like a vice, pulling me toward the broken window, while behind me, my father roared in fury and lunged forward with the crowbar raised to strike.
