Chapter 2

Those three words stabbed right through me like an ice pick, instantly destroying the little bit of safety I'd just started to feel.

I shot upright, cold sweat breaking out across my back.

I didn't recognize the number.

But that tone? I knew it all too well.

It was Mary.

She knew. How had she found out so quickly?

Had David told her? No way—he had really looked guilty the night before.

Wait... had she hidden something on me?

I checked my backpack and clothes right away, but found nothing.

I forced myself to calm down.

This wasn't the time to panic.

I turned off my phone, pulled out the SIM card, and shoved it through the crack in the window, tossing it outside.

Only then did I finally let myself breathe a little.

But a new wave of fear crashed over me.

If she could find my number, could she also figure out where I was going on this train?

David had just told me to go south, which was way too vague. My ticket was for Brighton.

I had to get off early.

I stared out the window at the landscape racing past, my heart pounding out of my chest.

No, I couldn't just sit here and wait for disaster to strike.

I swapped in the backup SIM card I'd prepared in my backpack, the one I used to keep in touch with classmates. As soon as I turned on my phone, a bunch of messages popped up on the screen.

Some classmates were asking how my exam prep was going.

My counselor also sent a message cheering me on.

I ignored all those messages and pulled up David's number in my contacts.

I hit call.

"The subscriber you have dialed is not available."

That icy, robotic voice made my heart drop.

His phone was off again. He'd done this so many times over the past five years—just gone dark for days.

But I couldn't afford to wait.

I switched to texting him instead.

[Mary found out I ran away. She's threatening me. I'm not safe. What should I do? Who's my real mom? Where is she?]

I sent message after message, but got nothing back—not even a single reply.

The train kept rolling, and with every passing second, I felt danger creeping closer.

200 thousand dollars sounded like a lot.

But if Mary was after me, that kind of money wouldn't mean a thing.

I knew her family background—her parents might be retired, but her uncle was the deputy chief of the provincial police department.

Tracking someone down? For her, it'd be child's play.

Why had David told me to run? What was he hiding?

Had he beaten me to protect me? That just didn't add up. What kind of protection lasted five years and came in the form of constant beatings?

Unless... it was all just to make Mary think our relationship was completely broken.

To make her believe I hated him, and that he didn't care about me—just saw me as a burden.

That way, when I finally "ran away," Mary wouldn't think he had anything to do with it.

My mind was racing.

If my theory was right, then David and Mary were definitely not your average married couple.

They were more like enemies, keeping tabs on each other—locked in a cold war.

And me? I was the most important pawn in their battle.

My phone buzzed.

I snatched it up—it was a text from David, but not from his usual number.

It was a burner number.

[Don't use any SIM card linked to your identity to contact me. The ticket was just a decoy. Get off at the next stop and buy a cash ticket to Seaview. Once you're there, go to Seaview General Hospital and find a doctor named Lucy Quinn. Hand her the drive.]

The message was short, but it packed a punch.

The next stop was Newport.

I checked the map—Newport was still over 400 miles from Seaview.

I memorized the message, then deleted it.

An hour later, the train pulled into Newport.

I slung my backpack over my shoulder and blended into the crowd as I got off.

At the station exit, I instinctively scanned my surroundings. A few transit cops were patrolling, and everything seemed normal.

But I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching me from the shadows.

I didn't dare linger—I hurried out of the station.

I grabbed a long-distance bus ticket to Seaview at a terminal blocks away from the station, and only then did I finally let myself breathe a little easier.

Buses were slower than trains, but way harder to track.

After more than ten hours of bouncing around on the road, I finally rolled into Seaview the next afternoon.

Seaview was a city I'd never set foot in—a whole new world to me.

I found a small motel to crash in, and my first move was straight to the bank. I took out the eighty grand from that card bit by bit, then stashed it across several new accounts I'd set up with fake IDs.

By the time I was done, night had already fallen.

I lay back on the motel bed and took out the flash drive.

It looked completely ordinary—just a black shell, no logos or anything.

What could possibly be inside this thing?

Was it proof of Mary Lowell's crimes? Or maybe a clue about my birth mother?

I didn't have a laptop, so for now, I just had to keep it safe.

First thing the next morning, I'd go to the hospital and look for Dr. Quinn.

As long as I gave her the drive, maybe everything would finally make sense.

Early the next morning, I took a cab to Seaview General Hospital.

The hospital was packed, and the whole place reeked of disinfectant.

I walked up to the front desk, where a young receptionist was bustling around.

"Hi, could you tell me where I can find Dr. Quinn?" I asked.

The receptionist looked up and shot me a curious glance, her expression a little off.

"You're looking for Dr. Quinn?" she asked.

"Yeah," I replied.

She frowned, as if she were searching her memory for something.

"Dr. Quinn..." she drawled, then dropped a bombshell that made my blood run cold.

"She died in a car accident three years ago."

Dead?

My heart skipped a beat, and my blood instantly turned cold.

How could she be dead?

David had sent me to Seaview just to deliver a flash drive to someone who had been dead for three years?

"Are you sure?" My voice was shaking.

The receptionist looked at me like I was nuts. "How could I possibly forget something like that? It was a huge scene, happened right at the hospital entrance. The driver sped off and they've never caught him."

Hit and run...

My mind was buzzing.

This couldn't have been an accident.