Chapter 9
I froze.
She had a knife.
The police were on their way, but they weren't here yet.
"Where's Emma?" Linda said, walking closer. "And David? And my old friend Clara?"
"They're safe," I said. "Away from you."
Linda laughed. A cold, hollow sound.
"Safe?" she said. "No one is safe from me. I always get what I want. Always."
She stopped a few feet away from me. The knife glinted in the moonlight.
"You think you've won," she said. "You think those little letters and recordings are going to stop me? I've talked my way out of worse. I've reinvented myself three times already. I can do it again."
"Why are you doing this?" I said. "Why Emma? Why David?"
Linda's face twisted.
"Because they have what I deserve," she said. "Money. Security. Love. Things that were taken from me."
She took another step closer.
"I was poor once," she said, her voice low and bitter. "My parents were drug addicts. I grew up with nothing. No one loved me. No one cared. So I decided to take what I wanted. What I deserved."
She looked at Emma's drawings on the refrigerator.
"Emma was perfect," she said. "A sweet little girl with a dead mother and a rich father. Everyone would feel sorry for me. Everyone would love me. And then David would have his little accident. And Emma... well, children have accidents too. Especially when they're sad and grieving."
My blood ran cold.
"You're a monster," I said.
"I'm a survivor," Linda corrected. "And you're just in my way."
She raised the knife.
"Goodbye, Maya," she said.
She lunged.
I dove to the side.
The knife sliced through the air where I'd been standing.
Linda stumbled, caught off guard.
"Police!" a voice shouted.
Officers poured into the room from every direction.
Linda spun around, the knife still in her hand.
"Stay back!" she screamed. "Or I'll kill her!"
She grabbed me and pulled me against her, the knife pressed to my throat.
I could feel the cold steel against my skin.
The officers froze.
"Let her go, Linda," Officer Hale said calmly. "It's over. You're surrounded. There's no way out."
"There's always a way out," Linda said. Her voice was wild now. Desperate. "I've gotten out of worse."
She backed toward the front door, dragging me with her.
"Let me go," she said. "Or I'll slit her throat. I swear I will."
The officers parted, letting her back toward the door.
But as she reached the porch, something happened.
A small figure stepped out from behind the porch column.
Emma.
She was supposed to be gone. She was supposed to be safe at the bus station.
But she was here.
And in her hand, she held the small wooden locket.
"Leave her alone!" Emma shouted. Her voice was small, but brave.
Linda froze.
"Emma," she said, her voice dangerously calm. "Come here, sweetheart. It's okay. It's just us now."
Emma shook her head. Tears streamed down her face, but she stood her ground.
"You're not my mom," she said. "My mom is in here."
She held up the locket.
"And she would never hurt anyone."
Linda's face twisted with rage.
"You little brat," she spat.
She let go of me and lunged for Emma.
The knife raised high.
I screamed.
But before she could reach Emma, David stepped out of the shadows.
He tackled Linda to the ground.
The knife flew from her hand, clattering across the porch.
Officers swarmed them.
They pulled David off Linda and cuffed her.
She screamed and fought, but it was useless.
They led her away, still screaming threats.
I ran to Emma and dropped to my knees. I pulled her into my arms.
"What are you doing here?" I said, crying and laughing at the same time. "You were supposed to be safe."
"I couldn't let her hurt you," Emma said, hugging me tight. "You saved me. Now I saved you."
David walked over. He pulled both of us into his arms.
"I thought I told you to stay in the car," he said to Emma, but his voice was full of love and relief.
"I had to help," Emma said.
We stood there, on the porch, holding each other.
It was over.
Linda was in custody.
We were safe.
Or so I thought.
The next morning, Sarah called me.
Her voice was strange.
"Maya," she said. "I just got off the phone with the police."
"What is it?" I said. "Is something wrong?"
"They searched Linda's car," Sarah said. "They found something. Something that belongs to you."
I frowned. "Me? What?"
"Your mother's locket," Sarah said.
My blood ran cold.
My mother had died when I was fifteen. She'd left me her locket. The only thing I had of hers.
It had been missing since the break-in.
"They found it?" I said.
"Yes," Sarah said. "But Maya... there's something else. Inside it."
"What?"
"A photo," Sarah said. "Of Linda. When she was younger. With your mother."
I froze.
"What?"
"They were sisters, Maya," Sarah said quietly. "Linda—Rachel—is your mother's daughter. From before she met your father. She was given up for adoption."
May you like
The world tilted.
"She's your half-sister, Maya."
