Chapter 1: The Last Voice
The voicemail was only twenty-three seconds long.
Evelyn pressed play.
Static crackled through the speaker before her father's voice emerged—weak, hurried, terrified.
"Evie... if you're hearing this... they finally did it."
Her breath caught.
"Don't trust Linda. Don't trust anyone from Carter Holdings."
A violent cough interrupted him.
"The fire isn't an accident."
The room seemed to shrink.
Outside, wood splintered as flames devoured the hallway.
"Everything you believe about your mother... was a lie."
Evelyn stared at the phone.
Her mother had died when she was seven.
Or at least...
That's what everyone had always told her.
"Go to Vault Seven... Grand Dominion Bank... Use your mother's birthday. You'll understand everything."
A crash echoed overhead.
The ceiling began to sag.
"And Evie..."
His voice softened.
"No matter what they tell you... I never abandoned you."
The recording ended.
Silence.
Then another explosion shook the house.
The bedroom window shattered inward.
Cold night air rushed through the smoke.
Evelyn didn't think.
She wrapped a blanket around her arm, climbed onto the windowsill, and jumped.
She hit the roof of the sunroom, rolled down the shingles, and crashed into the flower garden below.
Pain exploded through her ankle.
She couldn't stand.
Behind her, the mansion erupted into flames.
Neighbors gathered.
Someone screamed.
Fire engines wailed in the distance.
Linda rushed outside wearing a silk robe, tears already streaming down her cheeks.
"My husband!"
She pointed dramatically toward the inferno.
"My husband and my stepdaughter are still inside!"
Evelyn watched from beneath the hedge.
Linda had already buried her.
Alive.
Minutes later firefighters recovered one body.
Her father's.
Linda collapsed to her knees.
The cameras arrived before dawn.
By sunrise every news station carried the same headline.
TRAGIC FIRE CLAIMS BUSINESS TYCOON AND DAUGHTER.
Evelyn Carter was officially dead.
May you like
For the first time in her life...
She realized being dead might be the safest place to hide.
