Chapter 17: The Price of Her Second Chance

Emma stood in the library doorway, looking at me as if she were seeing a stranger.

I couldn't stop staring at her.

"You remember everything?" I asked.

She nodded slowly.

"Every word. Every choice. Every mistake."

My fingers curled around the edge of the desk.

"Then tell me why."

Emma lowered her eyes.

"Because I was terrified."

"Terrified of what?"

"Of losing everything."

She laughed bitterly.

"You don't understand what it was like watching everyone choose you."

I stared at her in disbelief.

"They chose me because I was the one they wanted to marry off."

"That's what you believed."

Her voice sharpened.

"But I saw the way Corbin looked at you. I saw how our parents treated you after the engagement. I knew that if you married him, I would become irrelevant."

"So you destroyed my life?"

Emma's eyes filled with tears.

"In the first life, yes."

The admission landed like a slap.

"I thought if you disappeared, everyone would finally understand what I had suffered."

I shook my head.

"And did they?"

Emma looked away.

"No."

"After you died, Corbin blamed himself. Our parents blamed me. And I was murdered because of a lie you created."

Her shoulders trembled.

"I know."

"Then why are you doing this again?"

Emma looked directly at the aquamarine ring.

"Because I thought Jack would make you miserable."

Jack's expression remained unreadable.

"You never even gave me a chance," he said.

Emma flinched.

"I knew what the ranch was like. I couldn't imagine living there."

"You didn't have to," I said.

"You could have simply told the truth."

Emma wiped her tears.

"I didn't know how to stop."

I stared at her for a long moment.

"Then start now."

She looked confused.

"What?"

"Tell everyone the truth."

Emma's face went pale.

"Esme, if I do that, my entire family will collapse."

"It already collapsed."

I pointed toward the documents on the desk.

"The only difference is that this time, I'm not going down with it."

Corbin slowly stood.

"Emma, she's right."

Emma turned toward him.

"You don't understand."

"No," Corbin said quietly. "I understand now."

He picked up the signed psychiatric agreement.

"I helped them bury the truth once. I won't do it again."

Emma's face crumpled.

"Corbin..."

"Don't."

He stepped away from her.

"For years, I told myself I was protecting you. The truth is, I was protecting my own guilt."

The library fell silent.

Then Emma reached into her purse.

She pulled out a small flash drive and placed it on the desk.

"This is everything."

I looked at her suspiciously.

"Everything?"

"The original medical files. The payment records. The messages between our parents. And the recording of the doctor discussing your sedation."

My breath caught.

"Why keep it?"

"Because even in the first life, I was afraid someone would eventually discover what I had done."

She looked at me with red-rimmed eyes.

"I wanted insurance."

Jack picked up the flash drive.

"We'll have this verified before anyone sees it."

Emma nodded.

For once, she didn't argue.

I turned toward the window.

Snow had begun falling outside the mansion gates.

Everything looked peaceful.

But beneath that silence was a family secret that had destroyed three lives.

My phone suddenly buzzed.

A message from my father's number appeared.

"Come home immediately. Your grandmother has collapsed."

My heart stopped.

Jack saw the message over my shoulder.

"Do you think it's another trap?"

I looked at the screen.

"Maybe."

Then I remembered my grandmother's letter.

She had protected me when everyone else had abandoned me.

If she was truly in danger, I couldn't ignore it.

I grabbed my coat.

"I'm going."

Jack immediately reached for his keys.

"Then I'm coming with you."

I nodded.

As we walked out of the library, Corbin called after us.

"Esme."

I stopped.

He looked at me for several seconds.

"If your father is behind this, don't trust anything he tells you."

I met his eyes.

"I stopped trusting him a long time ago."

We left the Sinclair estate together.

Neither of us noticed the figure standing behind the upstairs curtain.

Emma watched our car disappear into the night.

Then she picked up her phone and whispered one sentence.

"It's started."