Chapter 1: The Birthday That Brought the Dead Home
Chapter 1: The Birthday That Brought the Dead Home
No one in the ballroom dared to breathe.
Victoria Ashford stared at the young waitress as though she had seen a ghost.
"N-No..." she whispered. "Emily?"
The waitress nodded, tears spilling freely.
"My name is Emily," she said. "It always was."
The silver tray finally slipped from her hands.
Crystal glasses shattered across the marble floor, but neither sister noticed.
Victoria rushed forward, grabbing the young woman's shoulders.
"They told me you died."
"They told me you forgot us."
"I never forgot."
Emily's voice cracked.
"I remembered every birthday."
"I remembered every candle."
"I remembered you singing to me before we blew them out."
Victoria pulled her into a desperate embrace.
For nineteen years she had mourned a sister she believed had been buried beneath a white marble headstone.
Now that sister was trembling in her arms.
Across the ballroom, Margaret Ashford backed away.
Her breathing became shallow.
She knew the scar.
She knew the eyes.
She knew the child she had paid to disappear had somehow returned.
"Security!" Margaret suddenly shouted.
"That woman is an imposter! Remove her immediately!"
Several guards hesitated.
Victoria spun around.
"No one touches her."
Her voice echoed across the silent ballroom.
"If anyone lays a hand on this girl..."
"...they answer to me."
The guards froze.
Margaret forced a smile.
"Victoria, sweetheart... she's manipulating you."
Emily slowly reached into the pocket of her waitress uniform.
"I knew you would say that."
She placed a faded silver locket into Victoria's hand.
Victoria gasped.
Inside was a tiny photograph of two little girls sitting beneath an apple tree.
On the back, written in childish handwriting:
Forever sisters.
Victoria collapsed into tears.
Margaret's carefully built world began to crumble.
May you like
Because the first piece of proof had just appeared.
And it wouldn't be the last.
