Chapter 2: Rose's Last Letter
Chapter 2: Rose's Last Letter
That night, Daniel drove Emily to a small countryside cottage where Rose had lived.
Rose had passed away only three months earlier.
Emily unlocked the front door with trembling hands.
"I've never gone through her things."
Inside, everything remained exactly as Rose had left it.
The tiny kitchen.
The old rocking chair.
The faded family photographs.
Daniel noticed a wooden music box sitting on a bookshelf.
Emily smiled sadly.
"She told me never to open it until I learned who I really was."
She slowly lifted the lid.
Inside rested a tiny gold baby bracelet.
Engraved with two words.
Emily Sterling.
Her breathing stopped.
Beneath it lay a sealed envelope.
Rose's handwriting covered the front.
For my sweet Emily.
Emily unfolded the letter.
Tears blurred the words.
My darling girl,
I didn't steal you.
I saved you.
The fire was no accident.
Your mother locked the nursery door because she believed saving the family fortune mattered more than saving one little girl.
I broke a window and carried you outside.
When I returned for help, she told the police you had died.
She ordered me never to come back.
I couldn't leave you alone.
So I raised you as my own.
Daniel felt his knees weaken.
Emily covered her mouth.
"No..."
Daniel whispered,
May you like
"My father searched for you until the day he died."
"They made him believe you were gone."
