CHAPTER 1 — THE SCREAM THAT STOPPED MY HEART
The scream came at exactly 4:17 in the afternoon.
I remember the time because I had just looked at my watch.
I had arrived home earlier than expected, carrying a small box of chocolates for my eight-year-old daughter, Emily. I had spent the entire morning in meetings and wanted to surprise her before dinner.
Our house was unusually quiet.
Too quiet.
I walked through the front door and called her name.
“Emily?”
No answer.
I smiled to myself.
She was probably hiding again.
My daughter loved playing little games whenever I came home. Sometimes she would hide behind the curtains. Sometimes she would crawl underneath the dining table and wait for me to find her.
I placed the chocolates on the kitchen counter and loosened my tie.
Then I heard the scream.
“HELP!”
It was my wife, Claire.
I ran toward the backyard.
The moment I stepped through the glass doors, my entire world seemed to stop.
Emily was in the swimming pool.
She was underwater.
Her small arms were moving desperately, but she wasn't getting back to the surface.
For one terrible second, I couldn't breathe.
Then instinct took over.
I jumped into the pool fully dressed.
The water swallowed me.
I reached down and grabbed Emily around the waist.
She was frighteningly still.
“No, no, no…”
I pulled her upward.
“Daddy!”
Her voice was barely audible.
I dragged her against my chest and lifted her out of the water.
Claire was standing at the edge of the pool.
Her face was pale.
But something about her expression immediately bothered me.
She wasn't looking at Emily.
She was looking past me.
Toward the garden gate.
I turned.
A man stood there.
Tall.
Dark-haired.
Wearing a black jacket.
And the strangest part was that he wasn't surprised.
He looked as if he had been expecting exactly what had happened.
“Who the hell are you?” I shouted.
He didn't answer.
Claire suddenly stepped forward.
“Daniel, get Emily inside!”
“Who is he?”
“Just go!”
Her voice cracked.
I stared at her.
In twelve years of marriage, I had never heard fear in my wife's voice like that.
I carried Emily into the house.
She was coughing violently.
I wrapped her in a towel and held her against me.
“Daddy…”
“I’m here.”
Her tiny fingers grabbed my shirt.
“Daddy…”
“Yes, sweetheart?”
Emily looked toward the backyard.
Then she whispered something that made the blood drain from my face.
“Mommy wasn't alone.”
I looked at Claire.
She had followed us inside.
Her eyes widened.
“Emily doesn't know what she's talking about,” she said quickly.
I stared at my wife.
“How do you know what she means?”
Claire said nothing.
And that was the moment I realized something terrifying.
My daughter hadn't fallen into that pool by accident.
May you like
Someone had been there.
And my wife already knew who it was.
