Chapter 5 - THE NAME LAURA WON’T SAY
Emma waited until the next morning to confront Laura.
Her mother was pouring coffee when Emma placed the newspaper clipping on the kitchen counter between them.
Laura went white.
For a second, she didn’t even breathe.
Then she put the mug down so carefully it clinked once against the countertop.
“Where did you get that?”
“The attic.”
Laura closed her eyes.
“Adrian Shaw,” Emma said. “Mia’s dad.”
Laura looked at her as though the room had tilted. “You were not supposed to find that.”
“Then maybe you should’ve told me.”
Silence.
Emma took the photograph out next and laid it beside the clipping. “And this house. Mia’s house. You’ve been there before.”
Laura sat down slowly at the kitchen table. Not gracefully, not like she chose to. Like her knees didn’t trust her anymore.
“Yes,” she said.
Emma remained standing. “Who is Janet?”
Laura rubbed both palms over her face. “Janet Moreno. She used to live there. We were neighbors for a summer when my mother rented the guesthouse behind that property.”
Emma frowned. “And Adrian?”
Laura stared past her, into some place twenty-five years away. “Adrian was Janet’s brother-in-law. Older. Friendly. Everybody said he was helpful.” Her mouth tightened. “He liked to know where I was. Who I was with. He showed up places I hadn’t told anyone I was going.”
Emma’s chest tightened.
“Did he hurt you?” she asked softly.
Laura looked up at once, eyes sharp with old instinct. “That is not what matters.”
“It matters to me.”
Laura stood abruptly and turned to the sink, shoulders rigid. “I was sixteen. He made me feel crazy. Every time I tried to tell someone, there was never enough proof. He always had a reason, always a smile, always a story. Eventually I stopped talking about it because everyone looked at me like I was dramatic.”
Emma said nothing.
After a long silence, Laura continued. “Three years ago I saw his name on a property transfer notice online. Hawthorn Court. Same house. I set the geofence that night.”
Emma swallowed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Laura laughed bitterly. “Because I didn’t want your life organized around my fear.”
“But you still organized it around your fear.”
That landed.
Laura turned, and the pain in her face was almost unbearable.
“Yes,” she said quietly. “I did.”
Emma thought she would feel satisfied hearing that. Instead she only felt sad—and more unsettled than before.
Because one question still hung between them.
“If you knew he was there,” Emma said, “why didn’t you tell anyone else?”
Laura’s gaze fell to the clipping.
“I did,” she whispered. “Once. And nobody believed me.”
Emma looked at her mother and realized the secret wasn’t just danger.
May you like
It was shame.
And shame, she was learning, could control a family almost as completely as fear.
