For several seconds, nobody moved.<\/p>\n
The photograph was still in my hand.<\/p>\n
Nora\u2019s face.<\/p>\n
Nora\u2019s smile.<\/p>\n
Nora standing outside my house.<\/p>\n
Taken hours ago.<\/p>\n
I looked at the timestamp on the back.<\/p>\n
My stomach dropped.<\/p>\n
It had been taken while we were sitting downstairs talking.<\/p>\n
While Clara was telling me about the man she had spent ten years running from.<\/p>\n
He had been there.<\/p>\n
Watching.<\/p>\n
Waiting.<\/p>\n
And we never knew.<\/p>\n
\u201cCall the police,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Clara didn\u2019t move.<\/p>\n
\u201cClara.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at me.<\/p>\n
Her face was completely broken.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has her.\u201d<\/p>\n
The way she said it made my blood run cold.<\/p>\n
Not he might have her.<\/em><\/p>\n Not we need to find her.<\/em><\/p>\n She knew.<\/p>\n She knew exactly what Daniel was capable of.<\/p>\n I grabbed my phone.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m calling 911.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n I stopped.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n Clara shook her head quickly.<\/p>\n \u201cNot yet.\u201d<\/p>\n I stared at her.<\/p>\n \u201cAre you serious?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSarah, listen to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Her voice was desperate.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Daniel wanted to hurt Nora, he would have already done it.\u201d<\/p>\n I felt anger rise.<\/p>\n \u201cShe is a nine-year-old child!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know!\u201d<\/p>\n Clara\u2019s voice broke.<\/p>\n \u201cI know exactly what she is.\u201d<\/p>\n She covered her mouth, trying not to cry.<\/p>\n \u201cShe is the reason I survived.\u201d<\/p>\n That stopped me.<\/p>\n Clara walked to the kitchen table and picked up the photograph again.<\/p>\n \u201cHe wants me afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n She turned the picture over.<\/p>\n \u201cHe wants me to panic.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause that\u2019s how he always worked.\u201d<\/p>\n She looked at me.<\/p>\n \u201cHe never attacked first.\u201d<\/p>\n A pause.<\/p>\n \u201cHe made you feel like you were already losing.\u201d<\/p>\n I hated that she understood him so well.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do we do?\u201d<\/p>\n Clara looked toward the stairs.<\/p>\n Toward Nora\u2019s empty room.<\/p>\n Then she whispered:<\/p>\n \u201cWe find out where he took her.\u201d<\/p>\n I pulled the phone out.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout the police?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n She shook her head.<\/p>\n \u201cWe involve them.\u201d<\/p>\n Then she looked at me.<\/p>\n \u201cBut we don\u2019t tell them everything.\u201d<\/p>\n I frowned.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause Daniel always had people around him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPeople?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n Her voice lowered.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople who believed him.\u201d<\/p>\n I remembered the warning in Mom\u2019s letter.<\/p>\n Do not trust the person who brings you news of his death.<\/strong><\/p>\n Maybe the danger was bigger than we understood.<\/p>\n I called the police.<\/p>\n The next twenty minutes felt like hours.<\/p>\n Officers arrived.<\/p>\n Questions.<\/p>\n Photographs.<\/p>\n Descriptions.<\/p>\n Everything became a blur.<\/p>\n One detective, a woman named Detective Harper, sat across from Clara.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re telling me your daughter was taken by a man who was legally declared dead?\u201d<\/p>\n Clara nodded.<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you believe he has been alive this entire time?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n Detective Harper looked at the photograph.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you have any proof?\u201d<\/p>\n Clara hesitated.<\/p>\n Then she looked at me.<\/p>\n I knew what she was thinking.<\/p>\n The flash drive.<\/p>\n The files.<\/p>\n The evidence she had hidden for ten years.<\/p>\n But before she could answer, my phone buzzed.<\/p>\n Unknown number.<\/p>\n Again.<\/p>\n Everyone in the room froze.<\/p>\n Detective Harper reached for my hand.<\/p>\n \u201cPut it on speaker.\u201d<\/p>\n I answered.<\/p>\n Nobody spoke.<\/p>\n Then Daniel\u2019s voice came through.<\/p>\n \u201cHello, Clara.\u201d<\/p>\n My sister went pale.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere is my daughter?\u201d<\/p>\n Daniel laughed softly.<\/p>\n \u201cStill the same.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou always cared more about protecting others than yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhere is Nora?\u201d<\/p>\n A pause.<\/p>\n Then:<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s safe.\u201d<\/p>\n Clara closed her eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you touch her\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou misunderstand me.\u201d<\/p>\n His voice remained calm.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to hurt Nora.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen bring her back.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI want my family back.\u201d<\/p>\n The room went silent.<\/p>\n Clara\u2019s face changed.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t get to call yourself family.\u201d<\/p>\n Daniel sighed.<\/p>\n \u201cYou always did have a dramatic way of seeing things.\u201d<\/p>\n I felt sick listening to him.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy are you doing this?\u201d<\/p>\n I asked.<\/p>\n The line went quiet.<\/p>\n Then Daniel answered:<\/p>\n \u201cBecause Sarah\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n My entire body froze.<\/p>\n He knew my name.<\/p>\n \u201cYou and I have something in common.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou both lost Clara.\u201d<\/p>\n I looked at my sister.<\/p>\n Daniel continued.<\/p>\n \u201cBut unlike you, I never stopped looking.\u201d<\/p>\n Clara grabbed the phone.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere is Nora?\u201d<\/p>\n Daniel ignored her.<\/p>\n \u201cYou should ask your sister why she never told you the whole story.\u201d<\/p>\n My heart tightened.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat story?\u201d<\/p>\n Silence.<\/p>\n Then Daniel said:<\/p>\n \u201cThe night of the crash.\u201d<\/p>\n Clara stopped breathing.<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n Her whisper was barely audible.<\/p>\n Daniel heard it.<\/p>\n And smiled through his voice.<\/p>\n \u201cTell her, Clara.\u201d<\/p>\n My sister looked at me.<\/p>\n I felt a terrible fear growing inside me.<\/p>\n \u201cTell Sarah what really happened that night.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDaniel, stop.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTell her who was driving.\u201d<\/p>\n The room went silent.<\/p>\n I looked at Clara.<\/p>\n \u201cWho was driving?\u201d<\/p>\n My sister\u2019s eyes filled with tears.<\/p>\n Because suddenly I realized something.<\/p>\n For ten years, everyone had told me Clara was the victim of a terrible accident.<\/p>\n But nobody ever told me the full story.<\/p>\n Daniel\u2019s voice came one last time.<\/p>\n \u201cSarah.\u201d<\/p>\n I grabbed the phone.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n His answer was quiet.<\/p>\n Almost a whisper.<\/p>\n \u201cYour sister didn\u2019t crash that car.\u201d<\/p>\n The call ended.<\/p>\n I stood there frozen.<\/p>\n Because the man I hated most in the world had just revealed something I never expected.<\/p>\n And the look on Clara\u2019s face told me one terrifying thing.<\/p>\n He wasn\u2019t lying.<\/p>\n For several seconds, nobody moved. The photograph was still in my hand. Nora\u2019s face. Nora\u2019s smile. Nora standing outside my house. Taken hours ago. I looked at the timestamp on … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4307"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4317,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4307\/revisions\/4317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Click Here to continuous Read\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b Full Ending Story\ud83d\udc49part8: I Buried My Twin Ten Years Ago\u2014Then She Called Me and Asked for a Ride Home.<\/a><\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"