Chapter 8 - Cassandra Cross Was Never in Her Coffin
We opened Cassandra’s grave at dawn.
The coffin contained no body.
Only a tape recorder.
Stellan pressed play.
His sister’s voice filled the cemetery.
“If you are hearing this, Victor survived.”
Stellan closed his eyes.
Cassandra continued.
“Stellan, I’m sorry.”
The recording explained everything.
She had faked her death after childbirth.
Victor discovered the plan.
Cassandra escaped.
But she could not take Fern without exposing her.
So she trusted the baby to the chaos of the hospital switch.
“I believed Selene would protect her,” Cassandra said.
I stared at the recorder.
She had chosen me.
Not randomly.
Because of my father.
Because Daniel Ward had once saved Cassandra from Victor.
Then came the final revelation.
“I am alive.”
Stellan stopped breathing.
The recording continued.
“If Victor still controls Lily, find me where Adrian first learned to swim.”
Stellan looked up.
“I know where she is.”
A cabin in northern Wisconsin.
His mother had taken him there as a child.
We drove for hours.
At sunset, a woman stepped onto the porch.
Stellan stopped walking.
“Cass?”
She covered her mouth.
He crossed the distance between them.
Brother and sister held each other for the first time in fifteen years.
Neither spoke.
I looked away.
Some moments belonged only to the people who survived them.
Cassandra met Fern that night.
She cried when she held her.
“My baby.”
I expected jealousy.
Instead, when Fern reached back toward me, Cassandra smiled through tears.
“She knows her mother.”
I stared.
“You’re her mother.”
“I gave birth to her.”
Cassandra touched my hand.
“You gave her a life.”
That sentence changed our relationship forever.
Then Cassandra told us Victor’s final plan.
The Cradle Ledger contained evidence powerful enough to destroy not only him, but judges, police commanders, politicians, and criminal organizations across several states.
Victor intended to erase it.
Lily knew where the backup server was located.
Fern’s DNA could unlock it.
Victor had one daughter.
He needed the other.
“We can use that,” Cassandra said.
Stellan looked at her.
“How?”
“Give him what he wants.”
I stood.
“No.”
“Not Fern.”
May you like
Cassandra looked at me.
“Me.”
