Page 181 of Bound By Crimson

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But somehow, they were connected.

To the letter.

To the trip.

To her parents’ murder.

Her stomach twisted so hard she thought she might be sick.

She reached into the envelope with shaking fingers.

A single photograph slipped out.

It landed face-up in her hand.

A candid shot—taken from a distance—of her, sitting between her parents on their front porch.

All three of them unaware.

All three of them smiling faintly, lost in some ordinary day.

Like prey captured before the trap snapped shut.

Her vision tunneled.

The photo fluttered from her fingers, landing face down on the study floor.

She ran.

Out of the study.

Down the hall.

Through the corridors.

The polished floors blurred under her feet.

Pregnant. Desperate.

The air outside hit her like a wall.

She barely felt it.

The only thing she felt was the need to get away—

Away from the lies.

Away from the house.

Away from the noose tightening around her life.

She didn’t make it far.

A sharp, tearing pain sliced across her lower belly.

Her knees buckled.

The world lurched sideways.

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