Chapter 5 - NINETEEN MINUTES
Emma arrived at the townhouse at 8:12 p.m.
Her phone transmitted live location to Professor Lawson.
A campus security application recorded audio automatically.
Emma remained on the front step and called Detective Chen.
No answer.
A message appeared from the detective’s number.
TEAM IN POSITION. ENTER WHEN READY.
The message was fake.
Grant had cloned Chen’s caller identification using information Lena obtained from Emma’s phone records.
Emma entered.
The study lights were on.
Rebecca’s ring rested on the desk.
Grant stood near the safe.
Lena locked the door behind Emma.
“Where is the drive?” Grant asked.
Emma backed toward the hallway.
“With the police.”
Lena smiled.
“No, it isn’t. They would already be here.”
Emma reached for her phone.
Grant struck it from her hand.
The device slid beneath the desk.
“You opened files you don’t understand,” Lena said.
“I understand you knew each other before Mom died.”
Grant grabbed Emma’s arm.
“Give us the copies.”
Emma screamed.
Lena slapped her hard enough to split her lip.
“We supported you for seven years,” Lena hissed. “You repay us by trying to destroy your father?”
“You married him to control me.”
Grant tightened his grip.
Emma twisted free and ran toward the front door.
He caught her from behind.
They fell against the pale-blue tiled entryway.
Emma clawed his hand.
Her fingernails tore the skin across his knuckles.
Lena seized Emma’s hair.
“Where is the evidence?”
Emma kicked backward.
Her heel struck Lena’s knee.
Lena’s diamond ring cut Emma’s forearm as she tried to restrain her.
Grant picked up a heavy metal flashlight.
“Stop fighting.”
Emma looked at him.
Then at the flashlight.
“You killed her.”
Grant’s face changed.
Lena shouted, “Don’t!”
Grant swung.
The first blow struck Emma’s jaw.
The second hit the side of her head.
She collapsed onto the blue tiles.
Emma remained conscious long enough to see Lena remove the ring from Rebecca’s desk.
Grant searched her backpack.
He took her laptop.
Lena retrieved the phone.
“We need it to look like the garage,” Lena said.
Grant wrapped Emma inside an old moving blanket.
They carried her through the rear entrance.
A neighbor’s camera captured only the edge of their vehicle because Grant had sprayed mud across its license plate.
At 8:31, campus police restored contact with Detective Chen and learned her team had been redirected by a false report.
Emma’s location signal vanished.
Lena and Grant drove her to a parking garage four miles away.
They scattered the contents of her backpack.
They left cash and credit cards but removed every digital device.
Lena called 911 anonymously from Emma’s phone.
Grant waited until the ambulance approached.
Then he stepped into view and claimed he had discovered Emma while driving past.
Lena arrived three minutes later, pretending Grant had called her.
The story was prepared.
Random robbery.
Unknown attacker.
Student alone at night.
But they had moved too quickly.
Blood remained inside the townhouse entryway.
Blue tile dust clung to Emma’s shoes and gown.
Skin remained beneath her fingernails.
And Lena had forgotten that her diamond ring trapped evidence beneath its setting.
At the hospital, Grant and Lena stood outside the glass before Daniel arrived.
They believed Emma could not speak.
They did not know she had remained conscious during the drive.
May you like
She remembered every word.
👉 Emma’s shattered jaw stole her voice, but the initials she traced into Daniel’s hand gave Detective Chen the warrant she had needed.
