Chapter 10 - The New Beginning
I carefully sliced the brown tape with a silver letter opener and opened the small cardboard box.
Inside the box rested a single, pristine white envelope.
My heart skipped a strange beat as I recognized the elegant, familiar handwriting on the front.
It was my name, written exactly the way Evan used to write it on my birthday cards.
My hands shook violently as I tore the envelope open and pulled out the contents.
There was a glossy, high-resolution photograph and a small handwritten note.
I looked at the photograph and felt the air completely leave my lungs in a terrified gasp.
The picture was of Evan, looking perfectly healthy, tanned, and sitting at a cafe table in Paris.
He was holding up a copy of a French newspaper, clearly displaying a date from exactly three days ago.
The horrifying realization hit me like a freight train crashing through the library walls.
Evan had not died in the fiery car crash on that dark highway.
He had orchestrated his own death, sold his patents, and disappeared while I starved in my car.
I dropped the photograph and desperately unfolded the small handwritten note.
The ink was fresh, and the message was chillingly brief.
May you like
"Did you really think I was gone?" the note read.
"I had to let them think they won, but now I am coming home to claim what is mine."
