Jason chased after her.
“Emily, wait!”
She ignored him and sped toward home.
Every second felt like an hour.
When she finally reached the apartment building, police cars were already outside.
Her blood ran cold.
She sprinted upstairs.
The apartment door was open.
Inside, officers searched every room.
Emily ran straight to her daughter’s bedroom.
Her daughter sat safely on the bed, wrapped in a blanket.
Crying.
Emily dropped to her knees and hugged her tightly.
“It’s okay. Mommy’s here.”
Then she noticed something strange.
The room wasn’t damaged.
Nothing was stolen.
No signs of a break-in.
A detective approached her.
“Ma’am, we found someone hiding in the guest room.”
Emily turned.
Two officers escorted a terrified young woman into the hallway.
The woman looked barely twenty years old.
And she was crying.
Then the woman looked directly at Jason.
“Tell her the truth.”
Jason closed his eyes.
Emily stared at him.
“What truth?”
The woman wiped away tears.
“I’m not his girlfriend.”
Silence.
Jason looked defeated.
The woman continued.
“I’m his sister.”
Emily blinked.
“What?”
The detective handed Emily a folder found in the apartment.
Inside were hospital documents.
Birth certificates.
Old photographs.
Jason finally spoke.
“My father had another family.”
Emily couldn’t breathe.
“I found out three weeks ago.”
The young woman nodded.
“Our father died last month.”
Tears streamed down her face.
“I had nowhere to go.”
Jason looked at Emily.
“I was trying to help her before telling you everything.”
Emily opened the folder again.
And that’s when she saw the final photograph.
A family picture.
Jason’s father.
The young woman.
And a little boy standing beside them.
On the back, a handwritten note read:
“Jason still doesn’t know he has a brother too.”
