CHAPTER 2: THE HOTEL ROOM THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO STAY LOCKED FOREVER
Emma picked up the silver key with trembling fingers.
Room 1708.
Don't trust anyone.
Her tears stopped immediately.
The black SUV had disappeared around the corner, but the message in her hand felt louder than a scream.
Why would a man run from a little girl...
then leave behind a warning?
That night, Emma did something she had never done before.
She lied to everyone.
She told the shelter caretaker she was tired.
She pretended to sleep.
Then, just after midnight, she slipped out through the back door with the key hidden inside her shoe.
The hotel was taller than anything Emma had ever seen.
Gold lights.
Glass doors.
Men in suits.
Women in diamonds.
A place where children like her were never supposed to enter.
But the key worked.
The elevator climbed slowly.
14...
15...
16...
The hallway was silent.
Too silent.
Emma found Room 1708 at the very end.
Her hand shook as she opened the door.
Inside, the room was empty.
No suitcase.
No clothes.
No man with blue eyes.
Only one thing sat on the bed.
A white envelope.
On the front, written in black ink, was her name.
EMMA.
Her breath caught.
She opened it.
Inside was another photograph.
This one was not torn.
It showed her mother...
standing beside the same man from the SUV.
And in his arms was baby Emma.
On the back, someone had written:
"If she ever finds me, tell her I did not abandon her. I was forced to disappear."
Emma's knees went weak.
Her father hadn't left her?
Then who had lied?
Suddenly, the bathroom door creaked open.
Emma turned around.
A woman in a black coat stepped out of the shadows.
She smiled softly.
Too softly.
"Hello, Emma."
Emma backed away.
"Who are you?"
The woman held up a second key.
"I'm the person your mother trusted."
Then she leaned closer and whispered the sentence that shattered Emma's world.
"Your father isn't running from you."
"He's running from the people who killed your mother."
Before Emma could scream...
The hotel phone rang.
Once.
Twice.
The woman answered.
Her face went pale.
Then she slowly looked at Emma and said:
May you like
"They know you're here."
To be continued...
