Chapter 9 — They Knew You

The video ended, and the silence after it was worse than any sound.

I stood there with the tablet still glowing in my hands, my own reflection staring back at me like a stranger.

Across the room I felt Amara’s hand slip from mine, and when I turned she had pulled her knees to her chest and was staring at the wall with an expression I had never seen on her face — not fear, but the hollow look of a person realizing that their entire life had been a carefully constructed lie.

“Mom,” she whispered.

“They knew you.