Chapter 59

Emily POV

My body is rigid. All I feel is the coolness of the floor against my face. The apartment is silent, a sign that Jacob and Liam haven’t returned yet.

I have no idea how long I’ve been passed out. When I look through Jacob’s bedroom window, the sun is setting in the sky. It takes me a while to move, my joints aching from being in this position for a while. Somehow I must have tripped, lost my balance and fallen on my head.

I put my hand on the part of my scalp where it hurts and feel a bump. How did I get here?

And then I remember my confrontation with Nancy.

The black and white photo of Jacob and Jocasta when they were kids is still on the bed, a reminder that Nancy was right all along—I can’t compete with the memory of a ghost.

I sit on Jacob’s bed with the photo in my hand, wondering if I close my eyes long enough, this will all go away. But when I open them again, there it is. The truth in black and white.

I tell myself not to jump to conclusions; it’s just a photo.