CHAPTER 2: THE CALL THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
The police officer knelt beside me on the highway shoulder, his voice steady.
“Ma’am, can you breathe with me?”
I nodded, barely able to speak through another contraction.
Behind him, flashing lights painted the night red and blue.
I thought I was being rescued.
I was wrong.
Because the officer’s radio crackled—and then went silent for a second too long.
He looked at me differently.
Not like a victim.
Like someone he suddenly recognized.
“Emma… Carter?” he asked carefully.
I froze.
That name wasn’t just mine.
It was my father’s last name.
A name I had stopped using years ago.
Before I could answer, his radio exploded again.
“Unit 17, confirm identity of abandoned female on I-75. We just received a priority alert from Carter Security Group.”
My blood turned cold.
Carter Security Group.
My father’s company.
And I realized something terrifying:
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This wasn’t random.
Someone had been watching the whole time.
