Chapter l336

Chapter 0336

I could only cry and cry.

“I’m sorry,” Nicholas said.

“We’re not giving up,” Julian said, louder. “Maybe it’s in someone else’s garments. Which room is next door?”

“Jessica’s,” Charlotte said.

“With me, then, Charlotte,” Julian said, and the two rushed out of the closet.

Nicholas stayed with me. He rubbed my back.

“It’s not over, Piper. This was as good a guess as we could have managed. The best idea any of us had so far. Please just keep thinking. Don’t give up.”

I didn’t want to. To give up would mean to accept Elva would die.

But I felt so hopeless, and so trapped.

“How will I ever survive this?” I said. “My sister is trying to kill my daughter.” I wrapped my arms tightly around myself, but nothing could stop the hurt that quaked through me. I was ruined down to my foundation. Even if everyone lived, how would I?

I was losing everything.

And if Elva didn’t make it…

“You’re strong,” Nicholas said. “You’ve made it this far. You’ve survived so many things. Elva is just like you. She’ll hold on. And you’ll hold on for her. And I’ll hold on for both of you.”

His words gave me pause.

“I won’t lose you or Elva, not to Jane, not to some curse. I don’t care if I have pull the truth out of Terry through his eyeballs, or tear down the entire organization myself, I will never let them take you and Elva from me.”

His words shook in their ferocity. He was earnest and pure.

And with his strength filling me, I didn’t feel so alone anymore.

I opened my eyes. And that’s when I saw the curled edge of a photograph jammed into the crevice between two shoe drawers.

A picture? That didn’t belong. I didn’t bring any photos from home.

Surely it had been previously noticed? Why wouldn’t anyone have brought it to Veronica?

+15 BONUS

I twisted my b*dy, and reached into the crevice. I yanked the photo free, then brought it

closer.

Sitting upright on my haunches, I understood at once why no one thought this was suspicious.

It was a picture of me and Elva, from when Elva was very young. A mother cradling her baby to her chest. A mother who looked very tired and very thin. Elva, a newborn, rested peacefully in the cradle of her mother’s arms.

A mother who wasn’t me, but Jane.

To any onlooker, they would think I kept this photo as a keepsake of a tender, precious moment. The truth, however, was Jane did.

This was the talisman. It had to be. I had not placed the picture here. I didn’t know anyone else who would have, but Jane.

But for this to be the talisman meant that Jane had strong emotions for this photo. If that were true, she must feel something for her girl. But if that were true, why would she try to kill Elva?

Nicholas looked over my shoulder. “It’s a beautiful keepsake,” he said. But then he frowned. He looked closer. “That’s not you.”

I looked at him, surprised. Though maybe I shouldn’t have been. Who else knew me as well as he did, especially from that time?

“That’s Jane,” he said, meeting my gaze. His eyes were wide, hopeful. “The talisman.”

Together, we scrambled to our feet, then rushed out into the bedroom.

Veronica was standing beside Elva, frowning down at her with worry. She looked up as we came nearer. Immediately, her eyes zeroed onto the photo in my hands.

“That’s it,” she said. “That’s the talisman.”

And my heart both soared and crumbled at once.