Chapter 27 – Emily’s Resolve

Chapter 27 – Emily’s Resolve
Emily woke to the sound of Sarah pacing. At first, she thought she was dreaming, the soft shuffle of feet on the living room carpet folding into her restless sleep. But when she sat up, blinking through the dim light, she saw Sarah standing at the window, phone clutched in her hand, shoulders tense.

“Sarah?” Emily’s voice cracked.

Sarah froze, then turned. Her face was pale, her lips pressed thin. For a long moment, she did not speak. She just looked at Emily like she was searching for the right words or maybe the courage to say them.

Emily pushed off the blanket and stood. “What is it?”

Sarah inhaled sharply, then exhaled as if she had been holding her breath for hours. “I can no longer keep it from you anymore.”

She held out the phone. Emily frowned and stepped closer, taking it carefully from Sarah’s hand.

On the screen was a photo. A photo of Sarah.

Asleep.

In her own bed.

The blanket pulled high, hair scattered across the pillow. The shot was taken from the doorway, angled down like whoever stood there had all the time in the world to frame it.

Emily’s stomach turned cold. “When… when did you get this?”

“Last night,” Sarah whispered. “It was not the first message, either.” She pulled her hands into her sleeves, almost like a child. “He knows things about me, Emily. Things no one else does. About my father. About... ” She broke off, shaking her head. “I thought if I ignored it, maybe it would stop. But it would not.”

Emily stared at the photo, her fingers trembling around the phone. Her worst fear was solid now. The killer was not circling her anymore he was now circling someone she loved.

Sarah sank onto the couch, burying her face in her hands. “I did not want to tell you. You have already been through so much. But… he is not just after you anymore.”

Emily sat down beside her, the phone still burning in her grip. “No,” she whispered, more to herself than to Sarah. “I think he is using you to get to me.”

Sarah lifted her head. “What do you mean?”

Emily’s voice shook, but her mind was racing, connecting threads. “Don’t you see?... Every time I try to fight back, he shifts his attention. First me, now you. He wants me isolated and broken. He knows if he hurts you, it will hurt me worse.”

Sarah’s eyes shimmered. “Emily…”

Emily grabbed her hand and squeezed hard and desperate. “I would not let him. I do not care what I have to do.”

Sarah blinked at her, confused. “What are you saying?”

Emily rose, pacing the room, her hair falling into her face. Her pulse thundered in her ears, but beneath the fear was a fire she had not felt before. She turned to Sarah, her voice low but steady.

“I am done running. Done waiting for him to pick the time, the place, the victim. If he wants me…” She swallowed hard, her fists clenching. “Then he will get me.... On my terms.”

Sarah’s breath caught. “Emily... no. You can not mean.... ”

But Emily did not answer. Her eyes were sharp and cold with new resolve. For the first time in weeks, she felt something close to control.

The killer wanted her? Fine.

She would make herself the bait.

\---

Emily spent the next hours in a restless blur, her mind spinning with possibilities. Every creak of the apartment, every vibration of her phone set her on edge, but beneath the fear was determination. She could not let Sarah live with a target on her back.

When Sarah tried to argue, Emily just shook her head. “You have done enough for me, He is after me.... Always has been. And if I let him keep pulling the strings, you will be the next Lisa.”

Sarah flinched at the name, at the way Emily said it with such brutal certainty.

“Don’t talk like that,” Sarah begged.

Emily sat back down beside her, pulling Sarah into a trembling hug. “I mean it. He is mine to deal with. Not yours. I would not let him hurt you.”

Sarah’s arms clutched at her, desperate. “Emily, promise me you would not do something reckless.”

Emily pulled back, brushing the tears from Sarah’s cheek. “I can not promise that.” Her voice was soft, final.

Sarah’s eyes searched hers, desperate for some crack in her resolve. But Emily’s decision was carved deep, unshakable.

When Sarah finally fell into a restless sleep hours later, Emily lay awake staring at the ceiling, the photo still etched into her mind. She saw Sarah lying helpless in her bed, the killer’s unseen eyes hovering just out of sight, watching.

No more.

She turned her face into the pillow, tears hot against her cheeks.

“If he wants me,” Emily whispered into the dark, her voice steady despite the trembling in her body, “then he will get me.... On my terms.”​