stayed dead.”
Russell’s eyes narrowed.
“You cut the power.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Rebecca laughed.
“Because Thomas was never the one in charge.”
Hayes looked up.
For the first time, he seemed frightened.
Rebecca continued.
“Tell Emily to ask Margaret what she did with the original files.”
Margaret went still.
“Rebecca—”
“And ask her,” Rebecca said, “why Eleanor really drove off that bridge.”
Then the call ended.
Russell slowly turned toward Margaret.
My mother.
The woman who had already returned from the dead once.
And for the first time since seeing her alive, I wondered if she had come back not to save us—
but to finish something.
—
# PART 5 — **MY MOTHER’S FINAL LIE**
“Tell me she’s lying.”
My voice sounded small in the server room.
Margaret stared at the dead screen.
“She’s twisting the truth.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
No answer.
Russell leaned against the wall.
“Margaret.”
She closed her
