Digging up My Bones

I noticed something strange. As long as we followed Samuel, we could leave the place that had bound us for so long.

Toby had grown tired of being at the farmhouse after three years. So, I thought it was a good thing that we could venture out and see the outside world. Of course, Toby was thrilled. He constantly looked around and exclaimed in awe at everything he saw.

However, it seemed we couldn't stray too far from Samuel. We followed him back to his villa.

Toby stared at the luxuriously decorated villa with his mouth agape in astonishment. He had lived here before up until he was two years old. Perhaps he was too young to remember it.

He flitted around excitedly while exploring every corner. Meanwhile, I drifted behind Samuel and followed him as he went into his study. I watched him make a call to the bank and freeze the bank account tied to the card he had given me.

If he had paid closer attention, he might have realized that he hadn't received any transaction notifications for that card in the past three years. The money he had been transferring to that account throughout that time had never been touched either.

He believed that by freezing the account, I would have no choice but to show up within a week.

After all, Toby's uremia required constant dialysis until a kidney transplant was possible. A dialysis treatment was needed twice a week, so he was sure I couldn't survive without money.

When that was done, he opened his phone's photo gallery and stared at it, lost in thought. I floated behind him and saw that he was looking at the photo I had posted on Facebook—the one of him and Toby together.

The resemblance between them was uncanny. His eyes trailed from their broad foreheads to their lush lashes, slightly upturned eyes, and identical eyebrows. Every feature seemed to shout the truth of their shared bloodline.

He wasn't stupid—he could see it.

A sudden phone call broke the silence in the study.

It was from the hospital. Violet had suddenly fallen into a coma.