Chapter 6 — He Called Possession Love

Evelyn stared at Daniel’s outstretched hand.

For days, she had wondered whether her second life had been a miracle, a punishment, or the final dream of a dying mind.

Now the only other person who could confirm the truth was the man she most wanted to escape.

“You remember all of it?” she asked.

Daniel nodded.

“The hospital. The children. The way you looked at me before you died.”

“And you still helped Clara steal my scholarship.”

“I remembered too late.”

“How convenient.”

“It happened after the wedding.” His voice sharpened with frustration. “I woke from a nightmare and knew everything. By then you had already left.”

Evelyn thought of the quarry.

The destroyed letter.

The bedroom door locking behind her.

“You didn’t need memories from another life to know those things were wrong.”

Daniel flinched.

Nathan stood close enough to intervene, but he did not interrupt.

He let Evelyn control the confrontation.

Daniel glanced at him.

“We need to discuss this alone.”

“No,” Evelyn said.

“What we’re talking about is impossible.”

“So is waking up thirty years in the past.”

Nathan’s brow furrowed, but he remained silent.

Evelyn drew a steadying breath.

“In my first life, Daniel told me college would make me selfish. I stayed in Bellwood and spent thirty years raising six children he claimed had nowhere else to go.”

Nathan’s expression hardened.

“They were his children with Clara.”

Daniel lowered his eyes.

“Evelyn—”

“She waited until I was dying to tell me. Then every child I had raised walked past my bed and embraced them.”

Nathan turned toward Daniel.

“What kind of man does that?”

Daniel’s face reddened.

“I made terrible mistakes.”

“A mistake is missing an anniversary,” Evelyn said. “You built an entire family out of my stolen life.”

“I came here to make it right.”

“How?”

“I’ll take care of you.”

The answer came so quickly that Evelyn almost smiled.

Daniel had learned nothing.

He stepped toward her.

“I’ll finish school, take over my father’s businesses, and buy you a house in Atlanta if that’s what you want. You can attend classes. You can keep sewing.”

“Keep sewing?”

“As a hobby.”

Nathan let out a disbelieving laugh.

Daniel ignored him.

“You and Clara don’t even have to live together. I can support two homes.”

Evelyn stared at him.

“You came to offer me half of the man who stole my entire life?”

“You both matter to me.”

“No. Clara makes you feel admired. I make you feel powerful.”

“That isn’t true.”

“Then why did you destroy my letter?”

“I thought I was protecting our future.”

“You were protecting your control.”

Daniel’s voice rose.

“I crossed two states for you.”

“And I crossed them to get away from you.”

The market manager asked Daniel to leave.

He obeyed only after looking at Evelyn with the wounded disbelief of a man who still believed his suffering outweighed hers.

At the door, he turned back.

“You loved me for thirty years.”

Evelyn met his eyes.

“I survived you for thirty years. I mistook that for love.”

Daniel left.

Only after the doors closed did Evelyn realize she was shaking.

Nathan quietly pulled out a chair.

“You don’t have to explain anything else.”

“You believe me?”

“I believe that you believe it.”

“That isn’t the same thing.”

“No,” he said. “But I saw the way he reacted. Whatever happened, the two of you remember the same nightmare.”

Evelyn sat.

Nathan gave her a cup of water.

“What do you want to do?”

The question struck her harder than Daniel’s threats.

Not what should she do.

Not what did Nathan think was best.

What did she want?

“I want Clara to stop.”

“Then we find a way to make her stop.”

Evelyn looked toward the door where Daniel had disappeared.

In her first life, she had waited for someone to recognize the truth and rescue her.

In this life, she would make the truth impossible to ignore.

Two days later, Evelyn called Bellwood from a pay phone.

Diane answered.

The moment she heard Evelyn’s voice, she began shouting.

“You nearly ruined your sister’s wedding.”

“I want to speak to Clara.”

“You owe this entire family an apology.”

“Tell Clara I’m willing to withdraw my complaint.”

Diane fell silent.

Evelyn had never formally requested charges, but the family did not know that. They only knew a deputy had visited the house and Mr. Brooks had photographed the quarry.

“What complaint?” Diane asked cautiously.

“The one involving forged university documents and attempted assault.”

Clara took the receiver less than thirty seconds later.

“What do you want?”

“To settle this privately.”

Clara laughed.

“You finally realized you can’t win?”

“I realized we’re still sisters.”

The lie tasted bitter, but Evelyn forced warmth into her voice.

“I’m not returning to Bellwood. You can have Daniel. I only want my scholarship and a clean break.”

“What about the photographs?”

“I’ll ask Mr. Brooks to destroy them.”

Clara hesitated.

“Why should I trust you?”

“Come to Atlanta. We’ll sign written statements in front of witnesses. You agree never to interfere with my enrollment, and I agree not to pursue the quarry incident.”

Clara’s breathing changed.

Evelyn knew that sound.

Greed mixed with suspicion.

“Daniel will be there,” Evelyn added.

That decided it.

“I’ll come tomorrow.”

Evelyn hung up and immediately made three more calls.

The next afternoon, she waited inside a private room at a diner near the university.

A small cassette recorder sat inside her bag.

It was visible enough for Clara to find.

The real arrangement was already in place.

Clara arrived wearing a pale pink dress and carrying a leather purse. Daniel followed her into the room, though Evelyn had not invited him.

Nathan sat beside Evelyn.

Clara’s eyes narrowed.

“Why is he here?”

“He’s my witness.”

“Then Daniel is mine.”

Daniel did not look at Clara. Since the market confrontation, he had sent Evelyn flowers, letters, and promises.

She had returned every one.

Evelyn placed two written agreements on the table.

Clara scanned the first page.

“This says I admit that the scholarship belongs to you.”

“It does.”

“I won’t sign that.”

“Then we have nothing to discuss.”

Evelyn began gathering the pages.

Clara slapped a hand over them.

“You think a few muddy footprints will prove I pushed you?”

Daniel looked at her.

“Clara.”

“What?”

“You told me Evelyn attacked you.”

“She did.”

“Then why are you worried about the photographs?”

Clara’s eyes flashed.

“Whose side are you on?”

“The truth matters.”

Clara gave a sharp laugh.

“The truth only matters to you now because she left.”

Daniel went still.

Evelyn reached into her bag as if searching for a pen, making sure the cassette recorder remained partially visible.

Clara noticed it.

Her gaze returned to Evelyn’s face.

“You planned this.”

“Planned what?”

“You’re recording me.”

Clara lunged across the table and ripped open the bag.

She pulled out the recorder.

Daniel caught her wrist.

“Give it to me.”

Clara shoved him away and threw the device against the wall.

Plastic shattered across the floor. The cassette rolled beneath an empty chair.

Clara smiled.

“There goes your evidence.”

Evelyn did not move.

Nathan leaned back, watching her.

The room had gone silent.

Clara mistook that silence for defeat.

“You were always so easy to fool,” she said. “At the quarry, I barely had to touch you. One push, and you went straight into the water.”

Daniel stared at her.

“You did push her.”

Clara turned on him.

“Of course I did. She was going to take everything.”

“It was her scholarship.”

“She didn’t need it. She had you.”

“I never belonged to her.”

Clara’s face twisted.

“Then why did you chase her to Atlanta?”

Daniel could not answer.

Clara pointed at Evelyn.

“She has always taken what should have been mine. Daddy praised her grades. Teachers gave her awards. You looked at her first. All I did was make people see the sister she really was.”

“You forged her signature,” Daniel said.

“And you handed me the form.”

Evelyn’s breath caught.

Daniel’s face drained of color.

Clara realized what she had revealed, but anger carried her forward.

“You told me where she kept the letter. You helped lock her in that room. Don’t stand there pretending you’re innocent because you suddenly remember some miserable future.”

Daniel seized the edge of the table.

“You knew?”

Clara froze.

“Knew what?”

“You said I remembered a future.”

No one in Bellwood knew about Daniel’s memories.

He had told only Evelyn.

Clara backed toward the door.

Evelyn rose.

“How long have you remembered, Clara?”

Panic flashed in her eyes.

Then she smiled.

“Long enough to know that in every life, you lose.”

She turned toward the shattered recorder.

“And now you can’t prove any of this.”

Evelyn pointed toward the wall behind Clara.

“The real recording isn’t in this room.”