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Chapter 1: Anabelle

“It’s probably your fault!” My sister Cassandra sto room

“Yeah, it’s her fault—she’s the one that didn’t have sense enough to ask for a reasonable present” My sister Bethany followed Cassandra through the doorway

“All I asked for was a rose!” I stood up and put my hands onhe brings us”

“A rose in the middle of winter? You’re a delusional child” Cassandra let out a long sigh “Where the cute detective that orking his case anyway? He hasn’t been around in a couple of days”

“He’ll be stopping by later today” I kept my hands on my hips “But all you two do is flirt with hiet some information this time”

Our father had been h in the Lewis household I orried about hi blaure out what happened The detective working the case had promised to stop by at the end of his shift and my stomach was in knots Our father wasn’t the type of man to just abandon his family He had been our rock after we lost our ain was torture that burned into my soul My sisters had spent their teen years in rebellion, but I was already twenty-two and I had never even felt the need to disrespect him I needed him

There was no way I could spend the rest ofwith my sisters without him to keep them in line They tormented me to no end and it see hiifts they had asked for I didn’t need a rose I just needed my father back

They eventually lost interest in laying their blame-fueled tirade on me and returned to their rooms I waited around for what felt like an eternity until I heard a knock at the door I looked towards the stairs to see if they would appear to hear the latest on our father, but when they didn’t come down, I opened the door

“Hello, Ms Lewis” The olderat the doorway tilted his head and nodded

“Please come in, Detective Crane” I took a step back and held the door open “Would you like a drink?”

“I wouldn’tday” He let out a sigh when he stepped into the house

“Right away! Please have a seat” I turned towards the kitchen androom

As anxious as I was to hear the news about ht to be polite, so I walked into the kitchen and startedin my throat so fast that I didn’t need any caffeine at that point I hoped he had so positive to tell ative, but I wasn’t prepared for another round of neutral news that didn’t have a hint of certainty in it I tried to relax when the coffee wassoar and cream