Encore of the Avenging Muse (Sylvia and Rupert)

Sylvia bent down to pick up the piece of paper from the floor-and froze.

Chris looked over, puzzled. "What's up? Why are you just standing there?"

She held up the two slips of paper in her hand, showing him. "Take a look at this."

Chris barely glanced at them at first, but then his face went blank. "Whose numbers are these? Why does the handwriting look exactly like mine?"

The way the 9s, 6s, and 1s had those little tails-it was just how he wrote them, a habit he thought was unique.

No wonder Sylvia had felt a sense of déjà vu after getting the note from Ms. Ward. She'd seen handwriting like this before-on Chris's medical records.

Suddenly, her mind flashed back to what Ms. Ward had said about being set up with a doctor.

She looked Chris dead in the eye. "You're on a blind date? Is her last name Ward?"

Chris blinked, caught off guard. "How did you know? But I haven't even had time to meet her yet, I—"

They stared at each other, and realization dawned at the same time.

Chris's expression turned sour. "When Caleb was a kid, he got grounded after bombing a test. My dad whipped him, and ever since, he started copying my parents' signatures. Later, he got so good at forging anyone's handwriting, you couldn't tell the difference."noveldrama

He grabbed his phone to call.

Sylvia stopped him, hands shaking. "You're telling me he can forge anyone's handwriting?"

"Not just anyone he needs a little time to practice. But yeah, he's that good. Let me call him."

Chris turned away, dialing Caleb's number.

Sylvia just stood there, paralyzed. Memories from her past life came flooding back. The person who'd handed her the surgical documents had been Caleb, and they'd had Rupert's signature on them.

But right before she died, Rupert was still talking about getting custody of Stella after the divorce-like he didn't know Stella was already gone.

So who had signed the death certificate?

Sylvia's head began to throb. At that moment, her phone buzzed with a notification from Twitter.

It was a message from Ms. Ward—but the photo attached made Sylvia's stomach drop.

Ms. Ward was tied up, ropes crisscrossing her body.

"Don't make a sound. Do as I say," the message read. "I'm watching you."

Sylvia instinctively glanced around

Aside from a few people reading medical charts or keeping patients company, nothing looked out of the ordinary.

She edged closer to Chris, just a few steps away.

Immediately, her phone buzzed again. This time, it was a photo of Ms. Ward being slapped, her mouth taped shut, pain etched across her face a knife pressed threateningly to her neck.

Sylvia couldn't risk it. She turned and walked away.

Meanwhile, Chris was frantically dialing Caleb-five calls, five times straight to voicemail.

Just then,

Xxnurse called from the

physical therapy room. "Is someone here for Naomi? The patient

help coming in."

Chris spun around-Sylvia was gone.

A cold dread crept down his spine. He quickly tried calling her-once, twice, both calls declined.

He flagged down his driver, told him to keep an eye on Naomi, then called Rupert. "Sylvia's missing."

Rupert's voice was icy calm. "What do you mean, missing?"

"She was right here. I turned around and she was gone!"

"Send me the security footage."

The quieter Rupert sounded, the more Chris's nerves frayed.

After hanging up, Chris ordered security to pull every camera angle with Sylvia in

it.

The footage showed her leaving on her own.

Chris retraced her steps through the hospital but found nothing.

At that moment, Rupert came striding down the hall, looking grim.

"Show me the physical therapy room."

Chris shivered at the tone, then quickly led him back.

Rupert crouched down, reached beneath the hallway bench, and pulled out a

small, tightly wadded ball of paper.