It can't be her," she told herself, trying to deny the truth. Panic seized her, and she realized she needed help immediately. "Andy... Andy... Andy, come here right now!"
Her frantic voice echoed through the house, leaving everyone in the dining room deeply unsettled by her sudden, erratic behavior. Meanwhile, across the hall in the library, three men had been chatting happily until Stephanie's terrified screams cut through the air. Though she had only called out for Andrew, the sheer terror in her voice caused all three men to drop what they were doing and rush toward the source of the commotion.
When they reached the dining hall, Andrew hurried over to Stephanie, his face etched with intense worry. "Lily, what's wrong? What happened?" he asked urgently.
Stephanie's lower lip trembled violently. Her breathing grew shallow as she slowly raised a shaking finger, pointing directly across the crowded room at Claudia. "Lo... Look," she whispered, her voice barely audible.
Andrew turned his gaze toward the direction of her trembling hand. His forehead creased into deep, angry lines as his eyes locked onto the figure standing there. A shockwave of recognition hit him; it was the exact woman they had been desperately searching for, for what felt like a lifetime.
"Claudia?!" Andrew demanded loudly, his voice booming across the sudden silence of the room.
Fulbeth stepped forward, her brow furrowing with sudden realization. "Isn't she the woman who tried to—" he began to ask the burning question aloud, but abruptly cut himself off. He looked down, suddenly remembering that the children were still standing right beside them, taking in every word.
Sensing the escalating danger, Eunice immediately stepped in to intervene. "Kids, why don't you go with Josh to play in his room for a little while, please?" she requested, keeping her voice as calm and gentle as possible despite the tension in the air.
The children looked between the adults, sensing the heavy atmosphere. They nodded silently and hurried out of the tense dining hall, disappearing quickly into the safety of Josh's bedroom. With the children gone, the room fell dead silent, all eyes locked onto Claudia as the true confrontation was about to begin.
When the kids were finally out of sight, Andrew turned to Claudia, his voice sharp with tension. "What are you doing here? Do you have any idea how hard the police are looking for you? Since you walked right into this yourself, I'm calling them." Without waiting for an answer, he pulled his phone from his pocket and began dialing the authorities.
Watching his fingers move across the screen, the Cruz siblings knit their brows in deep anxiety while Claudia's face turned deathly pale. She was still struggling to process her own reality, and now, a complete stranger was about to hand her over to the law. At first, she fondly hoped their harsh reaction was just a symptom of shock—a natural response to seeing a ghost walk through the door. But as the line began to ring, reality set in, and her heart clenched in sheer terror.
Before the call could connect, Mich lunged forward and snatched the phone straight out of Andrew's hand.
"Andrew, what on earth do you think you're doing?" Mich demanded, her forehead creased with a heavy frown.
Andrew exploded with a barrage of furious questions, glaring back at her. "I should be asking you that! She is a suspect in three freaking attempted murders! Why are you stopping me from calling the cops? Why do you even have her in your house while the entire police force is out searching for her? Are you hiding a fugitive, Mich?"
"No... of course not," Mich stammered, raising his hands defensively.
The room grew suffocatingly tense as the weight of the situation sank in. None of them could truly comprehend the bizarre sequence of events that had led to this moment. Standing in the center of the storm, Claudia felt her entire world crumble around her. She had mentally prepared herself from every possible angle for how people might react to her sudden return from the dead. She had anticipated tears, disbelief, and endless questions. Yet, in all her calculations, it had never once crossed her mind that they would immediately view her as a cold-blooded criminal and call the police on her."
"Maybe there is a misunderstanding," Edna suggested gently. "Bro told us he found her at the shore, unconscious and wounded. When she woke up, she couldn't remember anything, so he brought her to stay with us."
Michael and Eunice nodded in agreement with Edna's explanation.
"They are telling the truth," Fulbuth clarified, stepping forward. "Michael never saw Claudia's face. Furthermore, when we went to retrieve Steph, he didn't see any woman there during our operation."
"I get that," Andrew countered, his voice tight with frustration. "But why is he not letting me call the police? Don't tell me..." He trailed off, but he didn't need to finish. Everyone in the room knew exactly what he was going to say.
Mich sighed deeply, rubbing his temples. "Not only that, but ever since Claudia arrived, she has been a very nice person. She is just a lost soul trying to find her way home."
Mich defended her fiercely. He desperately wanted to avoid looking like he was choosing Claudia over his own friend, but the thought of her being thrown into a jail cell sat heavily in his stomach.
Recognizing the tension, Stephanie tried to ease the room. "It's okay. Maybe we should just forget this for now and move on. Just call Eric to come and pick her up."
Mich initially felt a wave of gratitude toward Stephanie for trying to defuse the situation, but as her final words registered, his brow furrowed. A cold knot of suspicion formed in his chest. As far as he knew, Eric was the head of Andrew's personal security team. Why would they involve him now?
"Why would Eric be the one to pick her up?" Mich asked, his voice dropping to a cautious whisper.
Stephanie understood perfectly why Mich was asking that. "Claudia is Eric's younger sister," she explained, turning back to Andrew to urge him once more to make the call. However, her words trailed off when she noticed the deep frown cutting across his face.
"What's wrong?" Stephanie asked, studying her boyfriend's tense expression.
"You are siding with her, Lily," Andrew complained, his voice tight with lingering fear. "This woman poisoned you. If we had arrived at the hospital just a few minutes later, I could have lost you forever."
Despite the gravity of his words, Stephanie smiled, finding his fiercely protective behavior both caring and a bit childish. "But I didn't die," Stephanie justified gently. "And besides, you said it yourself—it was her father who forced her into doing it."
"But she still could have chosen the right path, and she didn't," Andrew countered sharply.
"Just call him, will you?" she pleaded.
Andrew leaned back, a calculating glint in his eye. "What will I get in return?"
"Why should I give you anything?" Stephanie countered, exasperated. "You aren't doing anything extra for me."
"I am dropping the case entirely because of you," he reminded her.
"Stop being childish, Andrew."
"I am not calling him or dropping the case without a proper reward," he insisted flatly.
"Seriously?" Stephanie muttered.
She stared at the mocking smirk that had quickly replaced his earlier angry, dangerous expression. Looking at him, she knew this man would absolutely not budge unless she gave him exactly what he wanted.
"Okay, fine. I owe you one," Stephanie sighed in defeat. "Tell me later what you want."
Satisfied with his victory, Andrew finally reached out, took his phone from Mich, and prepared to dial.
A warm smile spread from ear to ear across his face as he waited for the line to connect, completely ignoring the heavy tension in the room.
The other five people present could only stare in utter disbelief. They were completely flabbergasted by the sudden shift in the couple's dynamic. Just moments ago, Stephanie had been trembling with fear, and Andrew looked as though he were ready to murder Claudia with his piercing gaze. Yet, looking at them now—especially Andrew—the hostility had vanished into thin air.
Eunice looked at the scene, slowly shook her head in disapproval, and quietly excused herself to head back to the safety of the kitchen. Edna, sensing her sister's discomfort, quickly followed her out of the room. Hoping to ease the lingering awkwardness, Mich gently took Claudia by the arm and led her toward the living room couch. Taking that as a cue, the remaining three adults quietly crossed the room and took their seats, the silence heavy with unspoken questions.
Ever since the afternoon he had driven Jackie back to her house, his mind had been consumed by her. He had tried calling her phone countless times just to check on her, but every single attempt ended with the same frustrating automated message: the phone was switched off. Desperate for answers, he had approached Stephanie to ask about her wellbeing. Stephanie offered little comfort, only revealing that Jackie had been granted a three-week leave of absence from work.
He had deeply resisted the urge to show up at her doorstep. He didn't want to overstep his boundaries or make her feel suffocated by his presence. But as the days bled into weeks, the hollow ache in his chest and the suffocating anxiety became too much to bear. It was eating him alive. Unable to sit still for another second, he finally grabbed his keys, threw caution to the wind, and drove straight to Jackie's house.
When he finally arrived, his heart hammered against his ribs. He stepped up to the porch and pressed the doorbell. He waited, but there was only silence. He rang it again, and then several more times, his anxiety spiking with every passing second. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he heard the faint sound of footsteps approaching from the other side, and the door slowly began to swing open.