LAURA’S POV
The paramedics arrived within minutes, but for me, time slowed to a crawl.
I stood frozen at the mouth of the hidden man cave, my heart threatening to crack my ribs. My palms were clammy. My breath came in shallow gasps.
“Stay back, ma’am,” one of the officers said, gently moving me aside as the rescue team lowered themselves into the hole.
But I couldn’t move—not really.
My mother’s voice still rang in my ears.
“D-D-David?”
Her voice was weak, but real.
She was alive.
After all these years, after the funeral, after burying an empty coffin… she was alive.
My knees buckled, but I forced myself to stand. My father gripped my hand tightly, his face ashen, lips quivering.
“I—I thought I lost her,” he whispered. His voice cracked like fragile glass. “I thought I buried he
