Emily didn’t mean to snoop, she really didn’t. It’s just that her step- father Jacob always kept his bedroom door closed and locked and tonight he didn’t. Tonight the door hung ajar. Unlocked, unsecured, and beckoning.
She was eighteen now, but he’d been part of the family for five years and in all those years the door had never been open. Until now. Why now? Her mom had been gone two years and in all that time she never once saw inside his room.
Emily was babysitting her little brothers—step-brothers, inherited along with Jacob—like she did every single Friday night. Once the two lovable, exhausting children were safely tucked away in their bunk beds she made her move. The home was a sprawling split-level ranch, it was the house that would still be her home for another month before she
