Chapter 334
Kevin Shaw jerked to his feet, his bloodshot eyes burning like twin flames.
Staggering, he braced himself against the sofa with one hand while the other tore at his collar. Buttons scattered across the floor, a few striking the glass coffee table with sharp cracks.
"Get off me!" He shoved away the woman attempting to steady him. She crashed into a lamp post with a pained cry.
His sweater landed in a heap as he ripped open his shirt, baring his chest. Tipping his head back, he unleashed a feral roar.
Silence swallowed their booth. Though the music pulsed on in the dance floor, everyone sensed the shift in the air.
On stage, a sequined singer swayed her hips. Couples moved to the rhythm across the dance floor.
Kevin stumbled into the center of the crowd.
"Move! All of you—out of my way!" He bulldozed through the throng. Patrons scrambled aside, avoiding the drunken madman.
His body convulsed in erratic jerks, fists pounding his own chest. His companions mistook it for performance art, whistling and joining in.
The music switched to deafening electronic beats.
The dance floor erupted. Under kaleidoscopic lights, writhing figures transformed into a pack of frenzied beasts.
A piercing scream split the night.
Music cut off abruptly. Security pushed through the gathering crowd.
Kevin curled fetal on the floor, blood oozing from every orifice. His fingers contorted at unnatural angles, pupils dilated and fixed.
............
............
Sean Shaw flipped through the latest investigation report. His desk overflowed with documents from Six Paths Village.
"Amy Miller..." He studied the women's association director's file. This childless woman had once adopted a baby girl. The delivering physician shared the White surname—his own wife pregnant at the time.
Yet now, Amy Miller lived without any child. Investigators pressed repeatedly, but she denied ever taking in an orphan.
Stranger still, Luna White was indeed the biological daughter of that White couple.
Sean massaged his temples. The threads tangled like knotted yarn—connections visible yet impossible to unravel.
Luna and Julia Shaw could be twins. Yet every lead pointed to Amy Miller's adopted child being Julia's bloodline.
Where had that child gone? Those who knew either kept silent or had taken their secrets to the grave.
The truth seemed forever buried beneath Six Paths Village's yellow earth.