My Great Escape Led Me to You (Emily Blair) novel Chapter 726

Over the years, he’d mostly given up smoking. These days, Andrew Lane only reached for a cigarette after nights like this—when the same nightmare came for him again.

He sat propped against the headboard, head bowed, exhaling a thin stream of smoke. The sharp lines of his face were shadowed with a restlessness that was almost impossible to notice unless you knew him well.

How many times had he had this nightmare?

He’d lost count.

He was always standing on a beach in the dream, the endless ocean stretching out before him, and not far away, she stood—always the same woman.

Emily Blair, clutching an urn in her arms.

She faced away from him, thin as a breath, her frail frame hunched as if a breeze might carry her off. There was a withered quality about her, like a flower long past its bloom.

She stood right at the edge of the water. Even though the tide barely reached her ankles, Andrew couldn’t shake the feeling that she was about to be swept away and drowned.

So he’d start toward her, calling out, “Emily, come back. Don’t get too close. Come back, it’s not safe.”

But no matter how fast he walked, he never seemed to get any closer. It was as if his feet were rooted in place, doomed to cover the same patch of sand while she remained just out of reach—a distance that was near, but never close enough.

No matter how loudly he called, Emily never heard him.

Panic clawed at his chest. He’d break into a run, shouting her name, stretching out his hand, trying with everything he had to reach her.

And just like every other time, Emily, holding the urn, would step forward without a moment’s hesitation, wading into the salty water. Step by step, she let herself be swallowed up, until the sea closed over her completely.

The pain was excruciating—like his insides were being torn apart, every bone in his body trembling from the strain.

He’d scream her name, desperate: “Emily! Come back!”

He closed his eyes for a moment, but the unease wouldn’t leave him.

Picking up his phone, he didn’t care that it was the middle of the night—he sent a message to his assistant: [Find out what Emily Blair has been up to lately.]

Since it was late, the assistant was probably asleep. No reply came.

Andrew didn’t bother sending another message.

He kept his phone in hand, falling into the same routine he always did after these nightmares—typing Emily Blair’s name into a search engine and scrolling through page after page of news, trying to piece together what she’d been doing.

Recently, Emily’s company, Vertex International, had announced a new game: Rabbit Gang.

Andrew’s finger paused on the screen. Before the game had launched, Emily had approached him, asking to buy the rights to Black and White Rabbit. He hadn’t agreed to her request.