If Only She Knew


 
 
 
 
 IF
 ONLY
 SHE
 KNEW
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 IF
 ONLY
 SHE
 KNEW
 
 
 PAMELA CRANE
 
 
 Tabella House
 Raleigh, North Carolina
 
 
 Copyright © 2023 by Pamela Crane
 
 Tabella House
 Raleigh, NC
 
 
 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without written permission.
 
 The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
 
 www.pamelacrane.com
 
 
 ISBN: 978-1-940662-343 (eBook)
 ISBN: 978-1-940662-350 (Paperback)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Thank you for supporting authors and literacy by purchasing this book. Want to add more gripping reads to your library? As the author of more than a dozen award-winning and bestselling books, you can find all of Pamela Crane’s works on her website at www.pamelacrane.com. 
 
 
 
 The Diary of Cordelia Bloodson
 Prologue
 Chapter 1
 Chapter 2
 Chapter 3
 Chapter 4
 Chapter 5
 Chapter 6
 The Diary of Cordelia Bloodson
 Chapter 7
 Chapter 8
 Chapter 9
 Chapter 10
 The Diary of Cordelia Bloodson
 Chapter 11
 Chapter 12
 Chapter 13
 Chapter 14
 Chapter 15
 The Diary of Cordelia Bloodson
 Chapter 16
 Chapter 17
 The Diary of Cordelia Bloodson
 Chapter 18
 Chapter 19
 Chapter 20
 Chapter 21
 Chapter 22
 Chapter 23
 Chapter 24
 Chapter 25
 Chapter 26
 The Diary of Cordelia Bloodson
 Chapter 27
 Chapter 28
 Chapter 29
 Chapter 30
 From the Pen of Doctor Edgar Valance
 Chapter 31
 Chapter 32
 Chapter 33
 About the Author
 Enjoy what you read?
 
 
 
 
 
 For Jess and Em, my teenage ride-or-dies that I would face any curse for. Long live our nineties memories.
 
 
 
 
 
 The Diary of Cordelia Bloodson
 
 June 27, 1836
 
 
 It is a sensation more potent than knowledge, a suspicion stronger than truth. I can feel it claiming me—death, that is. 
 The contractions grow intense today. The baby is pushing his way out, searching for bright freedom from my dark, swollen womb. Yet something feels wrong. The pain is as heavy as my heart, but it is not the discomfort of childbirth. It is altogether something different.
 I have seen a change in my husband, an anger untapped until recently, and I fear I will not be on earth much longer to pick up the pieces of Reginald’s inevitable destruction. 
 The ghost of my father visited me in a dream last night. Or perhaps it was a nightmare. The two have been intertwined as of late. Father brought a warning that something terrible is about to happen that will bring ruin to my home and disgrace to my family. How can I bring a fifth child into a world so full of evil?
 I spoke of my concerns to Reginald, but 
 
 
 Prologue 
 
 June 27, 1997
 
 
 When you’re the descendant of one of history’s most notorious killers, you’re born with a dark mark. No matter how far you try to run from the reputation, it always catches up to you in the looks you get when people connect the dots between you and that infamous name. 
 Jack the Ripper. Lizzie Borden. Ted Bundy. And then there is Reginald Bloodson, the man who left my family legacy in ruins. 
 As if being related to a killer wasn’t enough, add to that a curse passed down for generations, and you spend your whole life with a scarlet letter plastered on your chest. The town of Bloodson Bay blamed my ancestor for the unexplained mysteries that happened every year, on this very date, June 27, for as long as anyone could remember. But that’s not the worst of it.
 When a murder happens in your own backyard and you’re forced to cover it up…well, there’s no coming back from that. That kind of thing condemns the soul.
 No matter how many secrets I