Chapter 2
"Did you just say Rachel?"
The words came out of my mouth before I could think.
Isaiah Bennett stared at me.
"You know my daughter's name?"
I tightened my hold around Lily.
"Rachel Morgan. Is that who you're talking about?"
His expression shattered.
"Her name was Rachel Bennett."
I felt the ground shift beneath me.
Bennett.
Not Morgan.
For six years, I had believed the woman I loved was an ordinary nurse who had moved to Atlanta to escape a difficult family.
She had told me her parents were controlling.
She had told me they would never approve of our relationship.
But she had never said she belonged to one of the wealthiest families in the state.
"Rachel was my wife," I whispered.
Isaiah took a step backward.
"Your what?"
"We got married seven years ago. Quiet courthouse ceremony. She was pregnant with Lily."
His eyes dropped toward my daughter.
Lily pressed her face into my shoulder.
"Is this man mad at us, Daddy?"
"No, sweetheart."
Isaiah immediately softened.
"No, little angel. I'm not angry."
He crouched a few feet away from us.
"My name is Isaiah."
Lily peeked over my shoulder.
"That's a nice name."
His lips trembled.
"Thank you."
She looked at him curiously.
"Why are you crying?"
Isaiah wiped his face.
"Because you remind me of somebody I love very much."
Before I could respond, the mansion's front door opened.
Evelyn Bennett came down the stone steps.
Her purple gown moved around her ankles.
Her expression was controlled now, but her hands betrayed her.
They were shaking.
"Isaiah!"
She stopped several feet from us.
"What are these people doing here?"
Isaiah stood.
"This man says he married Rachel."
For one brief second, Evelyn looked as though someone had struck her.
Then she laughed.
It was a cold, sharp sound.
"That's absurd."
I pulled the folded marriage certificate from the folder I had brought.
"Then explain this."
She barely glanced at it.
"Documents can be fabricated."
Isaiah took the paper from me.
His eyes moved across the page.
I watched his jaw tighten.
"This is Rachel's signature."
Evelyn shook her head.
"You cannot possibly know that."
"I watched my daughter write her name for twenty-six years."
He turned toward her.
"Why didn't you ever tell me she was married?"
"I didn't know."
"Then why did you order security to send them away?"
Her mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
I stepped forward.
"That's what I'd like to know."
Evelyn gave me a look filled with disgust.
"I don't owe you an explanation."
"You owe my daughter one."
Lily began to cry.
I immediately turned away from the confrontation.
"Hey, hey. Look at me, princess."
She rubbed her eyes.
"I want to go home."
The words nearly broke me.
I had brought her here believing I might finally give her answers.
Instead, I had dragged her into a nightmare.
Isaiah approached carefully.
"Please. There is a sitting room just inside the gate. Somewhere quiet for her."
Evelyn snapped her head toward him.
"Absolutely not."
He looked at his wife.
"Open the gate."
"Isaiah—"
"Open it."
I had never heard a voice become so calm and so dangerous at the same time.
The guard hurried toward the control panel.
Seconds later, the massive gates began to separate.
Evelyn looked at me with an expression I would never forget.
Not anger.
Not disbelief.
Fear.
Isaiah led us into a comfortable sitting room near the mansion's entrance.
He asked a housekeeper to bring water and juice.
Lily sat beside me, hugging her teddy bear.
Evelyn remained standing near the door.
As though she wanted to escape.
Isaiah sat opposite us.
"Marcus, I need you to tell me everything."
So I did.
I told him about meeting Rachel at a small community fundraiser.
How she had been wearing jeans and an old college sweatshirt.
How she laughed when I accidentally spilled lemonade on my shirt.
How we had fallen in love without expensive restaurants or elaborate vacations.
I told him about our wedding.
Our little apartment.
The night Rachel showed me her positive pregnancy test.
And the day she entered a private medical facility after Lily's birth.
Isaiah listened without interrupting.
When I described the letter saying Rachel had left us, he closed his eyes.
"Did you ever actually speak with her afterward?"
"No."
"Did she call you?"
"No."
"Did she tell you directly that she wanted to leave?"
I shook my head.
"Only the letter."
Isaiah looked toward Evelyn.
"What facility?"
I answered.
"Willow Creek Medical Center."
His face drained of color.
Evelyn suddenly spoke.
"Rachel was emotionally unstable. You cannot trust anything this man says."
I stood so abruptly that Lily flinched.
"Don't you dare talk about her like that."
Evelyn folded her arms.
"Rachel made poor decisions."
"She loved her daughter!"
"You don't know what she wanted."
"Then tell me!"
My voice echoed through the room.
"Tell me where she is!"
Evelyn looked away.
Isaiah stood.
"Evelyn, you told me Rachel disappeared while traveling overseas."
She remained silent.
"You told me she had emptied her accounts and run away."
"I told you what I believed."
"Then why was she in Willow Creek?"
Her lips tightened.
"I don't remember."
Isaiah's eyes hardened.
"You were chairman of that medical center's charitable board."
Silence.
A terrible, heavy silence.
Then Lily spoke.
"Grandpa?"
We all turned.
She was looking at Isaiah.
"Are you my grandpa?"
His expression collapsed.
He knelt beside her.
"I think I might be, sweetheart."
Lily considered that.
"Do you like teddy bears?"
He laughed through his tears.
"I love them."
She held out her little brown bear.
"This is Benny."
Isaiah gently touched its paw.
"Hello, Benny."
For the first time that day, Lily smiled.
I looked at the wealthy man kneeling in front of my daughter.
And I saw something that no amount of money could manufacture.
Love.
Evelyn couldn't stand it.
"This has gone far enough."
She reached toward Lily.
"We need to have this child properly tested before anyone starts making ridiculous claims."
I moved between them.
"Don't touch her."
Evelyn stepped back.
Isaiah straightened.
"We will arrange independent DNA testing. But nobody is taking Lily anywhere without Marcus's permission."
Evelyn's expression darkened.
"You are being manipulated."
Isaiah ignored her.
He turned to me.
"Do you still have that letter?"
"Every word."
"Bring it."
He glanced at his wife.
"And Evelyn, I want every record connected to Willow Creek."
She went completely still.
A moment later, her phone vibrated.
She checked the screen.
I watched the color leave her face.
Then she hurried out of the room.
I might have let her go.
But Lily suddenly tugged my sleeve.
"Daddy?"
"Yes, baby?"
"That lady smells like the hospital."
I frowned.
"What hospital?"
Lily lowered her voice.
"The place where they gave me medicine when I was little."
I stared at her.
"Lily, what are you talking about?"
She pointed toward the doorway Evelyn had just disappeared through.
"She was there."
My heart stopped.
"How do you know?"
Lily hugged Benny.
"She told me not to tell you."
May you like
Isaiah and I looked at each other.
And I knew the lies surrounding my daughter were far bigger than either of us had imagined.
