Chapter 2
I read the message three times.
Did Sarah see the shoes? If yes, bring Emma to me before Paige learns the rest.
The rest.
Two small words.
They turned the room darker than any betrayal could have.
Daniel reached for the phone.
I stepped back.
“Don’t.”
His voice dropped.
“Sarah, give me my phone.”
I held it tighter.
“Your mother knows?”
Paige stared at him.
“Your mother knows about me?”
Daniel rubbed his face.
“This is not what it looks like.”
I laughed once.
It came out broken.
“It looks like you kept two families for six years.”
Emma stood behind me, clutching the doorframe.
Paige looked at my daughter, then back at the photo of hers.
“My daughter’s name is Lily,” she whispered. “You told me Emma was your niece.”
My stomach turned.
“Niece?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“I was trying to protect everyone.”
I moved so fast he flinched.
“From what?”
He did not answer.
Downstairs, my phone started ringing inside my purse.
I ignored it.
Then the house phone rang.
Then Daniel’s phone lit again.
Mom.
Mom.
Mom.
Paige looked terrified now.
“Why does your mother want Emma?”
Daniel grabbed his shirt from the floor.
“Because she panics.”
“No,” I said. “That message was not panic. That was instruction.”
Emma began to cry quietly.
I turned and picked her up.
Her little body curled into mine.
“Mommy, am I in trouble?”
“No, baby.”
“Daddy said if I told, you would leave again.”
My eyes snapped to Daniel.
He looked away.
Paige covered her mouth.
“He told Lily the same thing.”
The floor seemed to vanish under me.
“What did he tell her?”
“That if she asked about Sarah, I would take her away from him.”
I could barely breathe.
Daniel had not only lied to me.
He had trained two children to fear the truth.
I turned to Paige.
“Where is Lily now?”
“With Daniel’s mother.”
The words hit the room like glass breaking.
“What?”
Paige’s eyes filled.
“She said Lily wanted a grandmother day. She picked her up this morning.”
I looked at Daniel’s phone again.
Bring Emma to me.
My hands went numb.
His mother had one daughter.
She wanted the other.
“Call her,” I said.
Daniel shook his head.
“Sarah, calm down.”
I put Emma down gently and dialed his mother from his phone.
Margaret answered on the first ring.
“Daniel, did you get her?”
I put the call on speaker.
No one breathed.
Margaret continued.
“Bring Emma through the garage. Paige doesn’t need to see them together yet.”
Paige whispered, “Them?”
I spoke.
“Margaret.”
Silence.
Then a sharp inhale.
“Sarah.”
“Where is Lily?”
Another pause.
“What Lily?”
Paige stepped forward.
“My daughter.”
Margaret’s voice changed.
Cold.
“That child has nothing to do with you anymore.”
Paige went white.
Daniel whispered, “Mom, stop.”
I stared at him.
“What does she mean?”
Margaret hung up.
For one second, no one moved.
Then Paige screamed.
Not loud.
Not theatrical.
Raw.
“My daughter is with that woman.”
I grabbed Daniel’s keys from the dresser.
“Address.”
Daniel stepped in front of me.
“You are not going over there like this.”
I looked at him.
“You have three seconds to move.”
He grabbed my wrist.
Wrong choice.
I twisted free and shoved him hard enough that he stumbled into the dresser.
Paige snatched her clothes from the bed.
Emma sobbed.
“Mommy, don’t fight.”
That stopped me.
Not because Daniel deserved calm.
Because Emma deserved safety.
I knelt and held her face.
“We are going to get Lily.”
She blinked through tears.
“The other me?”
My heart cracked.
“Yes, baby.”
Daniel said, “You are making this worse.”
Paige snapped, “Worse than what? Your mother stealing my child?”
He shouted, “She didn’t steal her.”
Then his face collapsed.
Too late.
I heard it.
Paige heard it.
Emma heard it.
I whispered, “What did Margaret do?”
Daniel swallowed.
“She said it was better if the girls didn’t know.”
“The girls,” Paige repeated.
He sat on the bed like his legs had stopped working.
“My father’s trust.”
I went still.
“What trust?”
Daniel looked at me.
“My father left money for his first legitimate granddaughter.”
Paige said, “First?”
Daniel nodded slowly.
“The girls were born two days apart.”
Two days.
My Emma.
Paige’s Lily.
Same father.
Same age.
Same secret.
Daniel continued, “Mom said if there were two claims, everything could be frozen. She told me to keep it quiet until she fixed the paperwork.”
I stared at him.
“You let your mother erase a child for money.”
He shook his head.
“No. I provided for Lily.”
Paige slapped him across the face.
The sound cracked through the room.
“I did not need your secret checks. I needed the truth.”
Daniel held his cheek, stunned.
I grabbed Emma’s shoes from the hall.
Paige pulled on her dress with shaking hands.
We were halfway down the stairs when the front door opened.
Two police officers stepped inside.
Behind them stood Margaret.
Perfect hair.
Pearl necklace.
Calm smile.
She pointed at Paige.
“That is the woman who broke into my son’s home.”
Then she looked at me.
“And Sarah is having another one of her episodes.”
Emma whimpered.
Paige whispered, “Where is Lily?”
Margaret smiled.
“What child?”
Then I saw something in her purse.
May you like
A tiny pink hair bow.
Matching the one in Paige’s photo.
