Chapter 4
I fell to my knees beside Lily's wheelchair.
She touched my face with her good hand.
Not gently at first.
Almost desperately.
Like she needed proof I was real.
“You came.”
I couldn't stop crying.
“I didn't know.”
Her face crumpled.
“I thought you hated me.”
“No.”
I grabbed her hand.
“Never.”
“They told me you didn't want me.”
“Who?”
She laughed bitterly through her tears.
“Who do you think?”
My heart sank.
“Mom.”
Lily looked away.
“I wrote to you.”
“I wrote to you too.”
She stared at me.
“What?”
“Every letter came back.”
“I never got one.”
We both understood at the same moment.
Mom had intercepted both sides.
Nine years of separation hadn't been one lie.
It had been hundreds.
Lily covered her mouth.
“I thought you chose her.”
“I thought you chose Scott.”
She closed her eyes.
“I did choose him.”
“No.”
“You don't have to protect me.”
“I'm not.”
I squeezed her hand.
“You were nineteen.”
“I still made choices.”
Her voice trembled.
“And I kept making them.”
I didn't argue.
Not now.
“Where is Eli?”
The question came suddenly.
Her entire body tightened.
“He's safe.”
She grabbed my wrist.
“Where?”
“With Noah.”
Her eyes widened.
“You found him?”
“He found us.”
Lily started sobbing.
I wrapped my arms around her carefully.
“He walked to my house.”
“Oh God.”
“He's okay.”
“I told him if anything happened—”
“I know.”
I pulled the photograph from my purse.
Her photograph.
She touched it.
“You kept it.”
“He did.”
She pressed the picture to her chest.
“Scott took him.”
“When?”
“The night I got hurt.”
My blood turned cold.
Lily looked toward the window.
“He was drunk.”
I waited.
She struggled to continue.
“We fought because I told him I was leaving.”
Her fingers trembled.
“I had already packed Eli's backpack.”
“What happened?”
“He grabbed me.”
I felt sick.
“I fell down the stairs.”
My eyes burned.
“Did he push you?”
She nodded.
The room went silent except for the faint machine near her bed.
“When I woke up, I was here.”
“How long?”
“Almost a month.”
“Why couldn't you call me?”
“I didn't know your number.”
“But you knew my address.”
“I gave it to Eli.”
She wiped her face.
“My phone disappeared after the ambulance came.”
“Scott.”
“Probably.”
“Did you tell police?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't anyone find Eli?”
“Scott told them Eli was staying with relatives.”
I clenched my fists.
“What relatives?”
“He wouldn't say.”
Lily looked at me desperately.
“I've been calling shelters. Schools. Anyone.”
“You didn't know he was alone.”
“No.”
She broke down again.
I held her until she could breathe.
Then I told her everything.
The bus station.
The laundromat.
Noah's lunches.
The message on the back of the photograph.
By the end, Lily looked devastated.
“He waited for Scott.”
“Yes.”
“I taught him to trust his father.”
“You taught him to trust someone who should have protected him.”
I touched her cheek.
“The failure belongs to Scott.”
She looked at me.
“You sound different.”
“So do you.”
She smiled faintly.
“For years, I imagined what it would feel like to see you again.”
“Was I prettier in your imagination?”
She laughed.
A small, cracked laugh.
But it sounded like childhood.
Then Ben entered.
He had been waiting outside to give us time.
Lily immediately started crying again.
“Ben.”
He hugged her carefully.
“You remember me?”
“You were the annoying boyfriend who ate all our cereal.”
“Still guilty.”
That afternoon, social services brought Eli to the hospital.
I will never forget the sound Lily made when she saw him.
“Mom!”
Eli ran across the room.
Lily tried to stand.
The nurse stopped her.
Eli reached her first.
He climbed into her lap carefully, avoiding the injured arm.
“I waited.”
“I know.”
“You said Aunt Claire would help.”
“I know.”
“She did.”
Lily buried her face in his hair.
“I am so sorry.”
Eli started crying.
“You didn't come back.”
“I couldn't.”
“Dad didn't either.”
Her face hardened.
“I know.”
“I thought maybe I did something bad.”
Lily pulled away.
“No.”
She held his face.
“Never think that.”
“But Dad got mad when I cried.”
“He was wrong.”
“Is he coming?”
“No.”
Her answer was immediate.
“He will never take you away from me again.”
I stood beside Ben with tears running down my face.
Noah stepped forward awkwardly.
“Hi.”
Lily looked at him.
Her entire expression softened.
“You must be Noah.”
He smiled.
“I'm your nephew.”
She laughed.
“Yes.”
“And Eli's cousin.”
“Yes.”
Noah looked proud of himself.
“I gave him my sandwich.”
Lily started crying again.
Noah panicked.
“I can give him another one.”
We all laughed.
That evening, Detective Ramirez came.
He needed Lily's statement.
She told him everything.
Scott's drinking.
The threats.
The financial control.
The night he pushed her.
His promise to take Eli if she ever tried to leave.
I watched my sister speak.
Sometimes her voice shook.
Sometimes she stopped.
But she finished.
The detective closed his notebook.
“We're going to find him.”
Lily looked terrified.
“What happens when you do?”
“He'll be arrested.”
“And Eli?”
“Scott won't be allowed near him while the case is active.”
Relief crossed her face.
Then the detective looked at me.
“We also need to discuss Margaret Bennett.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“Because some of the messages you provided suggest she sent money to Scott.”
Lily turned sharply.
“What?”
I stared at the detective.
“My mother sent money to Lily.”
“Some transfers went directly to Scott Mercer.”
Lily went pale.
“How much?”
“Over several years?”
He checked his notes.
“Approximately thirty-eight thousand dollars.”
I couldn't speak.
Lily shook her head.
“That isn't possible.”
“She paid him?”
The detective nodded.
“We need to determine why.”
Lily looked at me.
Fear replaced relief.
“Claire.”
I already knew what she was thinking.
Our mother hadn't merely blocked our letters.
May you like
She had been financially connected to the man who abused my sister.
And suddenly, I wondered whether Margaret's secrets were even worse than we knew.
