Chapter 4
The brass key opened the drawer.
Margaret stopped breathing.
That scared me more than her anger.
Inside were three folders.
One red.
One blue.
One yellow.
And a sealed envelope addressed to me.
Audrey, if Mom comes for the office, do not let her leave with the red folder.
My hands shook.
Lydia took the red folder first.
Margaret lunged.
Miles caught her wrist.
“Ma’am.”
“Let go of me!”
Poppy whimpered.
I pulled her behind me.
Lydia opened the folder.
Inside were bank statements.
Trust records.
Property transfers.
And adoption documents.
Poppy’s adoption documents.
I grabbed the desk.
“What is this?”
Lydia read silently.
Her face changed.
“Audrey.”
“What?”
She lowered her voice.
“Grant was investigating irregularities in Poppy’s adoption.”
Margaret snapped, “That is nonsense.”
Lydia ignored her.
“Payments were made through Bennett accounts to a private agency that later closed.”
My stomach turned.
Poppy was three days old when placed with us.
We had believed everything was legal.
Clean.
Loving.
Grant had handled most of the agency meetings because I was recovering from surgery after a failed pregnancy.
“What irregularities?” I asked.
Lydia turned a page.
“Her birth mother may not have signed final consent.”
The room tilted.
Poppy looked up at me.
“Mommy?”
I knelt immediately.
“You are my daughter. Nothing changes that.”
But I felt terror move through my bones.
Margaret’s voice was sharp.
“You see? The child was never truly yours.”
Serena flinched.
Even she looked horrified.
I stood slowly.
“Why did Grant have this?”
Margaret looked away.
Lydia opened the blue folder.
Inside were medical records.
Serena’s.
And a DNA test.
Serena’s baby was not Grant’s.
Serena gasped.
“What?”
Margaret’s face went white.
The yellow folder came last.
It contained life insurance documents.
Grant had changed his beneficiary one week before he died.
Everything went to Poppy.
Not Margaret.
Not Serena’s baby.
May you like
Poppy.
That was why Margaret came.
