Chapter 4
I stood outside Claire’s hospital room for nearly five minutes before going in.
I was afraid of her.
Not because she might hurt me.
Because she might tell me the truth.
She sat upright in bed, Mia asleep beside her and Noah curled under a blanket nearby.
When she saw me, her lips trembled.
“Ryan.”
I walked in slowly.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For not remembering.”
She closed her eyes.
“That isn’t your fault.”
“It feels like it is.”
She looked down at her hands.
“You had an accident.”
“I remember a car accident.”
“You remember what Caroline told you.”
My chest tightened.
“What happened?”
Claire’s voice shook.
“We were married. Mia was a baby. I was pregnant with Noah. We were driving home from your father’s lake house when another car hit us.”
“I was told I crashed alone.”
She shook her head.
“No. I was with you. Mia was with my mother that night.”
“And then?”
“I woke up in a clinic. Caroline was there. She told me you died.”
The room tilted.
“She showed me a death certificate. She said Mia had been taken by your family because they blamed me for the crash.”
“That’s not true.”
“I know that now.”
Her eyes filled.
“At first, I believed her.”
I sat beside the bed.
“Why would she keep you alive?”
Claire laughed softly.
No humor.
“Money. The trust. Your inheritance. My inheritance. She needed signatures. She needed me breathing just enough to use me.”
I thought of the hidden rooms.
The food.
Lily carrying water at night.
“How did Lily know?”
Claire looked toward the door.
“Mia found a loose vent. Lily heard her crying. Your daughter saved us.”
My daughter.
Lily.
But something in Claire’s face made my stomach sink.
“What is it?”
Claire’s hand tightened on the sheet.
“Ryan, Lily is yours.”
“I know.”
Her voice broke.
“And mine.”
I stared at her.
“No.”
“They told me the baby I delivered after the crash died.”
“No.”
“Mia recognized her first. Same eyes. Same birthmark behind her ear.”
I stood so fast the chair scraped.
Lily.
The little girl I had loved since birth.
The child Caroline said she carried.
My daughter.
Claire’s daughter.
Our daughter.
I walked into the hallway and bent over, trying to breathe.
Then my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
May you like
A message appeared.
If Claire remembers everything, Lily disappears next.
