Chapter 1
The crowbar struck the metal dock inches from my fingers.
I screamed.
My body slipped lower into the freezing lake, and water rushed into my mouth.
Above me, Vanessa raised the crowbar again.
"Let go, Nia!"
I tightened my grip on the slippery edge.
"Please! Somebody help me!"
She leaned over me, her champagne-colored evening gown glittering in the setting sun.
Nobody looking at her would have believed she was trying to kill someone.
Her hair was perfectly styled.
Diamonds flashed around her neck.
Her makeup hadn't moved.
But her eyes were filled with hatred.
"You should have stayed away from this family," she hissed.
I kicked desperately beneath the water.
My legs were becoming numb.
"Vanessa, please! I can't swim much longer!"
"Then stop fighting."
She lifted the crowbar.
I closed my eyes.
For one terrible second, I thought about my little apartment in Atlanta.
The flowers on my kitchen windowsill.
The unfinished painting beside my bed.
All the ordinary things I had expected to see tomorrow.
I wasn't ready to die.
I opened my eyes and shouted as loudly as I could.
"HELP ME!"
Vanessa brought the crowbar down again.
Metal rang against metal.
My right hand slipped.
I caught the dock with my left.
Pain shot through my shoulder.
Vanessa laughed.
"Look at you. Still pretending you're stronger than everyone else."
I stared up at her.
"Why are you doing this?"
Her expression twisted.
"Because you took something that was supposed to be mine."
I didn't understand.
Three weeks earlier, Vanessa had invited me to her family's private estate overlooking Lake Lanier.
She said she wanted to apologize for the way she'd treated me.
We'd met through my job at a luxury property management company.
For months, she had criticized my work and accused me of trying to impress wealthy clients.
But two days earlier, she'd called me crying.
She claimed she had discovered information about my birth family.
That was why I came.
Not for money.
Not for revenge.
For answers.
I had spent thirty-two years wondering why my mother abandoned me.
The only thing I possessed from my childhood was a small silver necklace engraved with the letter E.
Vanessa claimed she'd found someone who recognized it.
Instead, she'd brought me to the dock.
She'd demanded my phone.
When I refused, she shoved me into the water.
And now she was trying to stop me from climbing out.
"Vanessa," I gasped, "whatever you think I've done, you're wrong."
She pointed the crowbar toward my face.
"You're the mistake."
My fingers began slipping again.
Then I heard engines.
Loud engines.
Vanessa turned sharply.
Three black SUVs raced across the manicured lawn toward the dock.
Their tires scattered gravel.
The vehicles stopped with violent precision.
Doors flew open.
Men and women in black security uniforms rushed out.
Vanessa staggered backward.
"What is this?"
One officer shouted, "Drop the weapon!"
Another ran toward the dock.
I could barely keep my head above water.
"Please!"
The officer crouched.
"I've got you. Give me your hand!"
I reached upward.
My fingers missed his.
He leaned farther down while another officer secured him.
"Look at me," he said. "You're coming out."
I grabbed his wrist.
With the second officer helping, he pulled me over the dock's edge.
I collapsed onto the wooden boards.
Water poured from my clothes.
My lungs burned.
I coughed until I thought I would be sick.
Someone wrapped a thermal blanket around my shoulders.
"Ma'am, can you breathe?"
I nodded weakly.
But my eyes stayed fixed on Vanessa.
She stood surrounded by security officers.
The crowbar lay at her feet.
For the first time since I'd met her, she looked afraid.
"Who called you?" she demanded.
Nobody answered.
Then the center SUV opened.
A tall woman stepped onto the lawn.
She wore an immaculate black suit and pointed heels.
Her sleek bob framed a face that seemed carved from determination.
I recognized her immediately.
Evelyn Whitmore.
One of the wealthiest businesswomen in Georgia.
A woman whose hotels, investment properties, and charitable foundations appeared regularly in financial magazines.
Vanessa's employer.
And, according to Vanessa, the woman who had been searching for the necklace I wore.
Evelyn walked toward us.
Her expression remained controlled.
But her eyes changed when she saw me trembling beneath the blanket.
She stopped.
For a brief moment, her composure broke.
"Nia."
I stared at her.
She knew my name.
Not because we'd been introduced.
Because she said it like someone who had been waiting years to speak it.
Vanessa moved forward.
"Evelyn, I can explain."
Evelyn didn't even look at her.
She approached the dock, then turned toward the security team.
"Get her farther away from my daughter."
Everything inside me went still.
My daughter.
I looked around, convinced she meant someone else.
There was nobody behind me.
Only security officers and the dark water.
Vanessa's face drained of color.
"Your daughter?"
Evelyn finally turned toward her.
"Yes."
Her voice was quiet.
Terrifyingly quiet.
"My daughter."
I tried to stand.
My knees buckled.
An officer caught me.
I stared at Evelyn.
"That's not possible."
Her eyes filled with tears.
She came closer.
"Sweetheart..."
The word struck something deep inside me.
I hadn't been called sweetheart by a mother since I was six years old.
I swallowed painfully.
"My mother abandoned me."
Evelyn's expression crumpled.
"No."
She reached toward me, then stopped when I flinched.
"I never abandoned you."
Vanessa shook her head.
"She's lying, Nia."
Evelyn turned.
"Be quiet."
Vanessa took a step backward.
Evelyn reached inside her coat.
She removed a sealed black folder.
I noticed her hands trembling.
"Thirty-two years ago," she said, "someone took my daughter from me."
My breathing stopped.
Vanessa looked toward the SUVs.
Then toward the mansion.
As though calculating whether she could escape.
Evelyn noticed.
"Don't even think about leaving."
Vanessa's voice cracked.
"You don't understand what happened."
Evelyn stepped closer.
"I understand enough."
She raised the folder.
"I know about the forged adoption documents."
Vanessa began shaking her head.
"I wasn't involved."
"I know about the payments."
"Those weren't mine!"
"And I know someone tried to make Nia disappear before I could bring her home."
The evening seemed suddenly silent.
Even the water behind me sounded distant.
Evelyn looked directly at Vanessa.
"And now we're going to discuss why you tried to make my daughter disappear."
Vanessa stared at the sealed folder.
Her lips parted.
No words came out.
I stood wrapped in the blanket, shaking so badly I could barely breathe.
The woman I'd searched for my entire life was standing only a few feet away.
And the woman who had just tried to kill me apparently knew why we'd been separated.
Evelyn placed one finger beneath the folder's seal.
Vanessa whispered, "Please don't open that."
I looked between them.
May you like
My heart was pounding.
And for the first time in thirty-two years, I realized my entire childhood might have been built on a lie.
