Chapter 2
The words hung in the air like a toxic fog.
The guests leaned in, phones raised, whispers bouncing off the chandeliers.
Margaret’s face drained of color.
She snatched the test from James’ hand and tore it into tiny pieces.
“Lies,” she shrieked. “That’s a forgery. That girl is jealous of me.”
She pointed a shaking finger at me.
“Emily put him up to this. She’s always wanted to turn my son against me.”
I tightened my grip on Lily.
My daughter buried her face in my neck, her small body shaking so hard I could feel it in my bones.
James stood frozen.
His eyes darted between his mother’s hysterics and the scraps of paper at her feet.
“Mom,” he said, his voice cracking. “Is it true?”
“Of course not.” Margaret grabbed his arm, her nails digging into his skin. “You know I would never lie to you. That woman has been poisoning your mind since the day you married her.”
I stood, holding Lily against my hip.
Her blood had seeped through her tights, leaving a dark stain on my dress.
“James,” I said. “Look at our daughter. She’s hurt. She’s scared. We need to leave.”
Margaret stepped between us.
“You are not taking that child anywhere until you apologize for hitting me.”
“Get out of my way.”
“Or what? You’ll hit me again? In front of all these people?” She turned to the crowd, her voice rising to a wail. “See? She’s violent. She’s unfit to be a mother. I should have custody of my granddaughter.”
James finally moved.
He stepped in front of his mother, his back to me.
“Mom, enough.”
Margaret reared back as if he’d slapped her.
“James, how can you take her side? I’m your mother. I gave you everything.”
“I don’t know what to believe right now.” His voice was raw. “But Lily is bleeding. We’re going home.”
He reached for Lily, but she flinched away.
Tears filled his eyes.
“Baby, please. It’s Daddy.”
Lily clung tighter to me.
“You believed Grandma over me.”
The words cut him deeper than any knife.
I brushed a strand of hair from her face.
“It’s okay, baby. Let’s just go.”
I walked past Margaret without a second glance.
She screamed after me, calling me names I won’t repeat, but I didn’t care.
All that mattered was getting my daughter out of there.
James followed us to the car, silent.
He tried to touch my arm as I strapped Lily into her seat, but I pulled away.
“Emily, I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?” I snapped. “For calling me a liar? For letting her talk to our daughter like that? For not seeing what she is until a piece of paper told you?”
He flinched.
“I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t want to know.” I closed the car door and turned to him. “For six years, she has treated me like dirt. For six years, she has made comments about Lily being ‘too quiet’ or ‘too clumsy’ or ‘not enough like a real Carter.’ And every time, you told me I was overreacting.”
“I know.” He ran a hand through his hair, his face pale. “I was stupid. I was weak. I just wanted my family to be normal.”
“Normal families don’t shove six-year-olds on the floor. Normal mothers don’t forge DNA tests.” I leaned against the car, my legs finally giving out. “James, if that test was real… if she is Lily’s biological mother… what does that mean for us?”
He didn’t answer.
He couldn’t.
Because neither of us wanted to say the words out loud.
If Margaret was Lily’s biological mother, then I wasn’t.
The daughter I’d carried for nine months, the baby I’d held in my arms the second she was born, the little girl I’d kissed every night and wiped every tear for… might not be mine.
The thought made me sick.
I slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine.
James stood outside the car, his hands in his pockets, looking lost.
“Are you coming?” I asked.
He hesitated for a long moment.
Then he nodded and climbed into the passenger seat.
As we pulled away from the hotel, I looked in the rearview mirror.
Margaret stood on the steps, surrounded by guests, screaming into a phone.
Her eyes met mine in the mirror.
May you like
And she smiled.
A cold, cruel smile that told me this was only the beginning.
