Chapter 4 - The Ugly Truth
I slid down the pantry wall, trying to process what Sarah was saying.
Biological.
Emma was Mark's biological child.
Sarah explained that they had faked the adoption to cover up Mark's affair with a nineteen-year-old barista named Jessica.
Jessica had gotten pregnant, and Mark panicked, wanting to protect his reputation and his mother's perfect opinion of him.
He told Sarah they were doing a private adoption, but she later found texts revealing the truth.
The adoption papers were forged by Mark and framed by Linda.
When Sarah threatened to leave and take Emma, Linda threatened to destroy her life using her connections.
So Sarah left, walking away from her husband, her house, and her daughter.
She had stayed away for eight years, thinking I was giving Emma a good life.
But now, Mark had called her, screaming that I knew about the adoption lie.
Sarah warned me that Mark was only telling half the truth to protect himself.
And worse, Jessica was still in the picture.
Mark had been paying her a thousand dollars a month in cash for eight years.
Jessica had other kids now and was threatening to file for custody, claiming she was the real mother.
Sarah told me I needed a lawyer, a good one, and offered to pay for it because she felt she had failed Emma once and didn't want to fail her again.
She warned me that if Jessica got a DNA test, I could lose Emma because I had no legal rights.
I thanked Sarah and promised to fight.
I stepped out of the pantry, wiped my tears, and told Emma that no matter what happened, she was mine and I was hers.
I decided I wasn't going to wait for Mark or Linda or Jessica.
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I was going to fight dirtier than all of them combined.
But first, I had to open the safe in the closet.
