Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN
The message was followed by a photograph.
I opened it.
It showed Lily asleep in her hospital room.
The photograph had been taken minutes earlier.
My blood turned cold.
I ran.
Detective Collins followed.
We reached Lily's room.
The door was locked.
Inside, Lily was awake.
A nurse stood beside her.
“Mommy?”
I rushed inside.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded.
Then she pointed behind the curtain.
“Someone was there.”
Detective Collins pulled the curtain back.
Nobody.
But a small envelope lay on the floor.
Inside was a photograph.
Me.
Michael.
Daniel.
And Lily.
Taken years earlier.
On the back were five words:
THE FOUR OF YOU WERE NEVER AN ACCIDENT.
I stared at Collins.
“What does that mean?”
He shook his head.
“We need to find out.”
Then Lily spoke.
“Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Grandma told me something.”
“What?”
“She said Daddy isn't my daddy.”
My heart broke.
“I know.”
Lily looked confused.
“Is Uncle Michael?”
I nodded.
She looked toward the floor.
“Then why did Daddy say he was?”
“Because adults make mistakes.”
She shook her head.
“Daddy didn't make a mistake.”
“What do you mean?”
“He told Grandma he knew.”
I froze.
“Knew what?”
“That Uncle Michael was my real daddy.”
Collins looked at me.
“When did he say that?”
“Yesterday.”
I knelt beside Lily.
“What else did you hear?”
“He said if Mommy found out, everything would be ruined.”
“Everything?”
“The plan.”
I felt sick.
“What plan?”
Lily looked at her smartwatch.
“I recorded that too.”
She pressed the screen.
Daniel's voice appeared.
“Once the court signs the guardianship order, we move the money.”
Evelyn answered:
“And Michael?”
“He'll be blamed.”
“What about the mother?”
“She'll be made to look unstable.”
My breath caught.
Then another voice entered.
A woman's voice.
Not Evelyn.
Not Rebecca.
Not anyone I recognized.
“You're forgetting one person.”
Daniel said:
“Who?”
The woman answered:
“Me.”
The recording ended.
Collins stared at me.
“Who was that?”
“I don't know.”
Lily looked frightened.
“She came to Grandma's house.”
“Who?”
“She had red hair.”
My heart stopped.
There was only one woman I knew who matched that description.
Daniel's attorney.
Claire Morgan.
A woman who had represented our family for years.
Collins immediately called for her arrest.
But before he could finish the call, his phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
“What?”
He listened.
Then he looked at me.
“Claire Morgan just filed an emergency petition.”
“For what?”
“Temporary custody of Lily.”
I stared at him.
“On what grounds?”
He handed me the document.
The allegations were devastating.
I was described as emotionally unstable.
Negligent.
Financially reckless.
Dangerous around my own daughter.
Every accusation was supported by medical records.
Records from Dr. Harris.
Records that had been manipulated.
And every document had been signed by one person.
Claire Morgan.
But there was something else.
At the bottom of the petition was a handwritten note.
If the mother refuses, remove the child immediately.
I looked at Collins.
“Can they do that?”
“Not legally.”
“Then why are they trying?”
He stared at the paperwork.
“Because someone has already bribed a judge.”
I felt my blood turn cold.
“How do we prove it?”
May you like
Collins looked at Lily's smartwatch.
“Maybe your daughter already did.”
