Chapter 2 - The Lie Daniel Chose to Believe
Daniel followed me through the house.
Guests moved aside as I carried Lily toward the front door.
Some stared at the red marks around her wrist.
Others stared at Margaret.
Nobody seemed interested in the birthday cake anymore.
“Emily.”
Daniel caught my arm near the foyer.
I immediately pulled away.
“Don’t touch me.”
He froze.
“I didn’t know she did that.”
“You knew she hated Lily.”
“I didn’t know she would go this far.”
I laughed once.
It wasn’t because anything was funny.
“Daniel, your mother called our daughter a bastard at Thanksgiving.”
“She was angry.”
“She told Lily you weren’t her father on Christmas Eve.”
“I told her to stop.”
“No.”
I looked into his eyes.
“You asked her to stop.”
“There’s a difference.”
Lily rested her head against my shoulder.
I could feel her trembling.
Daniel looked at her.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
Lily didn’t answer.
That hurt him.
I could see it.
But pain did not automatically create innocence.
Six months earlier, an anonymous envelope had arrived at Margaret’s house.
Inside were photographs of me entering a downtown hotel.
There were also printed messages that supposedly showed an affair between me and a man named Nathan Cole.
Daniel confronted me that evening.
I explained immediately.
Nathan had been my attorney.
I had met him privately because I was helping my father settle an old estate matter.
Daniel had refused to believe me.
Then came the laboratory report.
A report claiming Daniel had only a 0.7 percent probability of being Lily’s biological father.
I demanded another test.
Margaret called me desperate.
Daniel said he needed time.
I gave him six months.
That was my mistake.
On the porch that afternoon, I finally understood something.
Daniel had not simply doubted me.
He had chosen the easiest version of the story.
The version where his mother was right.
The version where he didn’t have to challenge his family.
“Where did you get the new test?” Daniel asked.
“Independent laboratory.”
“When?”
“I collected the results this morning.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I was going to.”
My voice cracked.
“Then I came here and found our child chained outside.”
He closed his eyes.
Behind him, Margaret entered the foyer.
“This proves nothing.”
Daniel turned around.
“What?”
“Labs make mistakes.”
I stared at her.
“You seemed pretty confident when the first lab said Lily wasn’t his.”
Margaret’s expression hardened.
“That test was reliable.”
“Was it?”
She said nothing.
Mark suddenly looked at her.
It was only for a second.
But I saw it.
Fear.
Not surprise.
Fear.
And that was when I knew Mark understood exactly what I was talking about.
I shifted Lily higher in my arms.
Then I reached into my bag.
I pulled out the second document.
Not the DNA results.
A bank transfer.
Twenty thousand dollars.
Sent from Margaret Carter’s personal account.
To the technician who had handled our first paternity test.
Mark whispered one word.
“Mom.”
May you like
Margaret looked at him.
And in that instant, the entire family knew the nightmare had only begun.
