Chapter 2: The Secret Behind the Marriage
Chapter 2: The Secret Behind the Marriage
I carried Lily upstairs.
Every step felt heavier.
Not because of exhaustion.
Because every room told a story.
Her bedroom door was slightly open.
That was wrong.
Lily always closed it halfway before bed because she believed monsters couldn't enter if the door wasn't completely open.
I pushed it gently.
The room looked different.
Her stuffed animals were shoved into a corner.
Her drawings had disappeared from the walls.
The pink blanket my mother made for her was gone.
I stopped breathing.
Someone had erased my daughter from her own room.
"Lily," I whispered.
She looked away.
"Vanessa said big girls don't need baby things."
My hands curled into fists.
"Did Vanessa hurt you?"
Silence.
Then a tiny nod.
My heart cracked.
"Where?"
Lily pulled up her sleeve.
Small bruises covered her arm.
My vision blurred.
Not from tears.
From anger.
I had spent my entire career learning how to control emotions.
How to think clearly under pressure.
How to wait for the right moment.
But this wasn't an operation.
This was my child.
A knock came at the door.
Grant.
"Evelyn, we need to talk."
I didn't answer.
He entered anyway.
"I don't know what you think you saw—"
"I saw my daughter on the floor."
His jaw tightened.
"Vanessa was only disciplining her."
"With a shoe?"
"She spilled wine on Vanessa's dress."
I stared at him.
"You are defending the woman who hurt our daughter."
"Don't exaggerate."
That sentence hurt more than anything.
Because I realized something.
Grant wasn't confused.
He wasn't manipulated.
He was choosing.
"You knew."
His face changed.
"What?"
"You knew she was hurting Lily."
"No."
"You knew."
The silence answered for him.
I slowly placed Lily on her bed.
Then I walked toward my husband.
"When did you stop loving us?"
Grant looked away.
"I didn't."
"Then when did you decide we were disposable?"
His voice became colder.
"You were never here."
There it was.
The excuse.
"I was protecting this family."
"You were chasing your career."
"I was protecting people."
"People who weren't us."
I stared at him.
"Do you know why I took that mission?"
He didn't answer.
"Because the threat involved children."
His expression changed slightly.
"I thought if I could stop those criminals, fewer families would suffer."
I stepped closer.
"I never imagined my own daughter would become one of them."
Grant swallowed.
For a moment, I saw guilt.
Then it disappeared.
"Evelyn, things have changed."
"Yes."
I nodded.
"They have."
I reached into my jacket pocket and removed a small black folder.
Grant froze.
Because he recognized it.
"You left something behind while you were planning my replacement."
His face went pale.
"What is that?"
"The reason you should have been more careful."
I placed the folder on the bed.
"Everything you've done while I was gone."
His eyes widened.
"You're spying on me?"
"No."
May you like
I smiled faintly.
"I was investigating."
