Chapter 2
For several seconds, nobody moved.
I could hear Emma breathing behind me.
I could hear Daniel breathing in front of me.
But my own body felt numb.
I stared at the photograph.
The little girl had Daniel’s brown eyes.
Daniel’s chin.
And the same small dimple Emma had on her left cheek.
My knees almost gave out.
“What’s her name?” I asked.
The woman swallowed.
“Lily.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Sarah, this is not what you think.”
I turned slowly toward him.
“You have another five-year-old daughter.”
His mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
“You have another daughter the same age as Emma.”
“Sarah—”
“How old exactly?”
The woman answered before he could.
“Five years and four months.”
I felt something inside me crack.
Emma was five years and two months old.
I looked at Daniel.
“You got both of us pregnant almost at the same time.”
He looked toward the floor.
That was enough.
I laughed once.
Not because anything was funny.
Because if I didn’t laugh, I thought I might scream until the whole neighborhood heard me.
The woman wrapped the blanket around herself.
“My name is Rachel,” she said quietly. “And I swear I didn’t know you were still married.”
I looked at her.
“You came into my house.”
Her face tightened.
“He told me this house was his.”
“It is ours.”
“He said you moved to Atlanta two years ago.”
My eyes snapped toward Daniel.
Rachel continued.
“He told me Emma lived with you most of the time and that she was visiting this week.”
I looked back toward my daughter.
Emma was staring at Daniel like she didn’t recognize him anymore.
That hurt worse than anything.
I walked to her immediately.
“Baby, go downstairs.”
“I don’t want to leave you.”
“I’m okay.”
“No, you’re not.”
My throat closed.
Five years old.
And she could see it.
I knelt and held her face.
“I need you to go sit on the couch and turn on your cartoons. Okay?”
She hesitated.
Then she wrapped her arms around my neck.
“Don’t go away again.”
I held her tighter.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
When she left, I shut the bedroom door.
Then I looked at Daniel.
“Start talking.”
Rachel sat on the edge of the chair near the window.
Daniel rubbed both hands over his face.
“It happened before our wedding.”
“Our wedding was six years ago.”
“I know.”
“You were sleeping with her while we were engaged?”
“It wasn’t serious.”
Rachel stood up.
“Excuse me?”
Daniel flinched.
Rachel pointed at him.
“You told me you loved me.”
“That was complicated.”
“You told me you were going to marry me.”
“I was confused.”
“You got me pregnant.”
“I didn’t know until later.”
Rachel looked like she had been slapped.
“You knew when I was eight weeks pregnant.”
Daniel stared at her.
She stared back.
And suddenly I understood.
They weren’t arguing about something from six years ago.
They knew each other too well.
Their anger was too fresh.
I turned toward Rachel.
“When did you start seeing him again?”
Her expression changed.
Daniel immediately said, “Don’t.”
That one word told me everything.
Rachel looked at me.
“Three years ago.”
The room tilted.
I grabbed the dresser.
“Three years?”
“He contacted me.”
Daniel shook his head.
“That’s not exactly what happened.”
“You emailed me on Lily’s third birthday.”
Rachel pulled her phone from the bed.
“You said you regretted everything.”
Daniel rushed toward her.
I stepped between them.
“Don’t touch her phone.”
He stopped.
Rachel scrolled through messages.
Then she handed the phone to me.
There were hundreds.
Pictures.
Dinner reservations.
Hotel confirmations.
Messages from Daniel.
I miss you.
I wish things were different.
Sarah is always traveling.
You understand me better.
One day we’ll fix this.
My stomach turned.
Then I saw a photo dated three months earlier.
Daniel and Rachel sitting together at a restaurant.
His wedding ring was gone.
His arm was around her shoulders.
Below it was his message.
Soon I won’t have to hide you anymore.
I looked up.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel’s face had gone gray.
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“I was trying to keep her calm.”
Rachel stared at him.
“Keep me calm?”
He pointed toward her.
“She was threatening to tell you.”
Rachel’s jaw dropped.
“Because you promised to leave her!”
He turned toward me.
“Sarah, listen to me. I never planned to leave you.”
I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“You think that makes this better?”
“No. I’m saying I made mistakes.”
“Mistakes?”
My voice rose.
“You accidentally had another child?”
He winced.
“You accidentally lied to two women for six years?”
“Keep your voice down.”
I stared at him.
He had the nerve to tell me to keep my voice down.
In my house.
After leaving our child downstairs while he brought another woman into our bedroom.
I stepped close.
“You don’t get to tell me anything anymore.”
Rachel suddenly spoke.
“There’s more.”
Daniel turned sharply.
“Rachel.”
She ignored him.
She reached for her purse and pulled out a folded envelope.
“I came here today because he asked me to sign something.”
My skin prickled.
“What?”
She handed it to me.
It was a legal document.
At least it looked like one.
My name appeared on the second page.
So did Emma’s.
I skimmed the first paragraph.
Then the next.
I didn’t understand all the legal language.
But I understood enough.
Property transfer.
Beneficiary designation.
Waiver.
I looked at Daniel.
“What is this?”
He reached for it.
I pulled it away.
“It’s nothing final.”
“What is it?”
Rachel answered.
“He told me he was changing his life insurance.”
I looked back down.
My hands started shaking.
The policy was worth $750,000.
Emma and I were listed as the existing beneficiaries.
The document proposed replacing us.
With Lily.
And Rachel.
I could barely breathe.
“You were taking us off your life insurance?”
Daniel stepped forward.
“It was only supposed to be temporary.”
“Why?”
“Because Rachel kept saying Lily had no protection.”
Rachel looked furious.
“You told me Sarah had her own policy.”
“She does!”
I stared at him.
“That is not the point.”
Then I noticed another page.
A financial statement.
Our joint savings account.
I read the balance twice.
Then a third time.
“No.”
Daniel said nothing.
I opened my banking app on my phone.
The account should have had nearly eighty-three thousand dollars.
Money we had saved for years.
Money from bonuses.
Money for Emma’s school.
Money for emergencies.
The balance showed $11,406.
I looked at him.
“Where is the money?”
His eyes moved toward Rachel.
Rachel stepped backward.
“No. Don’t look at me.”
“Daniel.”
He exhaled.
“I invested some of it.”
“How much?”
“Sarah—”
“How much?”
“About fifty.”
“Fifty thousand?”
He said nothing.
“FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS?”
Rachel’s eyes widened.
“You told me that was your money.”
Daniel snapped, “Can everyone stop yelling?”
I felt cold all over.
“What did you invest it in?”
He hesitated.
And that hesitation terrified me more than any answer.
“What did you do?”
“I bought into a business.”
“What business?”
“A restaurant group.”
“What restaurant group?”
He looked away.
Rachel whispered, “Daniel.”
I looked at her.
She looked sick.
“What?”
She slowly sat down.
“My brother opened a restaurant last year.”
I stared at her.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Rachel’s voice became barely audible.
“He told me the investment came from an inheritance.”
I turned back toward my husband.
“You took fifty thousand dollars from our family and gave it to her brother?”
“It wasn’t a gift.”
“You lied to both of us.”
“It’s an investment.”
“With my money.”
“Our money.”
I laughed again.
“You really want to argue ownership right now?”
Then my phone buzzed.
A banking notification.
Another transfer.
$7,500.
Pending.
From our joint account.
To an account I didn’t recognize.
I held the phone up.
“What is this?”
Daniel’s eyes widened.
Then he reached for his own phone.
Rachel whispered, “What happened?”
I stepped closer to Daniel.
“Cancel it.”
“I can.”
“Do it.”
He tapped rapidly.
Then stopped.
“What?”
He didn’t answer.
“Daniel.”
His face changed.
“I can’t access the account.”
I looked at my phone.
I tried logging out and back in.
The password no longer worked.
My chest tightened.
“You changed the password?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Nobody spoke.
I called the bank.
The automated system asked for my verification code.
I entered it.
Rejected.
I tried again.
Rejected.
Then my email pinged.
SUBJECT: JOINT ACCOUNT ACCESS UPDATED.
I opened it.
Authorized primary contact had been changed.
Twenty minutes earlier.
While I was driving home.
I looked up.
“Who is Rebecca Collins?”
Daniel went perfectly still.
Rachel frowned.
“Who?”
I showed him the email.
His face drained.
I knew that face now.
It was the face he made every time another lie was discovered.
“Daniel.”
He whispered, “My mother.”
I stared at him.
“Your mother’s name is Patricia.”
He closed his eyes.
Rachel stood up.
“Who is Rebecca?”
Daniel said nothing.
Then a small voice came from the hallway.
“Mommy?”
I opened the door.
Emma was standing there holding Daniel’s tablet.
“Grandma keeps calling.”
I took it from her.
The screen showed twelve missed calls.
Not from Patricia.
From a contact saved as:
Rebecca C.
Before I could say anything, the tablet rang again.
Daniel lunged forward.
“Don’t answer that.”
I looked straight into his eyes.
Then I pressed accept.
A woman appeared on the screen.
She looked around sixty.
Blonde hair.
Expensive glasses.
I had never seen her before.
She saw me.
Her face changed.
Then she said something that made the entire room go silent.
“Sarah?”
I swallowed.
“Yes.”
The woman closed her eyes.
“Oh, God.”
“Who are you?”
Daniel reached toward the tablet.
I pulled it away.
The woman looked directly into the camera.
“My name is Rebecca.”
She paused.
“And Daniel is my son.”
I looked at Daniel.
Then back at the screen.
“That’s impossible.”
Rebecca’s expression hardened.
“No, Sarah.”
May you like
Then she said the words that changed everything again.
“The woman you know as Daniel’s mother is not his mother at all.”
