Chapter 3
Charles looked like he'd been punched in the gut, and the air in the car turned heavy and suffocating.
"She's our daughter. Shouldn't I care?" he shot back.
Our daughter, he called her.
Those words from his mouth were like a dull, poisoned knife, scraping across my heart again and again.
I nodded, forcing a smile. "Yeah, our daughter. So why don't you go get your bone marrow tested to see if you're a match?"
There was a screech.
The brakes screamed, cutting through the rain-soaked night.
The car slammed to a stop at the curb, and the sudden jolt threw me hard against the seat.
The seatbelt crushed my chest, making it almost impossible to catch my breath.
Charles turned to me, those deep eyes I once loved now guarded and sizing me up.
"You know perfectly well that Anna isn't my biological daughter. I got tested for a match ages ago, and of course it didn't work," he said.
"Oh," I drawled, taking my time like it was nothing. "What about Emily?"
The last bit of warmth in his eyes vanished, leaving nothing but cold, guarded suspicion.
"Why are you bringing her up?" he snapped.
"Nothing, just making conversation," I said, glancing away, my tone light. "Who knows, maybe she'll get lucky and turn out to be a match."
He stared at me, silent for a long moment, trying to figure out just how much I knew.
Finally, he relaxed a little, rubbing his forehead in exhaustion, his voice losing its edge.
"Sophie, I know you've been exhausted lately, and the pressure's been too much," he said.
He reached out to take my hand, but I instinctively pulled away.
His hand hovered awkwardly in the air for a second before he casually withdrew it, pretending nothing had happened.
"Once Anna's better, let's go out together as a family and get some fresh air," he said.
The three of us, he said.
I lowered my head, a silent smile, my eyes stinging as tears threatened to spill.
"Sure," I said.
"Once she's better," I added.
*****
When we got home, Charles went straight into the study without a word.
I changed my shoes and stood in the middle of the living room, listening as the door clicked shut, shutting him off from the rest of the house.
I crept over to the study door, making sure not to make a sound.
Inside, I could hear his voice, low and tense, trying to sound calm but not quite pulling it off.
"Emily, are you home? Don't worry. She loves Anna so much, she'll definitely figure something out," he said.
Emily was crying on the other end, her sobs coming in broken waves.
"But Charles, she was acting strange today... I'm frightened, I'm really frightened. What if Sophie remembers what happened to Grace?" Emily choked out.
Charles went quiet for so long, I thought the call had ended.
Then I heard him say, "You didn't mean to do it back then."
"But I did it on purpose!" Emily's voice was sharp as a knife, tearing right through his pretend calm.
Her words sliced through his phony composure, leaving nothing but silence behind.
The study fell silent.
My hand pressed against the cold door, my fingertips going numb as the chill crept up my arm and stabbed straight into my heart.
Emily's sobs shattered into desperate, hopeless screams.
"I'm so done. Why does she get everything? Her parents adore her, you love her, and even her kid is perfect.
"I just wanted to scare her. I just told someone to take Grace away for a bit, so she'd finally know what it's like to lose something. How was I supposed to know they'd actually sell her?"
My world came apart.
My vision went black, the world spinning out of control, and all I could hear was a shrill, piercing buzz in my ears.
It had been six years.
After all this time, I finally heard the truth.
It wasn't just some accident. It wasn't just a careless slip-up.
It was Emily, my best friend, the one I had treated like a sister. Out of jealousy, she had destroyed my daughter's life with her own hands.