Chapter 7
Edward, who used to be so arrogant and overbearing, now had dark circles under his eyes, exuding an exhaustion he couldn't hide.
Nathan used to throw noisy tantrums constantly. Holding Edward's hand, he stood perfectly quiet and still now.
His eyes were locked dead on me.
Nathan's jaw dropped slightly, reflecting pure shock and disbelief. He looked as if he wanted to call out to me, but no sound escaped his lips.
In fact, Nathan had never actually addressed me properly.
He refused to call me "aunt," and calling me "Mom" was entirely out of the question. To him, I was always nothing more than a sharp "Hey" or a cold "You."
I stared at the two figures standing a few yards away.
I had never seen Edward look so dead and worn down, nor had I ever seen Nathan so utterly speechless.
Not having seen them in three years, I genuinely questioned if I was mistaking strangers for them.
That was until I looked down and noticed the flyer in Edward's hand.
It looked like a missing person poster with a photo printed on it.
Even from a distance, I could easily recognize the image.
It was the only photograph I had ever taken with the two of them.
My face must have been cropped out to create the flyer.
My hands and feet turned to absolute ice.
Anton suddenly asked nervously, "Mom, do those people know us?"
His voice snapped me back to reality. I whipped the wheelchair around and began pushing it briskly in the opposite direction.
My mind was completely blank when I offered an excuse. "I remembered a shortcut. Let us go this way."
As I turned, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the edges of Edward's eyes instantly flush a deep red.
Before I could gain much distance, the silent man finally let out a chilling scoff. "Lily White, are you seriously going to walk away?"
I picked up my pace, answering without a second of hesitation, "You have the wrong person."
That was never my real name.
Edward didn't chase after me. Instead, he raised his voice slightly. "If there is something we need to discuss, I have no problem hashing it out right here on the street."
He saw right through my panic. He knew exactly why I was running.
He realized I was desperate to keep the child in the wheelchair completely in the dark.
My hurried footsteps immediately ground to a halt.
Anton could never find out about the pathetic life I lived. Furthermore, he was still recovering from his liver transplant, meaning severe emotional distress could be fatal.
My grip on the wheelchair handles tightened.
Finally, I walked around to the front of the chair, crouched down, and forced my voice to remain perfectly calm.
"That man is an old classmate of me. I need to talk to him about something important. I'll take you back to your hospital room first. Okay?" I asked.
Not far away, Edward and Nathan stood there, their pupils quivering violently in sheer disbelief.
Edward stood completely paralyzed, as if he had seen a ghost.
After a long moment, he snapped out of it, striding quickly toward us. He stared intensely at my face and then down at Anton in the wheelchair.
A horrifying realization slowly dawned on him. "Lily White, what did you say?" he yelled.
Nathan completely lost his composure. "Where on earth did you claim another son?"
*****
Anton ignored their dramatic outburst.
He simply looked at me and nodded obediently.
He was always far too understanding, which only made me more determined to shield him from any harm.
I escorted him safely back to his hospital room before finding a quiet cafe nearby to lay all my cards on the table with Edward and Nathan.
I originally planned to bury the secret forever.
There were simply things they never needed to know.
After all, they had zero emotional attachment to me. To them, I was a free live-in maid.
Whenever we got bored of each other, we would simply part ways without needing any explanations.
Yet now, it seemed shedding them wouldn't be nearly as simple as I had imagined.
I placed my phone flat on the table and tapped the screen to wake it up.
The lock screen brightly displayed an intimate photo of Freddie, Anton, and me, a perfect family of three.
Sitting across from me, Nathan was mimicking Edward's posture, slowly stirring his coffee.
The exact second my screen lit up, his hand jerked violently, sending the coffee cup crashing to the floor.
The sharp, jarring noise caused several patrons nearby to frown and look in our direction.
Edward's hand froze around his own cup abruptly, his knuckles turning stark white from the pressure.
I watched as both of their eyes flooded with a deep, furious shade of red.
Nobody likes discovering they have been played for a fool. Especially not two arrogant, self-centered people who were entirely accustomed to the world revolving around them.
Ignoring their dramatic emotional shift, I reached into my purse, pulled out my government ID, and set it on the table.
Edward was an incredibly intelligent man.
Between the family photo and an ID bearing a name he had never heard before, Lily Jones, he likely had already pieced together the majority of the truth.
Under Edward's murderous glare, I finally explained, "The people in the photo are my husband and my son. You met my boy outside. My husband passed away over four years ago.
"During that time, I was grieving my dead husband and searching for my kidnapped child. That is when I found you two and treated you like..."