Chapter 1

Lily Lancaster must have binged one too many Lifetime movies, because she gets it in her head that my entire existence is a plot against hers. The world is a stage, and we are rivals in a mother-daughter war she's completely invented.

We are kidnapped and held captive in some godforsaken mountain cabin. The first chance I get, I plan our escape. But Lily tattles on me. As they drag me back, kicking and screaming, she just stands there, smugly unwrapping a lollipop with a smirk.

"I'm not stupid," she sneers. "You just wanted to be the hero who got away. You were never going to let me have that, were you?"

When she is snatched by a trafficking ring, I tear the city apart searching for her. But when I finally find her, the first thing she does is accuse me.

"Stop playing the devoted mother," she yells. "This is just another one of your games. You probably wanted them to take me."

When she turns eighteen, she brings home a boy. To help them get on their feet, I give them a substantial check. Lily's response is to auction my intimate photos on a dark corner of the internet.

She screams, "Was trying to ruin my life for eighteen years not enough, Susan Mayfield? Now you have to try and buy my boyfriend to break us up?"

And just like that, two decades of her poison drips into the ears of anyone who will listen. I am cast as the villain: a crazy, jealous mother.

On my forty-fifth birthday, I buy a small birthday cake, the kind I've always wanted but never felt I deserved.

When I get home, Lily snatches it and slams it onto the floor.

"This is all your fault!" she shrieks. "If you weren't so obsessed with competing with Claire, maybe I would have a father! Maybe I wouldn't be so screwed up!"

I stare at the crushed cake. Then, without a word, I turn and walk back to my room. I open my journal to a fresh page and write her name for the thirty-thousandth time.

Beneath it, I add the day's entry. [November 19, 2025. Final diagnosis: Advanced Alzheimer's disease.]

[My daughter's name is Lily. I must not forget her.]

*****

Just as I closed the journal, Lily Lancaster's voice, sharp and accusatory, cut through the door.

"Oh, so now you're sulking, Susan Mayfield? Did you ever think about any of this when you were busy picking fights with other women on your birthday? Or when you ran off to the mountains just to make Dad jealous?

"You only had me so you could keep your little love triangle going, right?"

Each word was a poisoned dagger twisting in my heart, shredding it to pieces.

Twenty years ago, Edward Lancaster's childhood sweetheart, Claire Simmons, had accused me of hiring men to assault her. Blind with rage, Edward had shipped me off to a remote cabin in the mountains. I was three months pregnant.

I was trapped there for five years.

My parents died of broken hearts while I was gone.

Our family fortune was devoured by opportunistic relatives.

All I was left with was a hollowed-out grief and a diagnosis of PTSD.

But none of it had been my fault.

I shot to my feet, the chair scraping violently against the floor.

I was done swallowing this. My eyes burned as I opened my mouth, ready to tell her the truth.

A rapid knock rattled the front door.

Lily sucked in a breath, smoothed her expression into something almost sweet, and went to answer it.

On the doorstep stood two people I could've picked out of a crowd blindfolded.

Edward and Claire stood on the porch like a goddamn perfume ad.

Lily froze, her eyes glistening.

Ever since she had found out Edward was her biological father, she had been dying to call him Dad.

Every time she saw him with his arm around Claire and a wedding band on his finger, the word got stuck in her throat like a fish bone.

"Sue," Claire scoffed, sweeping her gaze over my tiny house. "How did you end up in a dump like this?"

Her eyes dropped to my dress. "Oh my God. Is that the same old floral dress you wore twenty years ago?"

She shook her head, a mask of innocent shock failing to hide her disgust.

Time had been kind to her. Her skin was flawless, and her wrists were stacked with diamonds and custom pieces.

Obviously, Edward had cherished her all these years.

My hand tightened on the faded fabric of my dress. I looked calmly at Edward, the man I hadn't seen in over a decade.

"So," I said quietly, "you came all this way just to humiliate me?"

His face darkened before a mocking smile spread across his face.

"Susan. Still the same sharp tongue after all these years. You're just reaping what you sowed."

He paused. "Claire and I just got back from across the pond. We've got a little birthday surprise for you."

At his signal, a secretary stepped forward, holding a wooden box.

I stared at it, a knot of dread and a strange familiarity tightening in my gut.

Lily, however, scurried forward and took the box, forcing a bright smile.

"Mr. Lancaster, that's so thoughtful of you to remember my mom's birthday!"

Only then did Edward really look at her.

A flicker of shock crossed his features before he wore the mask of cool superiority.

Lily opened her mouth to keep charming him. He cut her off without even looking at her.

"So, Susan," he said. "Is this the child you had with that simpleton from the village?

"You really went that far just to make me pity you."

I saw Lily flinch as if struck, her shoulders slumping as she stared at the floor.

Fifteen years ago, when the police finally rescued us from that mountain hell, the first person I saw was Edward.

I clung to him like a lifeline, the five years of agony and fear pouring out of me in a gut-wrenching sob. He held me tight, his voice trembling in my ear.

"It's over, Sue. I'm here. No one will ever hurt you again.

"I'll make them pay. I swear it."

But then his eyes fell on the terrified girl hiding behind my legs. His promise shattered.

His face contorted with disbelief and rage as he lunged forward and grabbed five-year-old Lily by the throat.

"Susan, you had another man's child?" he roared. "Why didn't you get rid of it?"

I tried to explain, over and over, but he refused to believe me. To him, I was just damaged goods.

Eventually, I stopped trying to explain.

From then on, Lily was all I had. I didn't need anyone else.

I took Lily to Haswad, a place where no one knew us, and started over, working at a foot massage parlor to make ends meet.

Now, in my cramped little living room, I stepped in front of her, pushing her gently behind me.

"Mr. Lancaster, you have your new family. I'm managing fine on my own. Please leave."

Claire cut in before he could answer.

"Don't be like that, Sue. It's been so long. At least look at your gift! I picked it with such care."

Something inside me felt stuffed and choking. I snatched the box from her and flipped it open.

But as soon as I saw what was inside, a violent tremor ran through me. A scream tore from my lungs as I clapped my hands over my ears. I crumpled to the floor.

"Chris!"

It was the preserved remains of my first child, Chris, the one I had lost.

Edward stared down at me coldly.

"Remember him, Susan? Our first child. If your jealousy hadn't driven you to throw Claire to those animals, I never would've made you abort him."

I bit my lip until I tasted blood, my heart shattering.

And the woman responsible for it all, the architect of my ruin, was hiding a triumphant smirk behind her hand.

Lily stared at the tiny preserved embryo in the box, her face twisting with shock and disgust.

"Susan, I thought you just had some sick thing about competing with me," she said, voice breaking. "But you did something that vile to someone else too?

"Do you have any shame at all? How am I supposed to have a mother like you?"

I didn't answer her. My body trembling, I forced myself to my feet and stalked toward Claire.

With all my pent-up fury, I slapped her across the face.