Chapter 3
I still hadn't decided what to do about Nathan's betrayal. By Friday afternoon, fate made the decision for me.
The call came from the school nurse. My phone nearly slipped from my hand.
Lily had accidentally eaten a brownie made with nut oil during a school bake sale.
She had a severe nut allergy. The reaction triggered full anaphylactic shock.
By the time I rushed into the emergency room, doctors had already administered a second dose of epinephrine.
My daughter lay motionless on a hospital bed. Machines surrounded her. Her face was swollen beyond recognition. Her skin was pale. Her lips were turning blue.
The oxygen machine hissed steadily beside her.
I stood outside the observation area with trembling hands and called Nathan over and over again.
The ninth call finally connected.
"Lily is in shock, Nathan!" I was practically screaming. "She couldn't breathe. We're in the ER. Get here now."
"Oh my God." His voice sounded genuinely shocked. Behind him I heard voices. Soft jazz music. Restaurant noise.
"I'm coming, Rachel. I swear. I'm on my way. Keep me updated."
I waited. One hour. Then another. Every minute felt unbearable.
He never showed up.
At seven o'clock, Lily's condition finally stabilized. She was still unconscious.
I opened our family location-sharing app.
I assumed traffic had trapped him somewhere between downtown and the hospital.
But the blue dot wasn't moving toward us. It wasn't on a highway at all.
Nathan was sitting inside the most exclusive steakhouse in the city.
My hands shook as I opened Instagram. I already knew Madison's name. Through school tags and public accounts, I had found her mother's profile days earlier.
It was a perfect display window for a happy, wealthy mother's life.
The newest post had been uploaded five minutes ago.
The background was the same steakhouse.
Madison sat in front of a massive chocolate birthday cake wearing a princess dress. Ten candles glowed in front of her.
At the edge of the photograph stood Nathan.
In a tailored suit. Smiling. Proud. Happy. Happier than I had ever seen him.
The caption read:
Best birthday dinner ever. Thank you for making my little girl feel so loved. You're the best dad in the world.
I looked up at Lily. She was still breathing through an oxygen mask.
Today was October 14.
While his daughter fought for every breath in an emergency room, Nathan was raising a champagne glass across town to celebrate another daughter's tenth birthday.
At nine o'clock, Lily finally opened her eyes.
She didn't complain or cry. She glanced at the empty chair beside my bed and then stared at the ceiling.
"Mom?" Her voice was barely audible.
"Was Dad ever happy that I was born?"
The question shattered the last piece of mercy I still had for my husband.
I didn't cry. Instead, I felt strangely calm.
By midnight, doctors cleared Lily for discharge.
We didn't wait for Nathan. We went home and packed everything we needed into two suitcases.
Before leaving, I walked into Nathan's study. I took a screwdriver from the toolbox and pried open the bottom drawer of his desk.
The drawer he always kept locked.
Beneath old tax records, I found the proof that ended everything.
A birth certificate.
Madison Blake.
Father: Nathan Mercer.
I didn't tear it up or take it with me. I placed it neatly in the center of his desk.
Then I set Lily's walnut box on top of it.
The final card rested at the very top.
Written in shaky handwriting from her hospital bed:
Card #52:
You chose her again.
Beneath fifty-one cards filled with heartbreak was a single sheet torn from a notebook.
It read:
I don't need a dad who already has a favorite daughter.
I switched off the light. Locked the front door.
And took Lily away forever.