Chapter 2 - THE PARTY ENDS
Nobody finished the birthday cake.
Jessica sent the other families home within fifteen minutes.
She told them there had been a family emergency.
That was the nicest possible description.
I carried Lily into the downstairs bathroom and ran warm water over her hands.
Her fingers slowly regained their color.
She watched me carefully.
“Are you mad at Grandma?”
“Yes.”
Lily lowered her eyes.
“Because I went outside?”
I stopped.
“No.”
I crouched in front of her.
“Listen to me.”
“You did nothing wrong.”
“But Grandma said—”
“I don’t care what Grandma said.”
Her lip trembled.
“She said Daddy isn’t really my daddy.”
My chest tightened.
“Did she say that today?”
Lily nodded.
“What else?”
“She said that’s why Noah gets the big birthday.”
Noah was Mark and Jessica’s six-year-old son.
The party had been for him.
“She said Noah belongs to the family.”
Lily whispered.
“And I don’t.”
I closed my eyes for one second.
“When did she put the chain on you?”
“When everybody sang.”
“Did anyone see?”
She shook her head.
“She took me outside because I asked for cake.”
My stomach turned.
“What did she tell you?”
Lily looked toward the door.
“She said bad girls don’t get family cake.”
I stood.
Daniel was waiting in the hallway.
He had heard enough.
His face was pale.
“Can I talk to you?”
“No.”
“Please.”
“Stay with Lily.”
He looked surprised.
“What?”
“For once, stay with your daughter.”
I walked past him.
Margaret was in the living room with Mark and Jessica.
The DNA report sat on the coffee table.
The cut chain sat beside it.
Jessica was crying.
Mark looked furious.
Margaret still looked offended.
Not ashamed.
Offended.
“You need to leave.”
She said when I entered.
I laughed.
“You locked my daughter outside.”
“She was not in danger.”
“It’s twenty-eight degrees.”
“She had a coat.”
Mark stared at his mother.
“Mom, stop.”
Margaret turned.
“You stay out of this.”
“No.”
Mark’s voice sharpened.
“You chained a five-year-old to a porch.”
Margaret flinched at the word again.
Jessica looked at me.
“We should call someone.”
Margaret spun toward her.
“You will do no such thing.”
I pulled out my phone.
“I already did.”
The room froze.
Margaret stared at me.
“Who?”
“Police.”
Daniel appeared behind me.
His face changed.
“You called the police?”
“Yes.”
Margaret laughed once.
“You’re going to involve police over discipline?”
I looked directly at her.
“No.”
“I’m involving police because somebody restrained my five-year-old daughter outside against her will.”
Sirens sounded faintly in the distance.
Margaret’s confidence finally cracked.
She turned toward Daniel.
“You are not going to let her do this.”
Daniel looked at his mother.
Then toward Lily standing in the hallway.
For years, he had avoided choosing.
That night, avoidance ended.
“I’m not stopping her.”
Margaret stared at him.
“You ungrateful little fool.”
Then she looked at the DNA report.
“You have no idea what that paper is going to cost this family.”
Mark frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Margaret realized too late that she had said too much.
May you like
I picked up the report.
“That is exactly what I intend to find out.”
