Chapter 2
Jason dropped to his knees in the middle of his parents' backyard.
Not close enough to touch Lily.
Just close enough that she could see his face.
“Grandma was wrong.”
Lily looked at him with red, swollen eyes.
“But she said everybody knew.”
Jason swallowed.
“Some people believed something that wasn't true.”
“Did you?”
His face crumpled.
“For a little while.”
My heart twisted.
Lily asked, “You thought I wasn't yours?”
Jason couldn't answer immediately.
That hesitation hurt her more than any answer could have.
She buried her face against me.
“I want to go home.”
Then the police arrived.
Two patrol cars pulled into the driveway.
Diane changed instantly.
One second she looked furious.
The next, she looked like a frightened suburban grandmother.
She smoothed her shirt.
Touched her hair.
Forced tears into her eyes.
When the first officer entered the backyard, Diane pointed at me.
“She attacked me.”
I stared at her.
Jason said, “Mom.”
She ignored him.
“I was trying to discipline my granddaughter, and Sarah lost control.”
The officer looked at Lily.
Her knees were scraped.
Her scalp was red where Diane had pulled her hair.
Her face was wet with tears.
Then he looked at me.
“What happened?”
I told him.
Everything.
I didn't exaggerate.
I didn't have to.
Frank showed them the security footage.
The officer watched it once.
Then again.
His expression changed.
The second officer asked Diane to turn around.
She stared at him.
“What?”
“Ma'am, put your hands behind your back.”
“You're arresting me?”
“Yes.”
“For disciplining a child?”
“For assault.”
Diane looked at Jason.
“Do something!”
Jason didn't move.
“Jason!”
Nothing.
Then she looked at Frank.
“You're going to let them do this?”
Frank's face was empty.
“You threw my granddaughter on the ground.”
“She isn't—”
“Finish that sentence.”
Frank's voice was so quiet Diane stopped.
The officer handcuffed her.
As they walked her through the house, she looked over her shoulder at me.
“This isn't over, Sarah.”
The officer told her to keep moving.
She smiled anyway.
That smile stayed with me.
Because it wasn't the smile of someone embarrassed.
It was the smile of someone who still believed she had power.
An ambulance checked Lily.
The paramedic said she didn't appear to have a serious head injury, but because she had been shoved down, they recommended taking her to the emergency room.
I agreed.
Jason tried to follow us.
I stopped him beside the ambulance.
“No.”
His face fell.
“Sarah, she's my daughter.”
“And I'm not keeping you from her.”
“Then let me come.”
“Not tonight.”
He looked like I'd hit him.
I lowered my voice.
“She just found out her grandmother has spent years saying she doesn't belong in your family.”
“I know.”
“She found out you knew about the DNA test.”
“I know.”
“And I found out my husband kept one of the biggest secrets of our marriage from me.”
He looked at the pavement.
“I was scared.”
“So was our seven-year-old daughter while your mother dragged her across a yard.”
He closed his eyes.
“Please don't compare those things.”
“I'm not.”
I climbed into the ambulance.
“I'm telling you which frightened person needs me tonight.”
The doors closed.
At the hospital, Lily barely spoke.
A nurse cleaned the scrapes on her palms.
Another checked her scalp.
The doctor said she had bruising but no signs of a concussion.
I should have felt relieved.
Instead I kept staring at the places Diane's fingers had touched her.
My phone wouldn't stop buzzing.
Jason.
Emily.
Frank.
People from the barbecue.
Then numbers I didn't recognize.
I turned it off.
Lily watched me from the hospital bed.
“Are you mad at Daddy?”
Children always find the question adults are trying to avoid.
I sat beside her.
“Yes.”
“Are you going to get divorced?”
“I don't know.”
Her eyes filled.
I took her hand.
“But whatever happens between me and Daddy, we both love you.”
“Grandma doesn't.”
I wanted to say Diane loved her in a broken way.
I couldn't.
Not after what I'd seen.
“No adult who loves you gets to hurt you like that.”
Lily nodded slowly.
Then she said, “She says mean things when nobody is around.”
My stomach dropped.
“What things?”
Lily looked toward the door.
“Sometimes she says Daddy would have a better life if I hadn't been born.”
I stopped breathing.
“She told you that?”
“Not just once.”
“How many times?”
She shrugged.
“A lot.”
I wanted to scream.
Instead I squeezed her hand gently.
“What else?”
“She said Grandpa's money was supposed to be Cole's.”
There it was.
The trust.
The money.
The motive.
“She said I stole something from him.”
“You didn't steal anything.”
“I told her that.”
Lily looked ashamed.
“That's why she got mad today.”
“What exactly happened before I came outside?”
Lily stared at the blanket.
“She said when Grandpa dies, I get something that should belong to Cole. I said I didn't want Grandpa to die.”
Tears filled my eyes.
“Then what?”
“She said that's not the point.”
Lily's lower lip shook.
“I told her she was lying because Grandpa said families don't fight about money.”
“And then?”
“She said I wasn't really Daddy's daughter anyway.”
Lily wiped her nose.
“I told her Daddy said I have his nose.”
I almost broke.
“She grabbed me.”
That was the whole crime in one sentence.
A grown woman had been challenged by a seven-year-old.
So she'd grabbed her.
Later that night, Emily arrived.
She stood outside the hospital room until I nodded.
Then she entered holding the envelope and a backpack.
“I brought clothes for Lily.”
“Thank you.”
Lily had finally fallen asleep.
Emily looked at her niece.
Her eyes filled.
“I should have stopped this years ago.”
I didn't respond.
She sat across from me.
“I knew Mom didn't like you.”
“That's an understatement.”
“I knew she questioned Lily's paternity. But I believed Jason had handled it.”
“He handled it by hiding the truth from me.”
“I know.”
“Why did you have the envelope?”
Emily looked down.
“Because three weeks ago Dad asked me to help review company accounts.”
Frank had started noticing money disappearing from one of the family business's operating accounts.
Small transfers at first.
Then larger ones.
Payments to consultants nobody recognized.
Companies that didn't seem to exist.
One trail led to Raymond Pike.
The former DNA lab employee.
“I searched Mom's office.”
“You broke into her office?”
“I had a key.”
She gave me a bitter smile.
“Apparently being the daughter she trusted had benefits.”
Inside Diane's locked cabinet, Emily found copies of the original DNA test.
The second test.
Bank transfers.
And the family trust.
“Why would she keep evidence like that?”
“Because Mom never thinks she's wrong.”
Emily looked at Lily.
“She thinks records prove she was protecting the family.”
“By falsifying a paternity test?”
Emily nodded.
“She wanted Jason to leave you.”
“Why?”
“Because Grandpa's trust says the oldest grandchild eventually controls voting shares.”
“Diane knew Lily would be the oldest.”
“Yes.”
“And she wanted Cole instead.”
Emily's face twisted.
“My son.”
I leaned back.
“So she wanted your child to get the company.”
“I didn't know.”
“I believe you.”
Emily exhaled shakily.
“There is something else.”
Of course there was.
“There always is.”
She opened the envelope.
“The first DNA test was done when Lily was eleven months old.”
I remembered.
Diane had offered to babysit while Jason and I attended a wedding.
“She took Lily's sample without permission.”
“Yes.”
I felt sick.
“And Jason?”
Emily hesitated.
“He knew Mom wanted a test.”
My eyes burned.
“He gave her his sample?”
“Yes.”
I stood.
The chair scraped loudly against the floor.
Lily stirred.
I froze until she settled.
Then I whispered, “He helped her.”
“Sarah.”
“He helped his mother secretly DNA-test our daughter.”
“He said he was confused.”
“He was married to me.”
“I know.”
“He watched me give birth.”
“I know.”
“And instead of asking me, he handed his mother his DNA.”
Emily had no defense.
Neither did Jason.
After midnight, Lily was discharged.
I didn't go home.
Something in me kept hearing Diane's words.
This isn't over.
I booked a room at a hotel near the hospital.
Emily insisted on driving us.
When we reached the hotel, I saw a black SUV parked across the street.
It looked familiar.
I couldn't place it.
Then the headlights came on.
The SUV pulled away.
Emily watched it disappear.
“What?”
“That car.”
“What about it?”
“I saw it outside Mom and Dad's house earlier.”
My skin prickled.
“Whose is it?”
“I don't know.”
At 2:13 in the morning, someone knocked on our hotel room door.
Three slow knocks.
Lily woke instantly.
“Mommy?”
I put one finger to my lips.
The knocking came again.
I grabbed my phone.
“Who is it?”
No answer.
Another knock.
Then a man's voice.
“Sarah?”
I didn't recognize it.
I dialed hotel security.
The man outside spoke again.
“I just need the envelope.”
Every hair on my arms stood up.
I looked at Emily.
She had gone completely white.
May you like
The voice came through the door one last time.
“Give me Diane's papers, and nobody else has to get hurt.”
