Chapter 4
Daniel stared at Mom.
“Two hundred thousand dollars?”
Mom’s lips parted.
No sound came out.
Eleanor spoke through the door again.
“You deserve to know what kind of woman she is.”
Daniel moved toward the lock.
Mom grabbed his sleeve.
“Don’t open it.”
“I need to hear this.”
“From her?”
“Yes.”
Mom released him.
The look on her face scared me more than Eleanor’s voice.
Daniel opened the door.
An elegant older woman stood in the hallway.
Silver hair.
Black coat.
Pearl earrings.
Two men in suits stood several feet behind her.
She looked past Daniel and saw me.
Her face changed.
Not with love.
Not with surprise.
With calculation.
I understood that even at eight.
She studied me like I was a photograph she was comparing to another photograph.
“You have Daniel’s eyes.”
Mom stepped in front of me.
“You don’t get to look at her.”
Eleanor smiled faintly.
“Still dramatic, Emily.”
Daniel blocked the doorway.
“You filed against an eight-year-old child you’ve never met.”
“I filed to protect this family.”
“From what?”
She looked at Mom.
“Deception.”
Mom’s hands clenched.
Daniel said, “What money?”
Eleanor raised one eyebrow.
“So she didn’t tell you.”
“Tell me.”
“Your father paid her.”
“That isn’t what happened.”
Mom’s voice shook.
Eleanor looked satisfied.
“Then explain it.”
Mom stared at her.
Eight years of fear seemed to pass between them.
Finally Mom said, “Your husband offered me money.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Did you take it?”
“Yes.”
His face fell.
I grabbed Mom’s shirt.
“Mom?”
She covered my hand with hers.
“Listen to everything.”
Daniel took a step back.
“You took two hundred thousand dollars to leave me?”
“No.”
“That’s what it sounds like.”
“I took money because your father told me you were engaged.”
Daniel stared.
“What?”
“To Victoria.”
His head snapped toward Eleanor.
Eleanor’s face remained calm.
“That arrangement had been discussed.”
“I was never engaged to Victoria.”
Mom laughed through tears.
“I know that now.”
Daniel looked sick.
Mom continued.
“Your father showed me photographs. Contracts. Newspaper drafts. He said you had chosen the merger between your families.”
“I didn’t.”
“He had your signature.”
“My signature on what?”
“A statement saying you wanted no contact with me.”
Daniel looked at Eleanor.
“Was it forged?”
Eleanor didn’t answer.
“Mother.”
She sighed.
“Your father believed he was protecting your future.”
Daniel’s voice became dangerous.
“Was my signature forged?”
“Yes.”
The word landed quietly.
Mom wiped her cheek.
Daniel gripped the edge of the counter.
Eleanor continued as if discussing a business decision.
“You were twenty-six. Emotional. Reckless. Your relationship with Emily threatened everything your father had built.”
“My relationship?”
“She was an employee.”
“She was a nursing student.”
“She worked in our home.”
“And I loved her.”
Eleanor’s expression finally cracked.
“Love is not always enough.”
Daniel laughed once.
“You destroyed eight years of my daughter’s life because you thought Emily wasn’t good enough?”
“I did not know about the child.”
Mom stepped forward.
“You suspected.”
Eleanor looked at her.
Mom’s voice rose.
“You sent someone to the clinic.”
Daniel turned.
“What clinic?”
Mom looked at him.
“The prenatal clinic.”
Eleanor said nothing.
Daniel’s face went gray.
“You knew she was pregnant?”
“I knew it was possible.”
“You knew.”
“I knew she had an appointment.”
Daniel slammed his palm against the counter.
I jumped.
He immediately looked at me.
“Sophie, I’m sorry.”
Mom pulled me closer.
Eleanor’s expression hardened.
“This is exactly why these conversations should not happen in front of a child.”
Mom snapped, “You came to our apartment.”
“To prevent another mistake.”
“I am not a mistake.”
The words came out of my mouth before I could stop them.
Everyone froze.
Eleanor looked at me.
I was shaking.
But I kept going.
“My mom isn’t a mistake either.”
Mom covered her mouth.
Daniel’s eyes filled.
Eleanor stared at me for a long time.
Something moved in her face.
Then disappeared.
“No,” she said quietly. “You aren’t.”
Daniel stepped toward the door.
“Leave.”
“Daniel—”
“Leave.”
“You’re emotional.”
“You stole eight years from me.”
“Your father made the final decision.”
“And you helped him.”
“We protected the company.”
“I don’t care about the company.”
“You say that because you’ve never had to imagine losing it.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“I lost something bigger.”
Eleanor looked at me.
“Yes. I can see that.”
Mom’s voice became sharp.
“Don’t pretend you care.”
Eleanor turned to her.
“I care enough to make sure Sophie has every opportunity available to her.”
“She already has what she needs.”
“A two-bedroom apartment? A mother working sixteen-hour shifts?”
Mom’s face burned.
Daniel stepped between them.
“That’s enough.”
Eleanor ignored him.
“Sophie could attend the best schools in the country.”
“She likes her school.”
“She could have tutors.”
“She has teachers.”
“She could travel.”
“She has a home.”
“She could have financial security.”
Mom’s voice cracked.
“She has love.”
For the first time, Eleanor had no immediate response.
Daniel opened the door wider.
“Go.”
Eleanor looked at him.
“If you insist on turning this into war, understand something. I will not lose.”
“You already did.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“How?”
He pointed toward me.
“She looked at you and told you she isn’t a mistake.”
Daniel’s voice shook.
“My daughter knows what you think of her after meeting you for three minutes.”
Eleanor’s face changed.
Daniel continued.
“I don’t care if every lawyer in Manhattan is waiting downstairs. If you come after Emily’s custody, I will testify against you.”
“You would publicly attack your own family?”
“You attacked mine first.”
Eleanor stared at him.
Then she looked at Mom.
“This isn’t finished.”
Mom’s expression hardened.
“For me, it finished eight years ago.”
Eleanor walked out.
Daniel closed the door.
Nobody spoke.
Then he turned to Mom.
“I’m sorry.”
She leaned against the wall.
“I don’t need apologies.”
“I need to understand the money.”
Mom closed her eyes.
“Your father gave me two hundred thousand dollars.”
“You deposited it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was pregnant, terrified, and alone.”
He flinched.
“I thought you had rejected me. My mother was sick. I had tuition debt. I didn’t even have a permanent apartment.”
“What happened to the money?”
Mom looked toward me.
“I used part of it for Sophie.”
Daniel waited.
“Medical bills. Childcare. Rent while I finished nursing school.”
“You finished?”
She smiled bitterly.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Sophie was born six weeks early.”
My eyes widened.
I knew I had been small as a baby.
I didn’t know this part.
“She spent seventeen days in the hospital.”
Daniel sat down slowly.
Mom continued.
“I had no family in New York. I stopped school. I took whatever work I could.”
He covered his mouth.
“The money?”
“Most of it disappeared during the first four years.”
“Why didn’t you contact me later?”
Mom’s face hardened again.
“Because every time I thought about it, I remembered the letter with your signature.”
“But after my father died—”
“I didn’t know the truth.”
Daniel whispered, “I searched for you.”
Mom stared at him.
“What?”
“I came back from London and you were gone.”
“You were in London?”
“My father sent me there for a six-month project.”
Mom shook her head.
“He told me you left because you didn’t want to face me.”
Daniel looked devastated.
“I called your old number.”
“It had been disconnected.”
“I went to the nursing school.”
“I withdrew.”
“I hired someone to find you.”
Mom stared.
“He told me you had moved to California.”
“I never left New York.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“My father.”
“Probably.”
Silence filled the kitchen.
Two young people had loved each other.
Two powerful people had separated them.
Then years passed.
And I had been born in the middle of the lie.
Daniel looked at me.
“I wish I had known.”
I believed him.
That frightened me.
Because believing him meant I could start wanting him.
And wanting people gave them the power to hurt you.
Mom seemed to understand exactly what I was thinking.
She knelt beside me.
“We don’t have to decide anything tonight.”
Daniel nodded.
“No.”
Then Rebecca, who had been silent for several minutes, cleared her throat.
“There is one thing we need to decide tonight.”
Everyone looked at her.
She placed another sheet on the table.
“I checked the court docket.”
Mom’s face tightened.
“And?”
“There’s a hearing tomorrow morning.”
“What?”
“Eleanor requested emergency temporary visitation.”
Daniel stood.
“She told me she filed days ago.”
“She did.”
Rebecca looked at Mom.
“And she submitted evidence.”
“What evidence?”
Rebecca turned the paper around.
At the bottom were several photographs.
Pictures of our apartment building.
Pictures of Mom leaving for work.
Pictures of me walking to school with our neighbor Mrs. Alvarez.
One photograph showed me sitting alone inside the hotel service hallway.
Mom grabbed it.
“She had us followed.”
Rebecca nodded.
“For at least three weeks.”
Daniel stared at the images.
Then one photograph caught his attention.
He picked it up.
“Who is this?”
A man stood across the street from my school.
Mom leaned closer.
“I don’t know.”
I did.
My stomach twisted.
“I do.”
Three adults turned toward me.
I pointed at the man.
“He talked to me yesterday.”
Mom went completely still.
“What did he say?”
I swallowed.
“He asked if my name was Sophie Carter.”
Daniel crouched beside me.
“What else?”
“He said he was an old friend of yours.”
Mom’s breathing changed.
“What did you tell him?”
“Nothing. Mrs. Alvarez came outside.”
Daniel looked at Rebecca.
“Find out who he is.”
Rebecca nodded.
Mom pulled me into her arms.
But I remembered something else.
Something I hadn’t thought mattered.
“He gave me something.”
Mom pulled back.
“What?”
I ran to my backpack.
Inside the smallest pocket was a folded piece of paper.
I handed it to Daniel.
He opened it.
His face drained of color.
“What does it say?” Mom asked.
Daniel didn’t answer.
She grabbed it.
Four words were printed in black ink.
ASK EMILY ABOUT THE BABY.
Mom stared.
Daniel whispered, “What baby?”
Mom looked at him.
May you like
Then at me.
And I saw another secret rise behind her eyes.
