CHAPTER 2: THE SECRET THAT DESTROYED THEM
Hours later, Lily was stable.
Daniel sat quietly outside her room.
Evelyn walked over holding two cups of coffee.
She handed him one.
Neither spoke for a moment.
Finally, Daniel broke the silence.
"You disappeared."
Evelyn laughed bitterly.
"No, Daniel… you did."
He stared at her.
"What are you talking about?"
Tears filled her eyes.
"The night I told you I was pregnant eight years ago."
Daniel's face went white.
"What?"
She nodded.
"I called you over twenty times."
His breathing became uneven.
"You never answered."
She opened her phone.
An old photograph appeared.
A sonogram.
Dated eight years earlier.
Daniel couldn't move.
"My mother told me you left," he whispered.
"She said you chose your career over us."
Evelyn shook her head.
"Your mother paid me to disappear."
Daniel looked horrified.
"What?"
"She said your father was dying, and your family empire couldn't survive a scandal. She threatened to destroy my medical career."
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
"No…"
Evelyn smiled sadly.
"I left because I thought you agreed with her."
Daniel suddenly remembered.
His mother.
The strange phone calls.
The missing messages.
The lies.
Everything crashed together.
Then Evelyn said something that made him stop breathing.
"I lost our baby shortly after I left."
Silence.
Complete silence.
Daniel's eyes flooded.
Eight years.
Eight stolen years.
Gone.
Then Lily's voice interrupted from inside the room.
"Daddy?"
Daniel immediately stood up.
Lily smiled sleepily.
"Can Dr. Evelyn stay?"
The two adults looked at each other.
May you like
And for the first time in years…
Neither looked away.
