Chapter 8
I got Lily back.
No negotiation.
No trade.
The guard handed her over when six Carter men appeared behind me.
Fear works on cowards.
I carried Lily downstairs.
She clung to my neck.
“Wall bad.”
My chest tightened.
“Yes.”
“Ava safe?”
I looked at her.
Three years old.
Still asking about the girl she had secretly fed.
“Yes.”
She relaxed.
Mara saw us enter.
Then looked at the guard behind me.
Her face changed.
I walked toward her.
“You told him to take Lily.”
“No.”
The guard spoke.
“Yes.”
Mara turned.
“You weak little—”
“Enough.”
She looked at me.
I continued.
“Your plan fails and suddenly everybody else is weak.”
Her jaw tightened.
“Lily would've been safe.”
I almost laughed.
“With who?”
“Family.”
“Vale family?”
Silence.
Marco looked away.
There.
I held Lily closer.
“What was the exchange?”
Mara said nothing.
The guard answered.
“Red key.”
Marco closed his eyes.
I stared.
“You were going to trade my three-year-old for my father's list.”
Mara shrugged.
“She would've come home.”
Lily stiffened against me.
I felt it.
Mara continued anyway.
“Stop acting like I planned to hurt her.”
“You planned to take her.”
“Temporarily.”
“She is three.”
“And?”
That word.
And.
As if age only made resistance easier.
I handed Lily to Emily.
“Take both girls upstairs.”
Mara snapped:
“No.”
Emily froze.
I stared at my wife.
“You don't give orders anymore.”
Her face hardened.
Emily took Lily.
Ava reached for her little sister's hand.
They left together.
Mara watched them go.
Then laughed.
“Adorable.”
I looked at her.
“Two little sisters.”
Her smile turned vicious.
“One stolen from you.”
“One born because you were lonely.”
Silence.
That hit.
She knew it.
I stepped closer.
“You think Lily is a replacement for Ava.”
“Wasn't she?”
My hands curled.
Mara continued.
“You couldn't find Grace.”
“Couldn't find Ava.”
“So you married.”
“Had another little girl.”
She smiled.
“New family.”
Marco whispered:
“Mara.”
She ignored him.
“You think that makes Lily less real?”
I asked.
“No.”
She stared.
“I think it makes you predictable.”
Again.
That word.
Always used by people who mistake love for a flaw.
“You lose one child, you build another life.”
Her face sharpened.
“Now Ava comes back and suddenly I'm disposable.”
“No.”
I took off my wedding ring.
Her eyes dropped.
“You became disposable when you ordered Lily taken.”
I placed the ring on the table.
Silence.
Mara stared.
“You're ending our marriage over this?”
“No.”
I looked at the west passage.
“I’m ending it because I finally know what it was.”
Her face changed.
“A doorway.”
Silence.
“Vale married Carter.”
Nothing.
“Your family got inside mine.”
Marco laughed bitterly.
“Finally.”
I turned.
He looked at Mara.
“You might as well tell him.”
Her face hardened.
Marco smiled.
“He still thinks you married him after Grace disappeared.”
My blood went cold.
Mara stared at her brother.
“Shut up.”
Too late.
I looked between them.
“What does that mean?”
Marco's smile widened.
May you like
“Mara was chosen before Grace was gone.”
And suddenly my marriage had started before I ever knew I was available.
