Chapter 2: The Name That Broke the Floor Beneath Me
My hands were shaking as I turned the photograph over.
The handwriting was small and careful, like someone had written it slowly so every word would be remembered.
*"She didn't lose the baby.
She gave him away.
Noah is not yours."*
The room went completely silent.
Lily pressed her face into my chest.
I looked up at Vanessa.
She wasn't backing away anymore.
She was watching me with something I had never seen on her face before.
Not guilt.
Not fear.
Calculation.
"You were never supposed to come home early," she said.
"What did you do?"
She tilted her head.
"I did what I had to do."
"Whose baby is Noah?"
She said nothing.
I stepped toward her.
"Vanessa.
Whose baby is he?"
She glanced at the cabinet, then back at me.
"It doesn't matter now."
"It matters to me."
Lily tugged my sleeve.
"Daddy," she whispered.
"She used to talk on the phone at night.
She always said the same name."
I looked down at her.
"What name, sweetheart?"
Lily hesitated.
Then she said a name I recognized.
May you like
A name that made my legs go weak.
It was the name of my brother.
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