Chapter 2: What She Already Knew
Vincent made the call that same night.
Sarah didn't answer.
He left no message.
He tried again at seven the next morning.
This time she picked up on the second ring, and the silence after he said Adrian's name told him everything he needed to know about how she would take the news.
"No," she said.
Just that.
One word, flat and final.
"Sarah—"
"He made his choice three years ago, Vincent.
Lily doesn't know his name.
She doesn't know his face.
And that is exactly how he wanted it."
"He almost d*ed on Tuesday."
Another silence.
Longer this time.
"I know," Sarah said quietly.
"I saw it on the news.
A sh00ting on Mulberry Street." Her voice didn't break, but something in it shifted.
"I sat with Lily in her room that night and watched her color.
She drew a family again.
Mother, daughter…
and a man beside them with no face.
She asked me why he didn't have eyes."
Vincent said nothing.
"What did you tell her?" he finally asked.
"I told her maybe she just hadn't decided what he looked like yet."
Sarah exhaled slowly.
"He can't walk into her life like nothing happened, Vincent.
She's three years old.
To her, he doesn't exist.
And to him — for three years — she didn't either."
"That's not—"
"Don't." Her voice hardened.
"Don't tell me what he felt.
Tell me why now.
Tell me the real reason."
Vincent hesitated one second too long.
And Sarah understood.
"It's not just the sh00ting, is it," she said.
"Something else is wrong with him."
---
What Sarah learns next will change every decision she thought she'd already made.
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The full story — including what Adrian is hiding about his health, and what Volkov's men found out about Lily — is in the link below.
Click to read the rest before Part 3 is gone.
