Chapter 2: The Woman on the Other End
Part 2 ⬇️
My hand tightened around the phone.
"Yes," I said.
"This is Claire."
A pause.
Then: "My name is Sophie."
The coffee shop noise faded.
Everything went quiet.
"I think we need to talk," she said.
"About Julian.
About what his family is planning."
Her voice wasn't what I expected.
She didn't sound triumphant.
She sounded frightened.
"He told me you knew," Sophie said.
"He told me you had agreed to everything.
That it was your idea."
I set down my pen.
"He told you I agreed."
"He showed me messages.
From your number." Her voice broke slightly.
"Claire, I only found out last week that none of it was true.
I've been lied to as much as you have."
I stared at the notepad in front of me.
Eleven trips.
Five months.
A family that laughed while I served them dinner.
"Sophie," I said carefully.
"What exactly did Julian tell you I agreed to?"
She went quiet for a moment.
Then she said: "That you would raise the baby as your own.
That you couldn't have children.
That this was a private arrangement between the three of us."
My chest went cold.
"And there's something else," she whispered.
"Something his mother asked me to sign.
I didn't understand it at the time.
But I had a lawyer look at it yesterday."
She stopped.
"Sophie," I said.
"What did it say?"
---
What was in that document — and how deep does this go?
May you like
Claire's world is about to crack open in ways she never imagined.
Click the link below to read the full story.
