Chapter 3 - THE SECRET FROM BEFORE
I stared at that message until my eyes burned.
Where she really came from.
The words repeated in my head, over and over, like a bell tolling in an empty room. My breath came short and shallow. I gripped the phone so hard my fingers ached.
No one knew. That was impossible. That secret had been buried years ago. Locked away. Buried deep where no one would ever find it.
I looked at the number. Unknown. Blocked. Untraceable.
I stood up slowly, stepping quietly out of Mia’s room so I wouldn’t wake her. I walked down the hallway to the living room, pacing in the dark, phone still clutched in my hand.
Vanessa. It had to be Vanessa.
Who else would do this? Who else hated me enough? Who else knew enough to threaten me this way?
But how? How could she possibly know? That happened long before I met Daniel. Long before any of this. I had told no one. Not my parents. Not my closest friend. Not even Daniel—especially not Daniel.
I sank onto the sofa, pressing my palms against my eyes, trying to think.
The message said “everyone will know the truth.” If she knew the truth—if she told Daniel—what would happen? Daniel already doubted me. He already stood halfway between me and Vanessa. If he learned what I had kept from him all these years… he might take Mia away. He might believe I had lied to him about everything. He might decide Mia was safer with Vanessa.
Panic flared hot and sharp in my chest.
No. I had to be calm. I had to think.
I opened the message again and looked at the photo. It was me, exhausted, smiling, holding newborn Mia in my arms. I remembered that day perfectly. I remembered the relief. The fear. The promise I had made to myself that I would always protect her.
Who took this photo? I didn’t remember anyone being there but…
My heart stopped.
There was someone. Once. Someone from that time. Someone who knew everything. Someone I had thought was gone forever. Someone who had vanished without a word.
Could Vanessa have found him? Could she have talked to him? Bribed him? Threatened him?
Or was it worse? What if he had come back on his own? What if he had found me after all these years? What if he was working with Vanessa?
I felt dizzy. Two enemies. Working together. One inside my family, one from my past.
I needed proof. I needed to know exactly how much Vanessa knew. And I needed to know who had told her.
I typed out a reply, hands shaking so badly I had to delete and rewrite three times:
WHAT DO YOU KNOW?
I hit send.
The message failed to deliver.
I tried again. Same result. The number was fake. Disposable. Untraceable. A dead end.
I threw the phone onto the cushion beside me and dropped my head into my hands.
If this was Vanessa’s game, she was playing it very carefully. She had covered her tracks perfectly. She had threatened me without leaving a single clue that could lead back to her.
But she had made one mistake. She had revealed too much. She had spoken as if she held a secret powerful enough to destroy me. Which meant she wanted to use it. She wanted to scare me. She wanted to silence me.
She didn’t want the truth to come out—not yet. She wanted to hold it over my head. She wanted me to back down. To stay quiet. To let her win.
I stood up and walked to the window again. The rain was falling harder now, streaking down the glass.
She thought this would break me. She thought I would be terrified into silence. That I would let her walk all over me and Mia rather than risk having my past exposed.
She was wrong.
If anything, this message proved she was dangerous. Desperate. And hiding something just as ugly as what she was holding over me.
I took a deep breath. I would not be blackmailed. I would not be silenced.
I walked back upstairs, checked on Mia once more, and sat down in the chair beside her bed again. I put my phone on silent and placed it face-down on the nightstand.
If Vanessa wanted to threaten me, fine. Let her. Let her say whatever she wanted. I would not back down. I would not let her win.
But tomorrow, I would start asking questions. I would find out how much she knew. I would find out who she had talked to. And I would find out exactly what she planned to do with that information.
Because there was one thing Vanessa did not know. She thought she held all the cards. She thought my secret was the only one that mattered.
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But people who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
Vanessa had a past too. Everyone did. And if she was digging into mine… then I would dig into hers.
