Chapter 2: The Bruise She Tried to Hide
**PART 2**
The bronze doors closed with a soft, final click.
Inside, the mansion was cool and quiet.
My mother stood in the entrance hall, eyes wide, one hand pressed to her chest.
"Taylor…
this is yours?"
"All of it, Mom.
Sit down.
Please."
I guided her to the nearest chair and handed Donovan a small toy from the suitcase.
He stopped crying almost immediately.
My mother's hands were still shaking.
Outside, Caden was pounding on the gate.
"Taylor!
Open this door right now!
We need to talk!"
I didn't move.
Bonnie's voice came next, sharp and ugly even through the walls.
"She's lost her mind.
Call a lawyer, Caden.
She can't just take the boy.
We'll get him back."
*We'll get him back.*
Those four words told me everything I needed to know about what this had always been about.
I looked down at my mother.
There was a bruise on her left wrist I hadn't noticed before.
Faint.
Yellowish.
Old enough to have been there for days.
"Mom." My voice dropped.
"Did someone do that to you?"
She pulled her sleeve down quickly.
"It's nothing."
"Mom."
She looked away.
Her jaw was tight.
"Bonnie grabbed me this morning.
I dropped a glass and she…
she grabbed me and said if I told you anything, she'd make sure you never trusted me again."
The room went very still.
My phone buzzed.
A message from a number I didn't recognize.
*Taylor.
There's something about Caden you don't know yet.
Something he's been hiding since before you were married.
We need to talk.*
I stared at the screen.
I had no idea who had sent it.
---
What Caden has been hiding could change everything Taylor thought she knew.
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