Chapter 2: The Second Line
I didn't move.
Rebecca's smile flickered.
She glanced at the guests, then back at me.
"Darling.
Everyone is waiting."
"What did you write to my daughter?"
The words came out quiet.
Controlled.
But every person near the doors heard them.
Rebecca laughed softly.
"I don't know what she told you, but she's seven.
Children say things—"
"It's in your handwriting, Rebecca."
The laugh stopped.
Emily pressed her face into my shoulder.
I felt her shaking.
Rebecca stepped closer and lowered her voice.
"We agreed Emily needed more structure.
A proper environment.
I found a wonderful place—"
"A boarding school."
"A very good one.
Across the state."
I looked at her.
Really looked at her.
Two years of dinners.
Two years of help with homework.
Two years of promising she would never try to replace Emily's mother.
"Who else knew about this?"
She hesitated.
Just one second too long.
"Your brother called me this morning," she said.
"He agreed it was the right decision for everyone."
My brother.
I hadn't spoken to him in three days.
He hadn't mentioned a single word.
I reached into my jacket and unfolded the note one more time.
There was something I hadn't noticed before.
A second line.
Smaller.
Written at the bottom.
*The papers are already signed.*
---
What papers had Rebecca already signed — and who else was part of this plan?
What the father discovered next shook him to his core.
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