CHAPTER 2: The Lie That Lived
“No… that’s not possible,” his wife whispered, stepping toward him.
Her eyes locked on the bracelet.
Then the child.
Then back to Marcus.
“Marcus… what is this?”
He turned slightly so she could see the girl’s face.
The room seemed to collapse inward.
His wife let out a broken sound and dropped to her knees.
“Lily…?”
The little girl flinched at the name, hiding her face deeper into Marcus’s shoulder.
Fear.
Not recognition.
Fear.
Marcus felt something inside him crack.
“Why is she afraid?” he asked, his voice rising now. “Why does our daughter look at her own mother like a stranger?”
Silence.
Too much silence.
Then his father-in-law finally spoke.
“You don’t understand what happened that night.”
Marcus laughed.
A cold, humorless sound.
May you like
“Then help me understand,” he said. “Because from where I’m standing… it looks like you buried my daughter while she was still alive.”
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
