“You were,” Lily said. “I have the papers. My mom kept them.”
Richard took a step forward. “You’re lying.”
“I’m not.” Lily reached into the pocket of her dirty jeans and pulled out a folded piece of paper. It was worn and creased, but the words were visible. A marriage certificate. Richard Cole and Sarah Anne Whitfield. Dated eight years ago.
Emma stared at it. Her hands were shaking. “Richard. Explain.”
Richard’s jaw tightened. “She’s a con artist. She’s trying to extort us. This is a setup.”
“Then why did your mother run?” Emma asked.
Richard didn’t answer.
Lily looked up at Emma. “My mom didn’t disappear. He made her disappear. He locked her somewhere. I don’t know where. But I know she’s alive.”
Emma’s breath caught. “How do you know?”
“Because I hear her,” Lily said. “On the phone. He makes her talk to me sometimes. She tells me to be brave. She tells me she loves me.”
Emma felt the world tilt. She looked at Richard. He was backing away now. His hands were raised. His face was twisted with something between anger and fear.
“Emma, listen to me. This is not what it looks like.”
“What is it, then?” Emma asked. Her voice was quiet. Deadly quiet.
“She’s my daughter,” Richard said. “Sarah was my wife. But she left. She took Lily and she left. I’ve been looking for them for years.”
“That’s a lie!” Lily shouted. “You took me! You took me from her! You put her somewhere! I saw you!”
The guests were frozen. The security guards were uncertain. No one knew what to do.
Emma looked at the locket in her hand. She looked at Lily. She looked at Richard. Then she looked at the exit where her mother had disappeared.
“Where is my mother?” she asked.
Richard didn’t answer.
Lily spoke instead. “She knows,” she said. “She’s known all along.”
Emma felt a coldness spread through her chest. Her mother. Margaret. The woman who had raised her. The woman who had given her the locket. The woman who had introduced her to Richard.
“My mother introduced us,” Emma said slowly. “She said you were a friend of the family.”
Richard didn’t speak.
Lily nodded. “She knew. She knew what he did. She helped him.”
Emma’s legs gave out. She sank onto the nearest chair. The locket halves clinked together in her palm. She stared at them. Two halves of a whole. Two sisters.
Lily sat down beside her. She didn’t touch her. She just sat there, small and still, waiting.
“Where is Sarah now?” Emma finally asked.
Lily shook her head. “I don’t know. He moved her. He moves her every few months. But I have this.”
She reached into her other pocket and pulled out a small, cracked phone. It was old. The screen was shattered. But it still worked.
“My mom calls me,” Lily said. “She uses a burner phone. She told me to record everything. She said if anything happened to her, I should find you.”
