A secret hidden for years.
And a truth about what being a family truly meant.
“He loved me,” the mistress said. “He was going to give our son everything.”
Audrey didn’t flinch.
“Then why are you here with his mother instead of him?”
The mistress glanced at Margaret.
Margaret said nothing.
That silence said more than any answer.
Margaret stepped closer.
“You don’t even know what you’re protecting.”
Audrey’s hand closed around the office key in her pocket.
“Then why are you so desperate to find it?”
The mistress looked at Margaret.
Margaret looked at the stairs.
Poppy stood there, small and silent, holding the ultrasound photo she had found.
Audrey looked at Poppy. The girl’s chin trembled, but she didn’t cry.
“Mommy,” Poppy whispered, “am I still your real daughter?”
Audrey’s throat tightened.
“You have always been my real daughter.”
Margaret made a small, cold sound.
“Blood is blood.”
Audrey turned slowly.
“Then you should be very careful whose blood you’re trying to erase.”
For one long moment, nobody moved.
Then Margaret whispered, “Because if Poppy sees what’s in that room, everything changes.”
Audrey felt the key bite into her palm.
Behind her, the locked door waited.
In front of her, two women stood ready to tear the family apart to get inside.
And upstairs, the little girl everyone had dismissed as a distraction was holding the one thing that might already prove them wrong.
What was hidden in Grant’s office?
