Chapter 12 - THE LAST PERSON I TRUSTED
I drove faster than I should have.
But I didn't care.
Not anymore.
Every second mattered.
Because every person I trusted had failed Lily.
And I refused to let it happen again.
When I arrived at my mother's house, the front door was open.
Again.
The same feeling returned.
Someone had entered.
Someone who didn't care about consequences.
I rushed inside.
"Lily!"
No answer.
Then I heard crying.
Upstairs.
I ran.
I found my daughter sitting on the floor.
Buster beside her.
Protecting her.
Again.
But the person standing in front of them...
Was my mother.
And she was holding a piece of paper.
My daughter's custody document.
"What are you doing?"
My mother looked at me.
Tears filled her eyes.
"Michael..."
I walked toward Lily.
"Come here."
She ran into my arms.
I held her tightly.
Then looked at my mother.
"What is this?"
She lowered the paper.
"I was trying to fix everything."
I couldn't believe it.
"Everyone keeps saying that."
"Everyone keeps destroying my life and calling it fixing."
She cried.
"I made a mistake."
"No."
My voice became cold.
"You made choices."
She looked down.
"I thought if Brad took care of Sarah..."
I stopped her.
"Stop."
I looked at Lily.
"Do you know what you all did?"
Nobody answered.
"You made a five-year-old girl believe her father was dead."
My mother cried.
"I know."
"No."
I shook my head.
"You don't."
"You went home every night knowing she was waiting for me."
"You knew she cried for me."
"You knew she was scared."
"And you still helped them."
My mother covered her face.
Then Lily whispered:
"Daddy..."
I looked down.
"Yes?"
"Can we leave?"
Those three words broke me.
Because my daughter no longer wanted to know who was right.
She only wanted safety.
I picked her up.
"We're leaving."
As I turned away...
My mother said something that stopped me.
"Michael."
I looked back.
"Brad wasn't the person who started this."
I stared at her.
"Then who was?"
She hesitated.
Too long.
"Tell me."
She looked terrified.
Then whispered:
"Sarah."
I froze.
"What?"
My mother started crying.
"She knew."
"No."
"She knew you were alive."
The room went silent.
My grip tightened around Lily.
"You're lying."
"I wish I was."
My mother looked at me.
"Sarah found out two weeks after you left."
My heart stopped.
"She knew?"
"Yes."
"She knew I was alive?"
My mother nodded.
"And she still told Lily I was dead?"
She couldn't look at me.
The pain was different this time.
Because I had already accepted betrayal.
But I hadn't accepted that level of cruelty.
Then my phone buzzed.
A message.
From Sarah.
I opened it.
One sentence.
"Michael, I need to tell you the truth before they kill me."
I stared at the screen.
Then another message appeared.
A picture.
Sarah.
Standing in front of Brad's car.
Blood on her face.
And underneath it:
"Come alone."
My heart dropped.
Because I knew exactly what it meant.
The people who destroyed my family...
May you like
Were now trying to destroy the last witness.
And that witness was my wife.
