Chapter 2

I shoved the file behind my back, my heart hammering so hard I could taste it.

"I was looking for Lily's vaccination records," I said, forcing my voice steady. "Maren asked me to update them for her school enrollment."

The lie came easily. Three years of survival had made me fluent in deception.

Roman studied me with those dark, unreadable eyes. He was close enough that I could smell his cologne — cedar and something warm that I hated myself for noticing.

"At eleven o'clock at night?" he asked.

"Maren said it was urgent."

He held my gaze for a long, terrible moment. Then he stepped back.

"Next time, ask me. This room is private."

He turned and walked out. I didn't breathe until I heard his footsteps fade down the hallway.

I looked at the file still clutched behind my back. My hands were trembling so violently the papers rattled.

I couldn't take it. If Maren noticed it was missing, she'd know. And if she knew, she'd destroy me. She'd take Lily and disappear, and I'd never see my daughter again.

I pulled out my phone and photographed every page. The DNA results. The doctor's note. The payment records showing $200,000 transferred to Dr. Calloway's offshore account.

Then I put the file back, exactly as I'd found it, and slipped out of the study.

Back in my room, I sat on the edge of my narrow bed and stared at the photos on my phone.

Proof. I finally had proof.

But proof meant nothing without a lawyer. And a lawyer meant money I didn't have. Maren controlled my salary, depositing a pittance into an account she monitored. I couldn't save more than a few hundred dollars without her noticing.

I needed help. Someone powerful enough to challenge the Hale empire.

My mind went to one person.

Colton Drake.

Roman's older brother. The black sheep of the Hale family. He'd been cut off from the family fortune five years ago after a public falling-out with Roman over their father's estate. He'd rebuilt his own empire from scratch — smaller than Roman's, but legitimate and growing.

I had met him once, at Lily's first birthday party. He'd been the only person in that entire mansion who spoke to me like a human being.

"You look like you're serving a life sentence," he'd said, handing me a glass of champagne.

"Maybe I am," I'd replied.

He'd laughed, a surprised, genuine sound. "If you ever need a jailbreak, you know where to find me."

I'd thought he was flirting. Now I wondered if he'd seen something I thought I'd hidden.

I found his number through a business directory. My fingers hovered over the screen.

If I did this, there was no going back. Maren would retaliate. Roman would see me as a traitor. I could lose my access to Lily entirely.

But if I didn't do this, I would spend the rest of my life watching my daughter grow up calling another woman "Mommy," never knowing the truth.

I typed the message.

"Colton Drake. This is Wren Ashwood. I'm the nanny at Roman's house. I need legal help. I can't explain over text, but I have evidence that will change everything. Please. I'm desperate."

I pressed send.

Three minutes later, my phone rang.

"Wren." His voice was calm, steady, and wide awake despite the hour. "Tell me everything."

I did. I told him about the surrogacy. About Maren's deception. About the DNA file. About three years of watching my daughter from the shadows.

When I finished, there was a long silence.

"Can you get out of the house tomorrow morning?" he asked.

"Maren has a spa appointment at ten. Roman will be at the office. I'll have Lily, but—"

"Bring her. I'll have a family lawyer waiting. We'll start the process."

Relief flooded through me, so powerful my knees buckled. I sank onto the bed, pressing my hand over my mouth to muffle the sob that escaped.

"Thank you," I whispered. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet," he said, his voice hardening. "My brother is going to fight this. And Maren... she's going to fight dirtier."

"I know."

"Then be ready."

The line went dead.

I lay in the dark, clutching my phone to my chest, the photographs of the DNA report glowing behind my closed eyes.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow everything would change.

At 6 a.m., I was in the kitchen preparing Lily's breakfast when Maren appeared, already dressed in workout clothes, her face a perfect mask of effortless beauty.

We were identical twins, but you'd never know it. She was polished, luminous, curated. I was the faded copy — thinner, paler, with dark circles that never quite went away.

"I need you to take Lily to her piano lesson at nine," Maren said, not looking at me. "And pick up my dry cleaning on the way back."

"Of course."

She paused at the door, then turned back. Her eyes narrowed.

"You look different today," she said slowly. "Why do you look different?"

My blood went cold. "I slept well for once."

She stared at me for a beat too long, then shrugged. "Whatever. Don't forget the dry cleaning."

She left. I let out a slow breath.

At 9:15, I strapped Lily into her car seat and drove towards the piano teacher's house. But at the intersection, I turned left instead of right.

"Where are we going, Wren?" Lily asked from the back seat.

I looked at her in the rearview mirror. My daughter. My whole world.

"On an adventure," I said.

Colton's office was in a glass tower downtown. He was waiting in the lobby, tall, dark-haired, with the same sharp jawline as Roman but softer eyes.

He crouched down to Lily's level. "Hey there, princess. I'm your Uncle Colton. Want to see my fish tank?"

Lily's face lit up. "You have fish?"

"I have a shark."

"A SHARK?"

He grinned and offered his hand. She took it without hesitation.

Something in my chest loosened. She trusted him. Children always knew.

Upstairs, a woman in a sharp suit was waiting. Elena Vargas, family attorney.

"I've reviewed the photographs you sent," Elena said, her expression grave. "This is strong evidence. But I need to be honest with you, Wren. The surrogacy contract is airtight. Maren is listed as the intended parent. Your name is nowhere on Lily's birth certificate."

"But the DNA—"

"Proves you're biologically related. But so is Maren. You're identical twins. Your DNA is virtually indistinguishable through standard testing."

The floor dropped out from under me.

"There are advanced genomic tests that can differentiate between identical twins," Elena continued. "But they're expensive, and they take time. And the moment Maren knows you're pursuing this, she will move to block every avenue."

Colton leaned forward. "Then we don't let her know. Not yet."

Elena nodded. "We build the case quietly. Bank records, the doctor's payment, witness testimony. And we need the original surrogacy records from the clinic."

"The clinic closed two years ago," I said, my voice hollow.

"Records still exist somewhere," Elena said. "I'll find them."

Colton looked at me, his expression serious. "Wren, this is going to get ugly. My brother will not take this well. And Maren—"

"I know what Maren is capable of," I said.

He nodded slowly. "Then we do this smart. You go back to the house. You act normal. You don't change a single thing in your routine. Can you do that?"

I looked at Lily, who was pressing her face against the fish tank glass, giggling at the shark.

"I can do anything for her," I said.

We drove back to the house. I collected the dry cleaning. I made Lily's lunch. I sang the star song at naptime.

At 3 p.m., Maren returned from her spa day, glowing and relaxed.

"Did everything go smoothly?" she asked, scrolling through her phone.

"Perfectly," I said.

She didn't look up. "Good. Roman and I are going out tonight. There's leftover pasta in the fridge for you."

Leftover pasta. While they dined at Michelin-starred restaurants. While they lived in the life that should have been mine.

I smiled. "Sounds great."

That night, after putting Lily to bed, I sat in the dark kitchen eating cold pasta and planning my daughter's rescue.

My phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number.

"I know what you did today. You went to see Colton. Did you really think I wouldn't find out?"

My heart stopped.

A second message appeared.

"Come to the garden. Now. We need to talk. — Roman"