Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN WHO RAISED MY MOTHERBy sunrise, I knew one thing.
I couldn't trust my husband.
I couldn't trust his mother.
And I couldn't trust the story I'd been told about my own childhood.
I took Noah and left.
Not dramatically.
Not with screaming.
I simply packed one suitcase, placed my son in his carrier, and walked out the front door.
Adrian watched from the staircase.
“Where are you going?”
“To find my mother.”
“She’s dead.”
“I know.”
“Then what are you looking for?”
“The truth.”
He followed me onto the porch.
“Lydia, please.”
I turned.
“You knew.”
“I knew my mother was investigating your family.”
“You knew she had my DNA.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before Noah was born.”
The words struck harder than any slap.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I thought I could stop her.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You couldn't even stop her from humiliating me.”
His eyes filled with regret.
But regret wasn't enough.
Not anymore.
I drove to the small town where my mother had grown up.
The house no longer existed.
A grocery store stood where it had once been.
But an elderly woman named Ruth remembered her.
“You're Margaret's daughter.”
I nodded.
Ruth stared at me.
Then she whispered:
“Oh, sweetheart.”
“What?”
“She told me they'd come for you eventually.”
“Who?”
Ruth looked toward the road.
“The Whitmores.”
My heart began pounding.
She invited me inside.
From a closet, she retrieved a wooden box.
Inside were letters.
Dozens of them.
All written by my mother.
The first was dated thirty years earlier.
Dear Ruth,
If anything happens to me, Lydia must never be taken to Eleanor.
My hands shook.
I read faster.
My mother had discovered that Eleanor's family had stolen an inheritance from her.
But there was more.
She had also discovered something about the Whitmore bloodline.
A child had been switched at birth.
The Whitmore heir wasn't Adrian.
It wasn't even Eleanor's husband.
It was my mother.
And if my mother had inherited everything, then I...
was the next heir.
Ruth touched my hand.
“Your mother tried to expose them.”
“What happened?”
“She disappeared.”
“She died.”
Ruth looked at me sadly.
“That is what they told you.”
I stopped.
“What?”
Ruth leaned closer.
“Your mother didn't die.”
I couldn't speak.
“She ran.”
“Where?”
“Canada, I think.”
“Why didn't she take me?”
Ruth's eyes filled with tears.
“Because Eleanor threatened to kill you.”
The room became silent.
Then my phone rang.
Adrian.
I ignored it.
It rang again.
Then a message appeared.
Lydia, your son isn't safe. Come home.
I stared at the words.
A second message followed.
Eleanor knows you're with Ruth.
My blood turned to ice.
Then the front door handle began to move.
Someone was outside.
Ruth whispered:
“Don't answer.”
The handle turned again.
May you like
And someone knocked.
Three slow knocks.
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