Chapter 2 - The Man Behind the NameI couldn't breathe.
“Who are they?”
Ryan opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Vanessa stared at him.
“You told me your wife was dead.”
Ryan snapped toward her.
“Shut up.”
Crawford's voice was cold.
“His real name is Ryan Cole.”
He told me about the first wife. The second wife. The false identities. The fraud.
Then came the number that made my stomach turn.
“Almost forty million dollars.”
My family trust.
My parents' legacy.
My future.
All stolen.
Ryan had married me for access to my inheritance.
I turned toward the mansion.
“Where is Lila?”
“Inside,” Ryan said quickly.
I ran.
My cheek burned. My heart felt like it was tearing itself apart.
Lila was sitting at the kitchen table coloring a horse.
She looked up.
“Mommy? Why are you crying?”
I dropped to my knees and pulled her into my arms.
She smelled like strawberry shampoo.
She was real.
Everything else had been a lie.
Crawford entered behind me.
“We need to leave. Now.”
Outside, Ryan screamed that his daughter belonged to him.
I looked at him through the doorway.
For eleven years, I'd thought I knew that face.
Now I saw a stranger.
“Tell the police your real name,” I said.
He stopped.
“Tell them about your other wife. Your other children. The forty million dollars.”
His face drained of color.
I took Lila's hand.
May you like
We left without packing a single thing.
None of it felt like mine anymore.
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