Chapter 4 - Seven Years AgoThat night, I finally told Felix the truth.
Not the whole truth.
Not yet.
We sat in a private hospital room while Lily slept.
Rain hit the windows.
The city glowed below us.
"You want to know why I left," I said.
Felix didn't answer.
"You were told I betrayed you."
"Yes."
"You were told I stole from Kingsley Hospitality."
"Yes."
"You were told I signed away Marlowe House voluntarily."
"Yes."
"All lies."
His eyes stayed on mine.
"Then tell me what happened."
I looked at Lily.
Seven years earlier, I had been thirty.
Marlowe House was my life's work.
My father had opened the first restaurant using recipes my grandmother had written by hand.
I transformed that tiny restaurant into a luxury hospitality concept.
It was mine.
My name was on every door.
Felix helped me expand.
He was the only person I trusted.
Then Odette offered a partnership.
She called it protection.
She called it investment.
She called it family.
I should have known better.
"She wanted control," I said.
Felix nodded.
"I know."
"No. You don't."
I looked at him.
"She wanted more than control."
I told him about the night she summoned me to her office.
She had placed a contract on the desk.
A buyout agreement.
I laughed when I first saw it.
Then she slid another paper toward me.
A photograph.
Felix.
Outside a hotel.
With another woman.
I thought he had betrayed me.
Odette told me he had been seeing her for months.
She showed me messages.
Bank transfers.
Hotel records.
Everything looked real.
"She forged it," Felix whispered.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because she needed me gone."
"Why?"
"Because Marlowe House was worth more without me."
He closed his eyes.
"I believed her."
"You believed everyone except me."
"I was twenty-seven."
"You were the person I loved."
"I know."
His voice cracked.
"I know."
I looked away.
"That night, Odette offered me two hundred thousand dollars."
"And you took it."
"Because I thought you hated me."
He looked stunned.
"I never hated you."
"She made sure I believed you did."
"What happened after?"
"I left New York."
I touched Lily's blanket.
"Three weeks later, I found out I was pregnant."
Felix stopped breathing.
"You knew?"
"I tried to contact you."
"Sarah."
"I called."
"I never got a call."
"I sent letters."
"I never got them."
"Exactly."
Silence filled the room.
Felix stood abruptly.
"My mother."
"Yes."
He paced.
"Why keep Lily secret?"
"Because by the time I discovered the truth, Odette's people had already found me."
His head snapped toward me.
"What?"
"They came to Oregon."
"When?"
"Seven years ago."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because they told me if I went back to New York, you would lose everything."
Felix looked at Lily.
"She threatened our daughter."
"I believed her."
"Sarah..."
"I wasn't willing to risk Lily."
He sat down.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then he whispered:
"She knew."
"Yes."
"She knew about Lily all along."
A knock came at the door.
We both turned.
A hospital security guard stood there.
"Ms. Marlowe?"
"Yes?"
"I was asked to deliver this."
He handed me an envelope.
No name.
No return address.
Inside was a single page.
YOU HAVE ALWAYS HAD ONE WEAKNESS.
I turned it over.
Another sentence.
NOW YOU HAVE TWO.
Then a photograph slipped out.
Lily.
Taken that morning.
At school.
From across the street.
I screamed.
Felix grabbed the photograph.
On the back was a final message.
MIDNIGHT. MARLOWE HOUSE. COME ALONE.
Felix crushed the paper.
"We're not going."
I looked at him.
"Yes, we are."
"What?"
"They want me afraid."
I stood.
"I'm done being afraid."
But as I said those words, my phone lit up.
A live video had been sent from an unknown number.
I opened it.
It showed my old house.
Marlowe House.
The front door opened.
May you like
And someone walked inside carrying a six-year-old girl's pink backpack.
Lily's backpack.
