Chapter 2 - The Ambush
I stared at the glowing screen of my phone until my eyes burned.
The legal document was stamped by a judge with tomorrow's date.
My own mother was trying to steal my child because I embarrassed her at dinner.
I threw the car into drive and sped away from that toxic house.
The snow was falling heavily now, coating the dark roads in dangerous sheets of ice.
Lily was crying in the backseat, sensing the overwhelming panic radiating from my body.
I kept whispering that everything was going to be okay.
It was a lie, but I had to believe it to keep driving.
We finally made it to my cheap apartment complex across town.
I grabbed the diaper bag, the tiny gifts, and my baby, rushing up the concrete stairs.
I reached for my keys, but my heart stopped completely.
My front door was already unlocked and cracked slightly open.
I froze in the hallway, holding Lily so tightly she whined in protest.
I gently pushed the door open with my shoulder.
The apartment was pitch black, but I could smell expensive cologne.
It was a scent I had spent the last year desperately trying to forget.
Someone struck a match in the darkness, lighting a single candle on my dining table.
Sitting in my chair was Marcus.
He was Lily’s father, the billionaire heir who abandoned me the moment I got pregnant.
He smiled coldly and blew out the match.
He said my mother had called him to propose a mutually beneficial arrangement.
May you like
He stood up and pulled an official envelope from his tailored suit jacket.
He told me he was taking Lily tonight, and I was never going to see her again.
