Chapter 6 - Two daughters, one story
The sentence sounded like confirmation.
It wasn’t.
“Raised” can mean many things.
I forced myself to ask.
“Is Marcus her father?”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Chloe made a small sound.
Marcus immediately said:
“There’s no proof.”
Victoria stared at him.
“You demanded the paternity test.”
My entire body went cold.
There had been a test.
Not rumor.
Not assumption.
Marcus said:
“This is not the place.”
“No,” Victoria replied. “The place was seven years ago when you promised me we wouldn’t have to hide forever.”
I looked at Chloe.
She was eight.
Lila was eight.
Our pregnancies overlapped.
While I was preparing Chloe’s nursery, Marcus was building another family.
But something still didn’t fit.
Why erase me from school instead of simply hiding Lila?
Victoria answered before I asked.
“Oakridge had a sibling preference.”
I stared.
“What?”
She laughed bitterly.
“Marcus wanted both girls admitted.”
Chloe’s application depended heavily on donor introductions and legacy recommendations.
Lila’s did too.
But Victoria could not publicly appear as a single teacher with Marcus’s child without risking scandal with donors and the board.
So they created a different story.
At school, Marcus and Victoria acted as a couple.
At home, Marcus and I remained married.
Two worlds.
One man.
And Chloe was forced to carry the seam.
“You made my daughter pretend Victoria was her mother so Lila could appear to be her sister?”
Marcus snapped:
“It was temporary.”
“Seven years?”
“Things became complicated.”
Victoria shook her head.
“No. You liked having both.”
That landed.
The powerful husband at home.
The polished father at school.
The loyal wife hidden away.
The elegant mistress in public.
But if that were all, the story would have been monstrous enough.
It wasn’t.
“Where is Lila now?”
Victoria’s face changed.
Silence.
“Where is she?”
Marcus said:
“She lives with relatives.”
Dr. Foster looked at the enrollment notes.
“Which relatives?”
No answer.
Then Chloe whispered:
“She doesn’t.”
Everyone turned.
“What?”
Chloe began crying.
“Lila didn’t move.”
My heart stopped.
“What happened to her?”
“She got hurt.”
Victoria covered her mouth.
Marcus shouted:
“Chloe!”
I stood between them.
“No.”
My daughter looked at me.
“She fell.”
“Where?”
She pointed toward the music hallway.
“The room.”
The locked room.
My skin went cold.
“When?”
“Last year.”
Victoria sank into a chair.
“No.”
Chloe nodded.
“I heard her crying.”
Marcus walked toward the door.
Campus security blocked him.
And for the first time, I understood why Chloe had been terrified of saying my name.
May you like
The room wasn’t only punishment.
It was a place tied to something that had already happened to another child.
