“She interrupted me, saying, ‘Is this your way of testing me? Do you think I married you just to have a mother for Ella?'”
” Yeah! “
“You’re ridiculous!”
Those words hit me like a slap in the face, like all those stories of husbands who manipulate their wives into doubting their own reality. But I knew something wasn’t right, even though he denied it.
Caught in a whirlwind of emotions and unanswered questions, I left the mansion with Ella, seeking solitude on the beach near our house to think about the future. There, a mysterious woman approached. She smiled strangely as she looked at me and the baby and asked, “Scott’s daughter?”
“No, she’s his niece. Who are you? How do you know Scott?” I asked, wrapping my arms around Ella more protectively.
The woman laughed… with a cruel sound. “Your niece? She’s her spitting image,” she said, smiling, before her expression changed and her eyes locked onto mine.
“Run for your life,” she whispered before walking away.
“Wait!” I called to her, but she didn’t turn around.
I took a deep breath as I gazed at the ocean, then at Ella. What secrets had she been born into? And what danger lurked in the shadows of Scott’s past?
“We need to talk,” I said as I walked through the door later.
Scott looked up, his lips pressed tightly together. “Everly, I’ve already told you everything. There are no more secrets,” he insisted, but his voice didn’t sound so sure.
