CHAPTER 2: The Woman Everyone Said Was Dead
That night, Lily pretended to be asleep.
But through the crack in her bedroom door, she overheard her parents arguing.
"You should have burned the letter years ago!"
"I couldn't."
"If she finds out now, everything is over."
"She deserves the truth."
Silence.
Then her mother whispered something that shattered Lily's world.
"Her real mother is still alive."
Lily stopped breathing.
Real mother?
What did that mean?
The next morning, she secretly took the family photo album from the attic.
Every picture before her fifth birthday was missing.
Every single one.
Almost as if someone had erased her childhood.
Then she noticed something taped inside the back cover.
A newspaper clipping.
LOCAL WOMAN DIES IN HOUSE FIRE. BODY NEVER RECOVERED.
Below the headline...
The same woman from the photograph.
The one holding baby Lily.
That afternoon, while walking home from school, Lily felt someone watching her.
Across the street stood an older woman wearing a faded blue coat.
Their eyes met.
The woman smiled through tears.
Then she whispered words Lily would never forget.
"I've waited seven years to see you again."
Before Lily could answer...
A black SUV sped between them.
When it passed...
The woman had disappeared.
That evening, Lily found something tucked beneath her pillow.
A tiny silver key.
Attached was a note.
"The truth is hidden beneath the Rainbow House."
Lily looked toward the children's book sitting on her bedside table.
For years...
She believed it was just a bedtime story.
She had no idea...
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It was actually a map.
And someone was willing to kill to keep its final secret buried...
