Chapter 1 - The First LieThe pink blanket lay on the hardwood floor, a soft pastel contrast to the razor-sharp tension cutting through the living room.
My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird. I scooped Savannah into my arms, ignoring Bernice’s frantic, rehearsed gasps. My mother’s hands hovered in the air, trembling—not with fear, but with the sudden realization that she had been caught red-handed.
"Christopher, I swear, she tripped over the rug," Bernice stammered, her voice pitching up in that familiar, manipulative register she always used when she wanted to play the victim.
I didn't answer her. I couldn't. My eyes were glued to Savannah’s phone, which still glowed against the carpet. Before lifting Savannah, my fingers had instinctively snatched the device. Now, as I carried my terrified, pregnant wife toward the door to rush her to the hospital, the words on that screen burned into my retinas:
She knows about the DNA test. She’s trying to force me to miscarry. Lock the doors, Chris. Please.
My blood turned to ice water. Savannah gripped my shirt, her fingernails digging into my shoulder. "Hospital, Chris. Please. My stomach hurts."
Bernice lunged forward, trying to block the doorway. "Christopher, you're not seriously listening to her? She's hysterical! Hormones make women lie—you know how unstable she gets!"
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"Get out of my way, Mom," I said, my voice dropping into a dangerous, unfamiliar register that made Bernice physically recoil.
As we sped away toward the ER, the silence in the car was deafening, broken only by Savannah’s quiet, shuddering breaths. But my mind was racing down a terrifying rabbit hole. Savannah was calm, rational, and fiercely protective of our unborn child. She didn't invent things. And Bernice... Bernice had never wanted us to be together.
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