Chapter 2 - The Impossible ReflectionThe silence in the diner was so thick Liam felt he could touch it. Riley was sobbing, her small hands reaching toward the waitress—toward her—with a desperation that broke Liam’s heart.
The waitress, Sophie, stood frozen. Her eyes, those hauntingly familiar honey-colored orbs, didn't hold the warmth Liam remembered. They held only professional uncertainty and a flickering shadow of alarm.
“I’m really sorry,” Sophie said, backing away slightly as the other diners began to stare. “I think you should probably leave. I don’t know who this ‘Amelia’ is, but I’m just Sophie. I’ve lived in Jersey all my life.”
Liam finally found his voice. It sounded like gravel scraping against bone. “The scar. Above your brow. How did you get it?”
Sophie instinctively touched her eyebrow. “Car accident when I was a child. Why?”
Liam didn't answer. He threw a hundred-dollar bill onto the table, grabbed Riley by the waist, and ushered her out into the rain. His brain was spinning in impossible circles. Amelia had died in a hospital bed in Boston. He had seen the body. He had attended the funeral.
“She’s not Mommy, Daddy!” Riley wailed as they hit the street. “She’s not! But she looks like her!”
“I know, Riley,” Liam whispered, his chest heaving. “I know.”
May you like
He watched from the sidewalk as the diner door remained closed. He was a man who owned skyscrapers, a man who could command an army of investigators to track down anyone on earth. He took out his phone and dialed his head of private security.
“Find out everything about the waitress at the corner diner,” Liam commanded, his voice trembling with a terrifying, illicit hope. “Her background, her birth certificate, her medical history—go back to the day she was born.”
