Chapter 5: The Mother Who Had Been Watching
I reached the lobby before Mr.
Bennett could catch up.
A woman stood beside the trophy case, clutching a worn handbag.
She had my eyes, and a scar crossed the knuckle of the hand holding the other half of my photograph.
“Amara,” she said.
I stopped several feet away.
“Why did you tell me not to leave with him?”
Elena glanced at Mr.
Bennett.
“Because Vivian showed me papers with Daniel’s signature.
They said he had given you away.”
“I never signed anything,” he replied.
“You stopped answering.”
“Vivian changed my number and intercepted my mail.”
Elena covered her mouth.
Mr.
Bennett took one step forward, but she raised her palm.
“Not yet, Daniel.”
I held up the court document Vivian had left behind.
“Is this your signature?”
Elena’s knees nearly gave way.
Principal Harris pulled a chair behind her.
“It looks like mine,” she said.
“But I never signed away my child.”
“Then where were you?”
“I was arrested on a false theft complaint the night you disappeared.
By the time the complaint was dismissed, Vivian had moved you.”
Mr.
Bennett stared at his sister’s name on the witness line.
“Vivian filed it?”
“She told the police I took jewelry from your mother.”
“My mother’s jewelry was in the family safe.”
“I know that now.”
I placed the document on the trophy case.
“You found out sixteen years ago, but you still didn’t come for me.”
Elena’s face crumpled.
“Vivian said Ruth would lose custody if I appeared.
She said you would be sent from home to home while Daniel fought me.”
“So you watched from a distance?”
“On your tenth birthday, you wore a yellow coat.
Ruth took you to the bakery on Mason Street.”
My breath caught.
“There was a woman across the road.”
“I brought you a card.
Vivian was waiting beside my car.”
“You let her stop you?”
“She showed me a report saying Daniel had declared you missing because I was dangerous.”
I tore the document in half.
“You were my mother.”
“You’re right.”
Her answer struck harder than an excuse.
“You should have come anyway,” I said.
“Yes.
I should have.”
The doors behind us opened.
Brielle approached without her mother, holding out her phone.
“I need to show you something.”
I wiped my face.
“Have you come to laugh again?”
“No.”
She removed her blazer and draped it over my torn hem.
Then she opened a message sent by Vivian that morning.
Make sure the patched girl leaves before Bennett speaks.
Embarrass her if you have to.
Mr.
Bennett read it twice.
“Vivian ordered you to target Amara?”
Brielle’s lips trembled.
“She told me Amara cheated to win the award.
I wanted my mother to think I could handle things.”
“You grabbed my dress because she told you to?”
“Yes.”
“Why are you showing me this now?”
“Because she knew who you were before Uncle Daniel saw your sleeve.”
Elena took my hand.
I almost pulled away, but her fingers were shaking worse than mine.
Brielle lowered her head.
“I’m sorry, Amara.
What I did was cruel.”
“Sorry doesn’t erase that room laughing.”
“No.
It doesn’t.”
Principal Harris stood beside us.
“Brielle, there will still be consequences.”
“I understand.”
Elena opened her handbag and pulled out a storage receipt.
“Vivian cannot know we have this.”
A crash sounded near the front entrance.
Vivian stood outside the locked glass doors, pounding on them.
“Brielle!” she shouted.
“Come here immediately!”
Brielle moved closer to me instead.
Vivian raised a legal document against the glass.
Mr.
Sloan read the heading through the door.
“Temporary protective order.”
“Against whom?” I asked.
His face darkened.
May you like
“Against Daniel and Elena,” he said.
“Vivian has just convinced a judge that neither of your parents can come near you.”
