Part 2Her Boast Post: My Mother’s Killer Unmasked

So the mask was finally starting to slip.

A hot wave of rage surged through me, but I forced it back down, swallowing the bile in my throat.

"Sophia? Are you there?"

"Hello? Honey?"

"…I'm here," I finally managed to say.

Daniel let out a sigh of relief, his voice becoming even more tender. "Sophia, you saw the results from your last check-up. The doctor said you're prone to miscarriages… it's going to be difficult for us to have a child of our own."

"And I can't bear to see you suffer for it, all those shots and pills… it kills me."

"So, honey, please think about it. What if we just adopt?"

I almost laughed out loud. No one on this earth knew better than him why I was prone to miscarriages. I thought of Kiera’s post, of the "accidents," and I fought back the stinging burn in my eyes. I squeezed a single, sharp word from between my teeth.

"Fine."

Getting the answer he wanted, he audibly relaxed on the other end. "Great! We can talk about the details when I get back!"

"You just wait for me at home, okay? I'll bring you back a present."

He hung up immediately, not bothering to waste another second on pleasantries now that he had what he wanted.

After that call, Daniel vanished.

For three whole days, there was nothing. Not a word.

Before, I would have made excuses for him. He's on a business trip, he's working hard for our future, I can't bother him. I would have sent him timid little texts—"Remember to eat," "Try to get some rest"—my heart aching for how "hard" he was working.

Thinking back on it now, it was pathetic.

He wasn't busy.

He was just desperate to run to his true love and prove his loyalty.

Three days later, Daniel finally reappeared. The moment he walked in, he opened his arms for a hug, nuzzling his chin into the crook of my neck, his voice syrupy.

"Honey, I missed you so much these past few days~"

"Do you know, looking at your pictures was the only thing that got me through it. Now that I'm back… you're going to have to make it up to me."

His warm breath on my ear was heavy with suggestion.

The old me would have melted, completely putty in his hands.

Now, all I felt was a wave of physical revulsion.

"Let go of me!" The words escaped as a harsh command. I tore myself from his embrace.

He froze, stunned for a second. Then, as if a switch flipped in his brain, his expression softened into that familiar, considerate mask.

"Sophia, I know you're angry that I couldn't go with you on Mom's anniversary," he explained, taking my hand and pressing it against his own cheek. "It was my fault. Go ahead, hit me. Get it out of your system. I won't fight back."

"Anything, as long as it makes you feel better."

His acting was clumsy, riddled with flaws. It was laughable that I had been so blind for so long, that I had ever believed him.

I said nothing. I didn't hit him. He took my silence as forgiveness.

He immediately pivoted to his real agenda. "By the way, honey, remember what I said about adoption?" he said, striking while the iron was hot. "I didn't want you to worry about all the details, so I just brought him home with me. I wanted you to meet him first, see if you connect?"

He clapped his hands.

Before I could process what was happening, his assistant walked in, leading a little boy of about five or six by the hand. The boy was quiet, but his features sent a jolt of ice through my heart.

In his eyes, his brow… there was an unmistakable resemblance to Kiera.

Rage, pure and primal, shot through me.

This was my mother's killer's son.

If I'd had any lingering doubts about the forum post, they were now all but gone.

"H-Hello, ma'am…" the boy whispered, his voice timid.

My entire body went rigid, my fingertips turning to ice.

Daniel, however, acted perfectly natural, taking my hand and guiding it toward the boy's head. "His name is Cody. He's five. Grew up in an orphanage, very smart and well-behaved. From now on, when I'm not home, he'll be here to keep you company—"

"Enough!"

I snatched my hand back as if I'd been burned.

The boy, startled by my outburst, burst into tears.

Daniel immediately knelt down to comfort him. When he looked back up at me, his eyes were flashing with anger. "Sophia! I'm your husband, so you can take your anger out on me. But the child is innocent! How can you yell at a child like that?"

The way he hovered over the boy, so protective and pained, he was the very picture of a loving father.

And why wouldn't he be? He was the boy's biological father. This was the child he had with the woman who murdered my mother.

It took every ounce of my willpower not to scream the truth in his face. I suppressed the violent trembling in my hands, gave him and the boy one last, cold look, and walked upstairs, locking the bedroom door behind me.

I opened my palm. Inside were several strands of hair I had discreetly plucked from the boy's head.

I dialed my lawyer's number. He had been my mother's closest friend. For years, he had been quietly investigating her death, searching for the real killer.

"Mr. Coleman, Kiera is back in the country."