Chapter 2 - The Secret Behind the PregnancyNobody touched the cake.
Nobody even seemed to remember it existed.
All eyes were on me.
I looked down at the documents.
The first photograph showed Daphne and Brandon together.
They were standing outside a clinic.
The date was four years earlier.
Six months before Daphne married Wyatt.
The second photograph showed Daphne holding Brandon's hand.
The third showed a pregnancy test.
I looked at Brandon.
“Why did you keep these?”
“Because I was accused of being a liar.”
Daphne shook her head.
“You were lying.”
“Was I?”
Brandon's voice was quiet.
“You told everyone I abandoned you.”
“You did.”
“I left because you asked me to.”
Daphne's face tightened.
“That isn't true.”
Brandon looked at Wyatt.
“Ask her why she broke up with me.”
Wyatt turned toward his wife.
“Daphne?”
She said nothing.
“Daphne, answer me.”
She began crying.
My father stepped forward.
“This is enough.”
Brandon shook his head.
“No, sir.”
He pointed toward the pregnancy cake.
“You all deserve to know why that cake is here.”
My mother looked at Daphne.
“Tell us.”
Daphne whispered:
“I was scared.”
“Of what?” Wyatt asked.
“Everything.”
Brandon sighed.
“She was pregnant with my child.”
The room erupted.
My mother started crying.
My father looked stunned.
Wyatt stepped backward.
“You're saying the baby isn't mine?”
Brandon shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Everyone froze.
“What do you mean you don't know?” Wyatt asked.
“Because Daphne told me she lost the baby.”
Daphne covered her face.
“I did lose it.”
Brandon pulled another document from his pocket.
“No.”
He placed it on the table.
“This says otherwise.”
I looked at it.
A medical record.
Pregnancy confirmation.
Then another document.
Prenatal appointment.
Then another.
A hospital discharge record.
The dates were clear.
Daphne had been pregnant.
She hadn't miscarried.
She had given birth.
Four years earlier.
My hands went cold.
“Where is the child?”
Daphne began sobbing.
Wyatt stared at her.
“You had a baby?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Brandon looked at me.
“She gave the baby up.”
My mother collapsed into a chair.
My father whispered:
“Why?”
Daphne finally looked at me.
And I saw the answer in her eyes.
Fear.
Shame.
And something darker.
She hadn't wanted to be pregnant when she married Wyatt.
So she had given the child away.
But why?
And why had Brandon believed he was the father?
I looked at the final page.
A DNA test.
The result was highlighted.
Probability of paternity: 99.98%.
Brandon was the biological father.
Wyatt stared at Daphne.
“You told me you had never been pregnant.”
“I was afraid you'd leave me.”
“You lied to me for four years.”
“I loved you.”
“You loved yourself.”
The words cut through the room.
Daphne looked at me.
“Charlotte…”
I stepped back.
“Don't.”
She started crying harder.
“I didn't mean for this to happen tonight.”
I looked at the cake.
“You didn't mean for what to happen?”
She couldn't answer.
Then Brandon said:
“There's more.”
I looked at him.
He pulled out another envelope.
“This concerns the child.”
My heart sank.
“What about the child?”
Brandon looked at Daphne.
“She wasn't given away.”
May you like
He paused.
“She was taken.”
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