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Chapter 2

Author: Miss Strawberry
Pain shot through my wrist.

I jerked my arm away on instinct.

Noah went flying backward, rolled across the floor, and immediately let out a shrill scream.

“Help! Uncle Lucas hit me!”

Sophia gasped and threw herself over him, shielding him with both arms.

Then she looked at me as if I were a monster.

“Lucas, what is wrong with you? He’s ten years old. He’s an orphan with no parents. Take your anger out on me if you have to, but how could you hit a child?”

Blood welled from the bite marks on my wrist.

One drop after another hit the floor, bright red against the cream-colored tile.

I stared at the two of them on the ground, clinging to each other and sobbing.

A cold chill rose from the soles of my feet.

Noah had called her Mom.

A ten-year-old’s first cry in a moment of panic was instinct.

That was not an act.

It was habit.

It was what he had called her for years.

“He called you Mom.”

I locked eyes with Sophia.

For a split second, her gaze faltered.

Then she lifted her chin, even more righteous than before.

“He grew up without a mother. I’ve been good to him. What’s wrong with him seeing me as his mom?”

Her eyes flashed.

“Lucas, how can you think so badly of people?”

She scooped Noah into her arms and walked toward the guest room without looking back.

“Noah and I are sleeping in the guest room tonight. When you’ve had time to think about what you’ve done, you can come talk to me.”

The guest-room door slammed shut.

The whole house seemed to shake with it.

I stood alone in the empty living room and looked down at the blood still seeping from my wrist.

Three years.

Three years earlier, I had had a terrible fight with my father and left home for this city.

I changed my name, kept my background private, and built my own cybersecurity firm from the ground up.

I had not taken a dollar from my family.

I had not used my father’s name.

I only wanted to prove that I could make it on my own.

And now, I could barely protect my own home.

I went to my study, opened my laptop, and searched for Victor Zimmerman.

Cybersecurity was my field.

If he had left a digital trail, I could find him.

Half an hour later, I did.

Victor Zimmerman. Thirty-six. Sentenced to eight years for aggravated assault. Released three months ago.

Last known address: a county outside the city.

I studied the photo on my screen.

He had a broad, hard face, a scar at the corner of his mouth, and eyes that looked permanently angry.

His prison record showed multiple disciplinary violations and an extended sentence.

Then I pulled up the audio files from my car’s dash cam.

Three months ago, I had installed a discreet audio recorder in the vehicle.

It was a prototype from my company.

I put on my headphones and pressed play.

Sophia’s voice filled my ears.

“Vic, that fool’s working late again. Come pick me up.”

A man’s voice answered, rough and pleased.

“Sure, babe. Has the kid been behaving?”

“Noah’s smart. He knows how to read the room. When Lucas isn’t around, he calls me Mom. When Lucas is here, he calls me Aunt Sophia. He’s never slipped up.”

“Good.” Victor laughed. “Once I get the paperwork for that house, we’ll take the boy and disappear.”

“Relax.” Sophia gave a soft laugh. “He still hasn’t agreed to transfer the house. I need to take it slow.”

“I don’t have time.” Victor sounded irritated. “My creditors are on my back. Move faster.”

The recording ended.

I took off my headphones and leaned back in my chair.

For a long time, I did not move.

Outside, car horns sounded in the distance.

Somewhere below, children were laughing.

From the guest room came Noah’s muffled crying.

The world was exactly the same.

Mine had fallen apart.

I picked up a spare phone and dialed a number.

It rang twice before someone answered.

“Mr. Carter? This is Lucas Barner. I need to see you tomorrow morning.”

After I hung up, I sat in silence again.

My thumb hovered over a number I had not called in three years.

Lincoln Barner.

I stared at the name for five full minutes.

Then I pressed back.

No.

I had promised I would not rely on my family.

And I would not start now.

I could handle this myself.

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  • The Adopted Lie   Chapter 13

    But in the end, I chose a different path.Not because I was noble.Because of Noah.That child taught me something.Hating someone was easy.Letting go, starting over, and choosing to be better took far more courage.On Noah’s birthday, I took him to the science museum for a space exhibit.The planetarium had a massive dome that could recreate the entire night sky.When the lights went out, thousands of stars appeared overhead.Noah stood beneath them with his face tipped up, his eyes glowing as brightly as the stars themselves.He reached up as though he could touch them.“Uncle Lucas,” he asked, “when people die, do they turn into stars?”“Some people do.”“What about my mom? Did she?”I was quiet for a moment.I thought of Sophia crying in court.Of Victor’s silence.Of the old scars on Noah’s arm.“Yes,” I said. “She’s watching you from up there. She wants you to be happy.”Noah nodded.Then he took my hand.“Uncle Lucas, thank you for not giving up on me.”I

  • The Adopted Lie   Chapter 12

    Victor said nothing throughout the trial.He kept his head down and never spoke.But as court officers led him away, he suddenly turned back.“My son,” he asked. “Where is he now?”No one answered.The judge sentenced Sophia to six years for fraud and money laundering.Victor received twelve years on multiple charges.I ended the call and looked toward the living room.Noah was sitting on the rug, working on a thousand-piece puzzle of the night sky. He had picked it up at the science museum the week before.More than half of it was already done.The Milky Way.Constellations.Clouds of stardust.Bit by bit, they took shape beneath his hands.He was completely focused, his lips pressed together and his brow furrowed.“Uncle Lucas, look!”He held up a completed section, his eyes shining.“That’s Andromeda! And that’s the Big Dipper! And that’s the North Star!”“It’s beautiful.” I sat down beside him and helped search for the next piece.“Uncle Lucas, I want to be an as

  • The Adopted Lie   Chapter 11

    Lincoln walked to the phone, picked up the receiver, and dialed a number.“Jack? It’s Lincoln Barner. I need your department’s help with a case.”He hung up and looked at me.“Victor will be taken into custody tomorrow.”“And Sophia?”“She’s his accomplice.” My father’s mouth tightened into a cold smile. “Falsifying records. Extortion. Attempted fraud. There’s enough there to keep her busy for a long time.”I was quiet for a moment.Then I said, “Dad… Noah.”“The boy?” My father looked at me, his expression unreadable. “What about him?”“He’s a child,” I said. “He doesn’t understand any of this. He only did what the adults told him to do.”Lincoln fell silent.After a long time, he sighed.“You’re just like your mother.“Too soft-hearted.”I did not argue.He walked to the window and looked out over the yard.“If both of his biological parents are taken away, what do you plan to do with him?”“I…”“Think before you answer,” he said. “This isn’t a small decision. Raisi

  • The Adopted Lie   Chapter 10

    Three years had changed him.More than half his hair had gone gray. Deep lines cut across his face.But his eyes were still the same.Bright.Sharp.Like they could pin a man in place.“Dad,” I said.Lincoln did not answer right away.He only nodded.Then he turned and walked inside.“Come in,” he said, as casually as if we were discussing the weather. “It’s cold out.”I followed him into the living room.Nothing had changed in three years.The old sofa.The coffee table still held the old porcelain tea set.And on the wall hung a framed quote.“Keep your heart steady.”My mother had written it before she passed.Her handwriting had been beautiful. Even the senior officers who visited the house used to praise it.“Sit.”My father pointed to the sofa, then took the seat across from me and began making tea.Filling each cup with the same precision he brought to everything else.“Try it,” he said, sliding a cup toward me. “Your mother used to make this tea.”I lifte

  • The Adopted Lie   Chapter 9

    She pulled out a document and slapped it onto the coffee table.The papers slid across the surface and stopped in front of me.“Transfer all your company shares to me. And sign over this house too.”Her tone was cold.“Sign, and we can part ways peacefully. Refuse, and start getting used to the idea of prison.”I looked at the man and woman in front of me.Then at the smug child standing behind Victor.Noah tilted his face up at the man he called Dad, his eyes shining with admiration.Like he was looking at a hero.He had no idea what kind of abyss that man was going to drag him into.“Fine,” I said. “I’ll sign.”Sophia and Victor exchanged a look.Triumph flashed in both their eyes.Like hunters watching prey finally walk into the trap.I signed my name.Then pressed my thumbprint beside it.As I stepped out of the house, I looked back one last time.My mother had left this place to me.Before she died, she had said, “Son, I never had much to give you. But this house

  • The Adopted Lie   Chapter 8

    I had said, “Dad, you’ve spent your whole life giving orders. Can you stop trying to control who I love?”He went quiet.Then he said, “Fine. Go.”“But don’t come crawling back to me in tears.”I never did.But I regretted it.The next morning, I returned to the house with the divorce papers my lawyer had prepared.The moment I walked in, I stopped cold.The living room was a mess.My most treasured possession, my mother’s collection of rare vinyl records, had been smashed to pieces across the floor.They had been hers.Before she died, she had wrapped every record carefully in soft cloth, packed them into boxes, and labeled them one by one.“Your father doesn’t understand this stuff,” she had told me. “But he knows you love it, so he lets you have your way.”I crouched down and picked up one of the broken pieces.The words on the cover were almost gone.Only one blurred letter remained.My blood started to boil.“Sophia Turner! Get out here!”A man came down the stai

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