Chapter 2 A Life Built on Lies

Through my flood of tears, everything blurred except my son's face.

Three years had passed. He had grown taller, and his face had lost some of its childish softness.

No matter what had happened, the fact that he was alive was the greatest miracle I could have asked for.

I rushed toward him, shoving aside anyone who tried to stop me, and pulled him tightly into my arms. "Kyle, come home with me, okay?"

But Kyle Stratton sank his teeth viciously into my arm before driving a hard kick into my stomach.

The pain forced me to let go, and he immediately ran behind my sister, peeking out from behind her and sticking his tongue out. "You're not my mom anymore. Aunt Phoebe is my mom now! I'm not going with you. All you ever did was make me study. Aunt Phoebe's different. She plays video games with me and buys me all my favorite candy. You don't love me at all. I don't want a mom like you!"

I stared at Kyle in disbelief. It felt as though a piece of my heart had been carved out.

Kyle had always had weak teeth. The dentist had repeatedly warned us to take good care of them and limit sugary foods. If someone truly loved him, how could they sacrifice his future just to indulge him for the moment?

My sister shielded Kyle behind her and gave me a gentle smile. "You didn't know, did you? Three years ago, Kyle insisted on leaving with us and faking his death. I wanted to leave him with you, but he cried and begged me to take him with us. He said he didn't want to live with a witch."

My lips parted, but when I met Kyle's eyes, filled with nothing but hatred, the words lodged in my throat.

Chester and Phoebe had betrayed me, and so did my family and friends. Even the son I had carried for ten months and nearly died bringing into the world no longer wanted me.

A trace of guilt flickered across Chester's face as he watched me stand rooted to the floor in despair.

Carrying the daughter he shared with my sister, he walked over and spoke softly. "Audrey, no matter what, I did wrong by you. How about this? If you spare Phoebe, I'll let both Kyle and Luna call you Aunt Audrey. We'll still be family."

My parents exchanged satisfied glances, nodded approvingly, and then spoke as though they were granting me some great favour. "See how magnanimous your sister and brother-in-law are, Audrey. Now, apologize to your sister, and we'll still be one happy family."

Could this get any more ridiculous?

The husband I had loved for ten years was now my brother-in-law, the son I had nearly lost my life giving birth to was now my nephew, and the sister who had stolen everything from me apparently did nothing wrong.

Instead, I was the one expected to carry the blame. Why?

I finally could not hold it in anymore and slapped my sister across the face. "Phoebe was the homewrecker! Why should I be the one apologizing?"

But before I could say anything more, my mother struck me hard across the face. "Enough! If not for you, your sister and Chester would've been together long ago!"

My vision went black, and the heavy scent of blood filled my nose.

Chester hurried over and tried to push me toward the door. "Audrey, have you forgotten that Mom and Dad have heart problems? Stop being so stubborn."

I looked up at his face—so familiar, yet so painfully unfamiliar—and my eyes burned. "Chester… what did I ever do to make you hate me this much?"

We had started dating after graduating from high school, promising each other we would both get into the same university. But when my sister failed the SAT and lost her chance to study in the city, my mother locked me in my room out of favoritism.

On the final day for submissions, she changed my college application so I would attend a university in a remote region with my sister instead. But Chester had risked himself to smash through my bedroom window and rescue me.

Standing protectively in front of me, he had glared at my parents with undisguised fury. "What kind of parents play favorites like this? Audrey has every right to pursue her own dreams!"

In the end, we both got into the same university. He had always stood firmly by my side, giving me the freedom to pursue my dream of becoming a police officer without distraction.

In the third year of our marriage, I became pregnant. To ensure I would deliver safely, Chester—who had never believed in God or miracles—climbed the hill to an old country church barefoot, praying all the way for a blessing for our unborn child and me.

I cried as I scolded him for being foolish, but he only drew me tenderly into his arms. "The only thing I fear in life is losing you, Audrey."

And yet, he was the first to let go. At the darkest moment of my life, he became another woman's husband and let my son call her "Mom."

Because of their supposed deaths, my dream died with them too. I was transferred out of the Criminal Investigation Division and reassigned to the logistics department as a warehouse manager.

For the past three years, I had dreamed night after night of Chester and Kyle turning to ashes in that explosion. I also dreamed of my sister falling into the hands of criminals and being tortured to death.

Desperate, I had refused to let even the smallest lead slip away if it meant catching the killer. But in the end, every last bit of it had been a carefully orchestrated lie.