Chapter 3 - The Secret in the Eyes
Lily buried her face tightly against my chest, her tiny body shaking with sobs. “I didn’t mean to, Mommy,” she cried softly.
“It was an accident!” I snapped at Evelyn, tears of rage stinging my own eyes. “She’s four years old! You struck a child!”
But even as I spoke, I noticed a chilling change in Evelyn. The furious red flush drained from her face, leaving her strangely, deathly pale. She wasn't looking at the broken crystal vase anymore. She wasn't even looking at me.
Her gaze was locked entirely on Lily’s face. More specifically, on Lily’s eyes—the deep, amber-flecked hazel eyes that my daughter had inherited directly from me... or so I had always believed.
Daniel stepped between his mother and us, his chest heaving with anger. “You have lost your mind,” Daniel said, his voice dangerously low. “You will never, ever touch my daughter again. We are leaving right now.”
Evelyn suddenly threw her head back and laughed—a harsh, jagged sound that carried no humor, only deep, festering panic.
“Your daughter?” Evelyn mocked, her voice echoing in the dead silence of the room.
The dining room went completely still. You could have heard a pin drop on the thick carpet.
Daniel frowned, confusion temporarily overriding his fury. “What is that supposed to mean? Of course she’s my daughter!”
From the far end of the table, Evelyn’s older sister, Margaret, suddenly covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes wide with dread. “Evelyn, stop it,” Margaret whispered, her voice trembling. “Please, just stop.”
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I looked at Margaret. She wasn't just shocked; she looked terrified. And as I glanced around the table, I realized with a jolt that several of the older relatives weren't surprised by Evelyn’s venomous outburst at all. They looked like people watching a ticking time bomb finally detonate.
Daniel noticed it too. His eyes darted from his aunt Margaret to his mother, and then back to me. “Somebody tell me what’s going on right now,” he demanded, his voice cracking.
