“And you put another baby in my arms.”
“I was trying to keep our family together.”
I moved toward him before I realized it. My hands struck his chest, and he stumbled backward.
“You let me feed her. You watched me call her Liora.”
“You were falling apart.”
“So you bought a child?”
His eyes flashed.
“Blythe didn’t want to raise her alone.”
“That does not make her yours to purchase.”
Keaton began explaining everything in ugly pieces.
His investments had failed. We were deeper in debt than I knew. His parents had been quietly paying some of our bills, but their trust required him to maintain the appearance of a stable family.
They wanted another grandchild.
Blythe wanted money and a clean break.
When Liora died, Keaton saw a solution.
He gave Blythe cash and promised her more after his parents released the next payment from the trust. She handed him Celia in a service hallway while he pretended to take Elio for juice.
“You turned our daughter’s death into a business arrangement,” I whispered.
“Don’t say it like that.”
“How would you prefer I say it?”
Then he said something that made the blood leave my face.
“You agreed.”
I stared at him.
“No.”
“You did, after the doctor told us Liora was gone.”
“I was drugged. I was bleeding.”
“You said we couldn’t lose everything. You asked what would happen to Elio if my parents cut us off.”
Memories returned in broken flashes.
Keaton holding my hand too tightly.
His voice near my ear.
We can still fix this.
Me crying that I could not lose my home, my son’s school, and my entire life in one night.
I remembered saying, “I can’t lose everything.”
I did not remember agreeing to take another woman’s baby.
Keaton used my silence as permission.
“You knew enough,” he said.
I slid down the wall.
Perhaps I had heard pieces. Perhaps part of my mind had hidden them because the truth was unbearable.
But I had never given clear consent. I had never seen Blythe. I had never understood that a living child would be placed in my arms and given my dead daughter’s name.
By sunrise, I found the transfers in our bank records.
