Naya Steele waited at the kindergarten gate, arriving early to pick up her daughter, Abigail.
As soon as Abigail appeared, Naya rushed to embrace her, only to be shoved away.
“I don’t want you to pick me up! I want Zora to pick me up!” the girl snapped.
Her daughter’s scornful tone and disgusted expression hit Naya like a knife to the heart.
“Zora?” she asked in disbelief. “You mean… Zora Lake?”
“That’s right! It’s your fault Dad left her. That’s why Zora can’t be my mom. I hate you!” Abigai shouted.
Naya stood frozen. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, and even more, she couldn’t believe Zora was still alive.
“Come home with me,” she said quietly, swallowing the pain. She reached out and took Abigail’s hand, determined to go home and confront Cesar.
“Let me go! I’m not going with you!” Abigail screamed.
No matter how gently Naya tried to soothe her, Abigail kept lashing out; kicking, punching, sobbing. “You’re a bad person! I don’t want to go with you!”
A nearby parent, alarmed by the scene, assumed the worst and called the police.
Moments later, officers arrived, their expressions stern. “Ma’am, someone has reported you for suspected child trafficking. Please show us your identification.”
Naya’s hands trembled as she pulled out her ID and marriage certificate.
Just when she thought it was over and she could finally leave with her daughter, one of the officers stopped her.
“Ma’am, according to our system, you’re listed as unmarried. The registered parents of this child afe Cesar Harmon and Zora Lake. You are now under suspicion of child abduction. Please come
with us,” he said.
Naya felt as if she’d been struck by lightning. She froze, her mind going blank.
She couldn’t comprehend how the child she had survived countless life–and–death moments with could now belong to Zora.
Even more baffling was the fact that Cesar’s wife was now Zora.
***
Naya walked out of the police station with a slow, aimless step. Her heart felt skinned, like something tender and soft had been torn out and left to the wind.
She still couldn’t believe what she had just heard.
Dazed, she returned home. But before she even stepped inside, she heard voices from the living
room.
“Cesar, I heard Zora isn’t actually dead. That she came back from abroad and is your legal wife. Is that true?” one of his friends asked.
“Of course,” Cesar replied, his voice laced with pride. “I faked her death back then just to calm my parents down. Made them think I was done with her.”
3/3
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3:44 am
Naya’s mind buzzed. Her entire body went rigid, as if struck again by lightning.
“And what about Naya?” another friend asked. “Are you going to break up with her?”
The room fell silent. Tension hung in the air. Naya’s heart leapt into her throat.
“Break up?” Cesar chuckled, taking a slow sip of wine. “Why would I do that?
“Sure, I once thought I’d never fall for Naya. But over the years, she’s handled both Abigail and me so well… I’ve come to realize I can’t live without her.”
He leaned back, his tone light. “And Zora? She’s used to hardship. How could I let her go back tc scrubbing floors and doing housework?”
There was a quiet satisfaction in his voice, like a man perfectly content with having it all. The friends looked on with envy, praising Cesar for how well he had “trained” his wife.
But from the corner of the room, where no one had been paying attention, a mocking voice rang out, “Really? If Naya knew that the daughter she raised through blood and tears wasn’t even her biological child… that her real baby was stillborn and tossed away like garbage… would she still be so willing to live like this?”
The air turned to ice once more.
3:44 am
