CHAPTER 1: THE MAN WHO COULDN'T RUN
The restaurant remained frozen in silence.
The shattered glass glittered across the floor.
Every eye was fixed on the gray-haired man standing near the corner table.
Eleanor took a slow step toward him.
"You know something," she said.
The man's face turned pale.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
His voice cracked.
Emily looked between them, her heart pounding.
"What is happening?" she asked.
No one answered.
The man grabbed his coat and hurried toward the exit.
But Eleanor wasn't about to lose him again.
"Stop!"
The desperation in her voice echoed through the restaurant.
The man froze.
For twenty-three years he had carried a secret.
And now it had finally caught up with him.
Slowly, he turned around.
Tears filled his eyes.
"The fire was real," he whispered.
"But your daughter never died."
The entire room gasped.
Eleanor staggered backward.
Emily felt the floor disappear beneath her feet.
"What do you mean?" Eleanor asked.
The man lowered his head.
"Someone paid a lot of money for a child."
Silence.
"A powerful couple couldn't have children. They wanted a baby. When the hospital fire happened, records were destroyed. It became the perfect opportunity."
Emily's hands trembled.
"You sold me?"
The man couldn't look at her.
"I told myself you would have a better life."
Eleanor's voice exploded.
"You stole my daughter!"
The man began crying.
Because there was no excuse left.
Only guilt.
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And the truth.
The truth was finally free.
