"Goodbye, Ida." The words left my mouth.
This was my final farewell to Ida Matthews. My farewell to the past.
She ruffled my hair and smiled. "Alright, go clear your head. I'll be home working hard, making more money to take care of you."
I said nothing. I just looked at her one last time, quietly, and gave a small wave.
The car was nearly at the airport when my phone started vibrating like crazy.
An unknown number.
I assumed it was a scam call and blocked it.
But as I backed out of the screen, I noticed an anonymous text message.
"Roland, your child isn't dead. Ida lied to you."
I stared at the words. My mind went completely blank.
The baby wasn't dead?
Ida lied to me?
I sucked in several deep breaths before I could think again.
My hands shook as I tapped into the message thread, typing one letter at a time:
"Who are you? What do you mean by..."
Before I could finish, a video came through from the other end.
It looked like it had been recorded in secret.
In the footage, Ida stood holding a small baby in her arms. Humphrey had his arms around both of them, their backs to the camera.
Humphrey spoke. "Ida, are you sure about this? You really want to register your and Roland's child under my name?"