“Mom,” Emma whispered.
Natalie turned her head with effort. Her eyes slowly scanned the room before stopping on Rachel.
“Don’t… don’t let her go,” she said weakly.
A chill ran through Rachel.
“What do you mean?”
Natalie coughed weakly.
Emma squeezed her mother’s hand.
“Mom, tell them. Tell them I don’t want to go back with him.”
Rachel frowned.
“Him?”
Natalie struggled to speak.
“Marcus… isn’t her father.”
The air in the room suddenly felt heavy.
“What do you mean?”
“He… took her from me.”
Dr. Andrew immediately looked at Rachel.
“I’m calling the police.”
Emma turned quickly.
“What’s going to happen?”
Rachel knelt beside her.
“I’m going to find out the truth, okay? You don’t have to go with him if you don’t want to.”
Emma pressed her lips together.
“But he told me my mom died.”
Natalie squeezed her daughter’s hand as tightly as she could.
“Never… believe him.”
Emma’s eyes filled with tears.
“Can we go home?”
Natalie swallowed painfully.
“Soon, my love.”
Rachel stepped out of the room, her mind racing.
If Marcus wasn’t Emma’s father, then everything he said had been a lie.
And that meant something much darker could be happening.
“This doesn’t make sense,” Rachel murmured.
Dr. Andrew walked beside her.