Chapter 2
Elena’s lips curved into a thin, amused smile.
“Arthur Sterling doesn’t have children,” she said. “And he certainly doesn’t have one that shows up looking like… this.”
“My mom wouldn’t lie,” Maya whispered.
The woman’s eyes sharpened.
“Your mom,” Elena said, lowering the umbrella slightly as if to examine Maya more closely, “was either lying… or she was using you to run a very pathetic scam.”
Maya shook her head, tears mixing with the rain.
“She told me to come if anything happened. She said he’d know me.”
Elena’s patience snapped like a thread.
“Your mother is dead, isn’t she?” Elena said flatly.
Maya froze.
The words struck with the precision of a knife.
“How did you—”
“Because this is exactly the kind of story desperate people tell,” Elena interrupted.
Maya stepped closer to the gate, gripping the bars.
“Please. Just tell him I’m here.”
Elena’s expression hardened.
“I’m going to tell you something once,” she said quietly. “Arthur Sterling is about to become my husband. He doesn’t need little con artists showing up and complicating his life.”
Maya opened her mouth again.
“I’m not lying—”
Elena suddenly stepped forward and shoved her.
The gate bars scraped across Maya’s arms as she lost her balance and tumbled backward into the muddy gravel outside the property.
May you like
Her wooden box slipped from her hands and landed beside her with a dull thud.
