Chapter 2 - The Woman Who Vanished
Four years earlier, Mave had believed Garrett loved her more than he loved the Hail family name.
They had met before the private jets, charity galas, and business headlines became part of Garrett’s daily life.
Mave worked evenings at a small bookstore near Columbia University. Garrett arrived one night looking for a first-edition novel his father had mentioned.
He returned the next evening without needing another book.
For two years, they built a private life away from Garrett’s wealthy family.
He cooked badly.
She laughed loudly.
He once told her he would walk away from every dollar attached to his name before allowing his family to control whom he loved.
Mave believed him.
Then she became pregnant.
Garrett was in London finalizing an acquisition when Evelyn Hail, his mother, appeared at Mave’s apartment.
She arrived with two attorneys and a sealed medical envelope.
“You are not carrying my son’s child,” Evelyn said.
Mave stared at her.
“That’s impossible.”
“The test says otherwise.”
Inside the envelope was a prenatal paternity report bearing the name of Mave’s clinic.
Probability of paternity: 0.00%.
Mave knew the result was false.
Garrett was the only man she had been with.
Evelyn placed another folder on the table.
It contained photographs of Garrett entering a London hotel with Coraline Ashford.
“He has already chosen the woman he intends to marry.”
Mave tried calling Garrett.
His number had been disconnected.
Her emails bounced back.
When she reached his assistant, she was told Garrett had requested no further contact.
Then Evelyn delivered the final threat.
“If you embarrass this family, our attorneys will prove you are unstable. The Hails will take your child before you leave the hospital.”
Mave did not accept Evelyn’s money.
But she ran.
She moved to a small town in Pennsylvania, changed her number, and gave birth alone.
For three years, she told Posie that her father was far away.
She never showed the child photographs.
At least, she thought she hadn’t.
Then, six weeks before Garrett’s wedding, Posie found an old picture hidden inside Mave’s locked jewelry box.
She touched Garrett’s face and asked, “Is that my daddy?”
Mave lied.
But someone else already knew Posie had found the photograph.
The next morning, an unmarked envelope appeared beneath Mave’s door.
Inside was a recent photograph of Posie leaving preschool.
Across the bottom, someone had written five words:
May you like
Stay away from the wedding.
👉 The threat did not frighten Mave into hiding—it proved someone was still watching her daughter.
