Questions.
A police officer kneeling in front of Talia.
“What did you see?”
“Daddy had the baby first.”
Daniel swallowed hard.
“I found him outside. I panicked. I moved him.”
The words hit like glass breaking.
“You what?”
“There was a note with my name,” he said. “I didn’t want you to—”
“To know,” I finished.
Silence.
“You let our daughter find him,” I said. “You let her walk into this so you could pretend.”
His mother stepped in.
“Isobel, please—”
“No.”
My voice didn’t rise.
But it cut.
“This is exactly when we tell the truth.”
The officer held out her hand.
“Sir, your phone.”
He hesitated.
Then the screen lit up.
GWEN CALLING.
Everything clicked.
At the hospital, Gwen looked exhausted.
Broken.
“I left him there,” she said. “I thought he’d have to face it.”
“And when he didn’t?”
Her voice cracked.
“I didn’t know he moved him.”
I looked at the baby.
Benjamin.
Sleeping peacefully.
Like none of this chaos had touched him.
“Do you want your son?” I asked.
She nodded, crying.
“Yes.”
“Then from now on,” I said quietly, “everything is about him.”
When I got home, Daniel was waiting.
Suitcase ready.
“I panicked,” he said.
I shook my head.
“You cheated. That’s one thing.”
“I made a mistake—”
“And then,” I continued, “you used our daughter to hide it.”
He said nothing.
There was nothing left to say.
I opened the door.
“Take your suitcase,” I said.
“And go.”
This time—
he didn’t argue.
