Chapter 3 - THE MARRIAGE THAT WASN’T AN ACCIDENT
Maya returned to Long Island with police.
Not to reconcile.
To collect Lily’s remaining things.
Richard stood in the doorway.
“No.”
Maya held Lily’s hand.
Behind her, Miriam stood beside a county officer.
Richard looked at the uniform.
His attitude changed.
“This is unnecessary.”
Maya said:
“I agree.”
Then she walked inside.
Olivia sat in the living room.
The moment she saw Maya, she went pale.
Maya noticed.
She took out the photograph.
Placed it on the coffee table.
Olivia stopped breathing.
Richard frowned.
“What is that?”
Maya looked at Olivia.
“Ask your mother.”
“Maya—”
“Ask her.”
Richard picked up the photograph.
He stared.
“That’s Mom.”
“Yes.”
“Who’s the woman?”
Olivia stood.
“We don’t have to discuss this.”
Maya laughed.
“No.”
She looked at her.
“We absolutely do.”
Richard examined the baby.
“What does this have to do with Maya?”
Olivia’s voice shook.
“Nothing.”
Maya pulled the orchid ring from beneath her shirt.
Olivia closed her eyes.
Richard noticed.
“Mom?”
Maya asked:
“You recognize it?”
Olivia sat down.
“Where did you get that?”
“My mother.”
“No.”
Maya’s stomach tightened.
“What?”
Olivia looked at her.
“That ring belonged to Celeste’s mother.”
Maya went cold.
“You knew her.”
Silence.
Then Olivia whispered:
“Yes.”
Richard stared between them.
“Who the hell is Celeste?”
Maya answered:
“My mother.”
Richard laughed.
“Your mother was some dead foster junkie.”
Maya’s face hardened.
Lily flinched.
The officer stepped closer.
Maya looked directly at Richard.
“Say something like that in front of Lily again and this conversation ends.”
He stared.
For once, he shut up.
Maya turned back to Olivia.
“What did you promise my mother?”
Olivia started crying.
“I was young.”
“What did you promise?”
“That I would protect you.”
“Did you?”
Olivia looked away.
Maya laughed bitterly.
“I slept in six foster homes.”
“I lost you.”
“How?”
Olivia’s face tightened.
“Victor.”
Richard frowned.
“Victor who?”
Maya answered:
“Bellamy.”
Richard’s expression changed.
He knew that name.
Everyone did.
“Bellamy?”
Maya stared at him.
“Apparently.”
Richard laughed nervously.
“This is insane.”
Olivia whispered:
“No.”
He turned.
“What?”
His mother looked at Maya.
“She’s telling the truth.”
The room went silent.
Richard slowly sat down.
“Maya…”
She ignored him.
Olivia continued.
“Celeste contacted me the week before she died.”
“Why you?”
“We were roommates at Columbia for one year.”
Maya stared.
“You went to Columbia?”
Olivia gave a sad smile.
“Before your father.”
“Why did Celeste trust you?”
“She didn’t trust many people.”
“Why you?”
“Because I knew Victor.”
Maya’s pulse changed.
“How?”
Olivia whispered:
“I worked for him.”
There.
The real connection.
“Doing what?”
“Bookkeeping.”
Miriam began taking notes.
Olivia noticed.
“Who is she?”
“My attorney.”
Olivia looked frightened.
Good.
“What did Victor do?”
“He moved money through private companies.”
“How much?”
“Millions.”
“Did Celeste know?”
“She found out.”
Maya understood.
“That’s why she died.”
Olivia shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“But you suspect.”
“Yes.”
“And me?”
“Celeste believed Victor would come for you next.”
Richard stood.
“This is ridiculous.”
Olivia snapped:
“Sit down!”
He froze.
Maya had never heard Olivia shout at him.
Olivia continued.
“Celeste gave me the ring and papers proving you existed.”
Maya frowned.
“But I have the ring.”
“I made a copy.”
“What?”
Olivia looked at Maya’s ring.
“Yours is the original.”
“Then what happened?”
“I was supposed to take you to Evelyn.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Olivia began crying again.
“Victor found me first.”
Maya stared.
“He threatened you.”
“Yes.”
“With what?”
“My husband.”
“Richard’s father?”
“Yes.”
Olivia’s voice shook.
“And Richard.”
Maya looked at her husband.
He stared.
Olivia continued.
“Richard was three.”
Maya whispered:
“So you gave me to Victor.”
“No!”
Olivia stood.
“I ran.”
“With me?”
“Yes.”
“Then how did I end up in foster care?”
Olivia looked broken.
“I left you at a church.”
Maya couldn’t move.
“You abandoned me.”
“I thought Victor was following us.”
“You abandoned a baby.”
“I left the papers.”
“What papers?”
“Your birth certificate.”
Maya shook her head.
“My foster file listed mother unknown.”
Olivia’s face went white.
“That’s impossible.”
Miriam asked:
“Which church?”
Olivia gave the name.
Miriam immediately texted someone.
Maya stared at Olivia.
“You never looked for me?”
“I did.”
“How hard?”
Olivia cried.
“For years.”
“And then?”
“I found you.”
Richard froze.
Maya whispered:
“When?”
Olivia stared at him.
Then at Maya.
“Six months before you met Richard.”
Silence.
Maya couldn’t breathe.
Richard stepped backward.
“No.”
Maya looked at him.
“You knew.”
“No.”
“Did you know who I was?”
“No!”
Olivia shouted:
“He didn’t.”
Maya turned.
“Then why did he meet me?”
Olivia sat down.
“I introduced him to the restaurant.”
Maya remembered.
Richard came in three nights in a row.
Then asked for her number.
At the time, it felt romantic.
Now?
It felt engineered.
“You sent him.”
“I wanted to see you.”
“So you used your son.”
“I wanted you close.”
Maya stared.
“For what?”
Olivia’s answer came quietly.
“Because Victor was still watching.”
Maya laughed.
“Stop saying you protected me.”
“I did.”
“You put me in your son’s life and then spent three years humiliating me.”
Olivia said nothing.
“You knew I was Celeste’s daughter while calling me trash.”
Silence.
Richard looked at his mother.
“You knew she might be rich.”
That sentence revealed everything about him.
Maya slowly turned.
Not: You knew who she was?
Not: You knew her mother?
Rich.
His first thought.
Olivia snapped:
“Don’t.”
But Richard was already calculating.
Maya saw it.
He looked at her differently.
The woman he had shoved into cake twenty-four hours earlier had suddenly become an asset.
“Maya.”
She smiled faintly.
“No.”
“What?”
“Whatever sentence is about to come out of your mouth, don’t.”
His face hardened.
“I’m your husband.”
“Legally.”
“And Lily is my daughter.”
“Yes.”
“You can’t cut me out because of one argument.”
“One argument?”
He lowered his voice.
“I made a mistake.”
“You assaulted me.”
“That’s dramatic.”
The officer stepped forward.
“Sir.”
Richard stopped.
Maya looked at him.
“That sentence right there is why we’re done.”
Olivia whispered:
“Maya, Victor cannot know you’re alive.”
Maya laughed.
“Four million people saw the video.”
Olivia went pale.
Exactly.
The viral humiliation had exposed Maya to the entire world.
Including whoever had spent decades making sure Maya Bellamy stayed missing.
Miriam’s phone rang.
She answered.
Listened.
Then looked at Maya.
“What?”
Miriam ended the call.
“The DNA preliminary family match came back.”
Maya stopped breathing.
Miriam continued.
“You are genetically consistent with Celeste Bellamy’s direct maternal line.”
Richard stared.
Olivia sat down.
Maya said nothing.
Miriam then added:
“And someone accessed the lab’s confidential request file fourteen minutes ago.”
Julian, who had remained outside, stepped into the doorway.
“Who?”
Miriam looked at him.
“Bellamy Holdings legal counsel.”
Julian’s expression changed.
“Victor knows.”
Maya pulled Lily closer.
Then a black SUV stopped across the street.
Another behind it.
And another.
Richard looked through the window.
“Who are those people?”
Julian went still.
“They’re not mine.”
Maya looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
He grabbed his phone.
“Get Lily away from the window.”
The first SUV door opened.
A man in a dark suit stepped out.
Silver hair.
Tall.
Elegant.
He looked directly at the house.
At Maya.
And smiled.
Olivia whispered:
“Oh God.”
Maya turned.
“Who is he?”
Olivia’s face drained.
“Victor Bellamy.”
May you like
Her uncle had found her.
And he had brought flowers.
