Mia looked up at me. “He made me take a DNA test after Lily was born.”
“What?”
“He said it was just paperwork. But until the results came back, he barely let me touch her. After they confirmed he was the father, he became obsessed.”
I leaned back, remembering all the times Bruce had spoken about having an heir. All the times he had let me believe I was the reason we didn’t.
“He never wanted you,” I said quietly.
Mia flinched. “I know.”
“He wanted the baby.”
Tears slipped down her face. “I know that too.”
For a long moment, the only sound was rain hitting the windows.
Then she whispered, “I’m sorry, Paula.”
I looked at her.
“I know that doesn’t fix what I did,” she said. “I believed him. I believed everything. I thought you were bitter and holding him back. I was stupid.”
“You were cruel,” I said.
She nodded. “Yes.”
At that point, I could have thrown her out. I had every reason to.
But somewhere across town, a baby girl was being used as a prize by a man who had already destroyed one woman and was trying to destroy another.
I picked up my phone.
“We need a lawyer.”
My divorce lawyer, Elaine, answered on the fourth ring.
“Paula?” she said sleepily.
“It’s Bruce.”
She became alert at once. “What did he do?”
I looked at Mia.
“He took Mia’s baby.”
By morning, Elaine had told us exactly what to do. Mia was not to call Bruce. She had to save every message, gather every document, and write down everything he had done.
Bruce texted her at 6:18 a.m.
“You abandoned your daughter. I have proof.”
Then he texted me. “Stay out of this, Paula.”
A second message came before I could answer.
“You already lost once. Don’t embarrass yourself again.”
My hands shook, but not from fear.
I typed back, “Talk to your lawyer.”
Over the next few weeks, Mia and I did something neither of us ever expected.
