Chapter 1 - The First Lie
"Who is the mother of this child?" the officer demanded, his voice cutting through the heavy morning air.
I raised my trembling, blood-stained hand from where I sat on the gravel.
"I am," I choked out, my throat burning with every syllable.
Before the officer could even approach me, my mother glided gracefully down the porch steps.
She smoothed the front of her pale blue blouse, her face shifting into a flawless mask of aristocratic concern.
"Officer, please excuse my daughter's hysterical state," my mother said, her tone dripping with fake sympathy.
"She has always been incredibly unstable and dreadfully negligent with little Maya."
"We woke up this morning to prepare for a party, and the child had simply wandered off while her mother slept in."
I stared at the woman who gave birth to me, feeling a freezing, murderous rage replace the panic in my chest.
"She didn't wander off into a closed dumpster!" I screamed, my voice echoing off the brick walls of the estate.
David stepped firmly between my mother and the police officer.
"My fiancé is not negligent, and that child did not climb into a commercial trash bin by herself," David stated, his voice radiating a terrifying calm.
"When we asked where Maya was, her sister Chloe specifically told us to check the refuse bins."
The officer’s head snapped toward the porch, his eyes locking onto Chloe.
Chloe’s smug smile instantly vanished, replaced by a deer-in-headlights panic.
"I—I was joking!" Chloe stammered, spilling hot coffee onto her expensive leather sandals.
"It was just a sarcastic comment because Maya is always making a mess of things!"
The officer did not look amused.
He keyed his shoulder radio, his eyes scanning the immaculate, wealthy family standing above the filthy crime scene.
"Dispatch, I need a crime scene unit to this location immediately," the officer ordered.
"We have a potential attempted homicide of a minor."
My father’s face drained of color as the word 'homicide' hung in the air.
"Attempted homicide?" my father sputtered, gripping the wooden railing of the porch.
"Now see here, officer, we are a respected family in this community."
"This was clearly a tragic accident, perhaps a sleepwalking incident."
The paramedics finally reached me, gently lifting Maya’s limp, freezing body onto a rolling stretcher.
One paramedic shined a small light into Maya's unresponsive eyes.
"Pupils are pinned and her respiratory rate is dangerously low," the paramedic shouted.
"This looks like a massive overdose of central nervous system depressants."
I felt my knees buckle, but David caught me before I hit the ground.
"We are going to the hospital right now," David told the paramedics.
As we rushed toward the ambulance, I turned back to look at my family one last time.
My mother was not looking at Maya.
She was looking at the catering trucks pulling into the driveway, annoyed that the police cars were blocking their path.
May you like
That was the moment I realized I no longer had a family.
I only had enemies.
