Chapter 3 - What Maisie Was Afraid To Say
Maisie woke up in darkness.
For a moment, she didn’t know where she was.
She tried to move.
Then she remembered.
The wedding.
Vivian.
The car.
The road.
She remembered whispering:
“Please don’t make me go.”
But Vivian had only smiled.
A calm smile.
The same smile everyone loved.
“Maisie, sweetheart, you’re making this harder than it needs to be.”
The little girl had wanted to scream.
But she knew better.
Because she had learned something.
Adults believed beautiful people.
Adults believed confident people.
Adults believed the person who sounded calm.
And Vivian always sounded calm.
Maisie looked around the small room.
A basement.
An old house.
A single window.
She hugged her knees.
She thought about her father.
She wondered if he believed her.
She wondered if he remembered her question.
If I don’t like something after you marry Vivian…
Will you still believe me?
A tear rolled down her face.
Because she already knew the answer.
He wanted to believe her.
But he wanted his happy ending more.
Back at the police station, Natalie finally told Detective Reyes everything.
The apologies.
The wrist mark.
The fear.
The question Maisie asked.
Reyes listened carefully.
Then she said,
“Children rarely explain fear directly.”
Natalie looked at her.
“What do they do?”
“They change.”
Natalie felt tears forming.
“They stop being themselves.”
Exactly.
That was what had happened.
Maisie had not become quieter.
She had become smaller.
That night, investigators searched Vivian’s old address.
They found a hidden box.
Inside was a collection of photographs.
Photographs of Graham.
Photographs of Maisie.
Photographs taken before Vivian and Graham even started dating.
Natalie stared at them.
“How did she have these?”
Detective Reyes looked serious.
“That’s what we need to find out.”
Then another discovery came.
A notebook.
Inside were handwritten pages.
Names.
Dates.
Observations.
And one sentence repeated many times.
“She must choose me.”
Natalie felt sick.
Because Vivian wasn’t trying to become part of Graham’s family.
May you like
She was trying to replace someone.
But who?
