Lily's POV
The spreadsheet blurred in front of her.
Lily's phone vibrated once. She ignored it. Twice. She ignored it again. By the fourth buzz, she didn't bother looking. Marketing reports could wait. Everything could wait when your daughter was home burning up with fever.
Sophie had woken up that morning hot and cranky. Her forehead felt like a stove. Lily's mother said it was just a cold, probably nothing serious, but Lily's stomach had been twisting all day. She'd left work early yesterday, called in this morning, pushed the presentation deadline to tonight.
Now she was stuck at her desk because her boss refused to reschedule.
Her phone wouldn't stop buzzing.
She grabbed it, ready to tell her mom something, but the notifications made no sense. Her inbox was exploding. Slack messages. Emails. Comments on a post she didn't write.
Her coworker Marcus leaned back in his chair at the next desk. He was staring at her like she'd grown a second head.
"Lily," he said. His voice was weird. Careful. Like he was talking to someone dangerous.
She looked up.
The entire marketing department had gone quiet. Twelve people. All of them looking at her now. Their faces had that expression people got when they saw something shocking. Something bad.
"What's going on," she said. It wasn't a question.
Another coworker, Jessica from accounts, turned her screen around. She didn't say anything. Just left it there.
The video loaded.
It was her. Three years ago. The emergency room entrance. Security camera footage, black and white and grainy. She was running. Actually running, her hair flying, her face panicked. And in her arms was a small child with dark eyes and a sharp jaw that looked exactly like someone.
Looked exactly like Ethan Blackwell.
The headline underneath read like a bomb: "BILLIONAIRE CEO'S SECRET DAUGHTER HIDDEN FOR YEARS: How Ethan Blackwell's Marketing Employee Kept His Child a Secret."
Lily's vision went white.
No. No no no. This wasn't real. This was a mistake. Someone had to be lying or confused or...
She clicked the video. Then another article. Then another. The story was everywhere. Twitter was losing its mind. Reddit was dissecting her face. News outlets were running the headline on loop.
"Oh my god," someone whispered.
Lily stood up. She didn't remember standing. Her legs just carried her upright and she was shaking, actually shaking, and her chest felt too small for her lungs.
Sophie. Her mother. Their apartment address might be public now. Their everything might be public.
She started grabbing her things. Her purse. Her laptop. She wasn't thinking clearly but her body knew it needed to move, to get home, to protect.
"Lily, wait." That was her boss, David. He'd come out of his office. "We need to talk about this."
HR was with him. A woman Lily recognized but had never spoken to.
"I have to go," Lily said. Her voice didn't sound like hers.
"Not right now. We need to understand what's happening here. The company is getting calls. The media is asking questions. You need to clarify your employment situation."
"My employment situation." Lily heard the words but they didn't make sense.
"Lily Park isn't your real name, is it."
It wasn't a question.
She'd known this moment might come. In the three years of working at Blackwell Industries, living her quiet life, keeping her head down, she'd imagined getting caught a thousand times. She'd planned escape routes in her head. She'd saved money. She'd prepared.
But she hadn't prepared for feeling this terrified.
"Can we talk in my office," David said.
It wasn't actually an offer.
The HR woman was holding something. Papers. A folder. Lily realized with a horrible jolt that they'd probably already been investigating before she even woke up that morning. The video didn't trigger this. It just exposed what they already knew.
She followed them anyway because what else could she do. The office was small, quiet, too quiet. The door closed. Outside, she could hear people talking fast, excited. They were probably already calling reporters.
David sat behind his desk. He looked uncomfortable, which meant the company was about to do something that required discomfort.
"We've had HR review your employee file and the situation developing online," David started. "Given the nature of these allegations and the public attention, the company has to consider its position."
"What position," Lily whispered.
"Your contract included a clause about criminal activity and public scandal. The company reserves the right to suspend employment during investigations. Effective immediately, you're on paid administrative leave until this resolves."
She heard the words. She understood them separately. Together they meant she was losing her job. Her only income. Her only way to keep Sophie safe and fed and alive.
"This doesn't make sense. I didn't do anything wrong."
"That may be true. But the company has a reputation to protect. Right now, you're connected to a scandal involving our CEO. We have to distance ourselves."
The HR woman slid a paper across the desk. "This is your severance package. It's generous. The company would appreciate your discretion during this time."
Discretion. As if she could control what the internet did with her face.
Lily picked up the paper but didn't read it. Her hands were numb.
"When do I start leave."
"Immediately. You can collect your personal items, but security will need to walk you out. For everyone's safety."
For everyone's safety. Right. Like she was a threat.
She grabbed her things mechanically. Her desk was small, barely personalized. A picture of Sophie. A coffee mug. Things that fit in a box.
Security walked her through the office. Everyone stared. Some people looked sympathetic. Some looked disgusted. Most just looked curious, like they were watching something unfold on TV.
The elevator ride down took forever. She was alone in it, staring at her reflection in the mirrored walls. Dark circles under her eyes. Hair she'd put up that morning without thinking. She looked exhausted. She looked guilty.
The lobby was chaos. News vans were already outside. Photographers. People with cameras and microphones pressed against the glass doors.
"We'll get you out the back," the security guard said.
But Lily knew there was no back door that led anywhere safe anymore. Not really.
Her phone buzzed again. And again. Her mother was calling. Texts from numbers she didn't recognize. Offers from tabloids, probably. Threats from people who thought she'd done something terrible by keeping Sophie's existence quiet.
What they didn't understand was that she'd done it to keep her daughter safe. She'd done it because Ethan Blackwell was powerful and cold and he'd used her one night and then thrown her away like she meant nothing.
She'd been protecting Sophie from a man who'd never even looked for her.
Except the video said he had looked. The articles mentioned something about a search. Something about him never forgetting her.
Lily's hands were shaking so hard she could barely text her mother to stay inside, lock the doors, don't open them.
She made it outside and immediately the cameras turned toward her. People shouted her name, questions, accusations. She kept her head down and pushed through.
Her old car was parked three blocks away. She walked fast, not running because running looked guilty. She was just a woman walking through the city with her whole world burning down.
When she finally made it to her apartment building, there were already photographers there. Not as many as at Blackwell Industries, but enough. They'd found her home.
Her mother appeared in the window upstairs, terrified, holding Sophie back.
Lily's phone rang. Unknown number. Then another. Then another.
She was halfway through the door when a different call came through. Private number. Her heart stopped.
She answered without thinking.
"Lily Chen," a man's voice said. Professional. Cold. "This is James Ashford, legal counsel for Ethan Blackwell. Mr. Blackwell has requested that you be contacted immediately regarding custody of your daughter."
The world tilted.
"What do you mean custody."
"Mr. Blackwell is prepared to take legal action if necessary, but he'd prefer to handle this civilly. I'll be sending his terms via legal courier. He expects a response within the hour."
The line went dead.
Lily stood frozen in her doorway. Outside, photographers were closing in. Inside, her mother was waiting. Upstairs, Sophie was probably scared and confused and wondering why everything had gone wrong so fast.
And somewhere across the city, Ethan Blackwell was deciding what happened next.