Chapter 3: The Secret Behind Her Smile
Dad asked Vanessa the same question three times.
“What was in the bag?””
Each time, she found a different way not to answer.
First, she claimed she had been looking for a missing necklace. Then she said she'd brought home medicine. Finally, she accused Malik of editing the security footage.
Malik stood in the living room with his phone in his hand, his shoulders rigid.
“Dad, the camera saves the recordings automatically. You can check the original file yourself.””
Vanessa threw her purse onto the sofa.
“Of course you would take his side. You two have been plotting against me for months.””
Malik shook his head.
“You're the one who went into a twelve-year-old girl's bedroom with a pharmacy bag.””
Dad held up one hand.
“Both of you, stop.””
He turned toward Vanessa.
“I need an honest answer. Right now.””
She looked at him for a long moment.
Then she began to cry.
Not the quiet, delicate tears she had used earlier. These came with trembling shoulders and ragged breaths. She sank onto the sofa and covered her face.
“I can't believe this is happening,” she whispered.
Dad crouched in front of her.
“Vanessa, look at me.””
She shook her head.
“Please.””
Slowly, she lowered her hands.
“I was scared,” she said.
“Of what?””
She swallowed.
“I thought I might be pregnant.””
Dad's expression softened, despite everything.
“You could have told me.””
“I didn't know how. Things haven't been good between us lately.””
“That's not an answer.””
“I know.””
She looked toward me.
Then she did something that made my skin crawl.
She reached for my hand.
“Maya, sweetheart, I am sorry you got caught in the middle of this.””
I pulled away.
“Caught in the middle of what?””
Her fingers dropped into her lap.
Dad stood.
“Vanessa, did you put that test in Maya's backpack?””
She stared at the floor.
For a moment, I thought she might confess.
Instead, she whispered, “I didn't mean for it to go this far.””
The room became so quiet I could hear Malik's phone vibrating against his palm.
Dad's face drained of color.
“What does that mean?””
Vanessa looked up quickly.
“I mean I wanted you to understand how serious things had become. Maya has been acting out, and I thought if we frightened her enough, she might finally tell us what was going on.””
Malik let out a disbelieving laugh.
“You planted a pregnancy test to frighten her?””
“I didn't know he would send her away!””
The words came out before she could stop them.
Dad stared at her.
“You knew the test wasn't hers?””
Vanessa's mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
I looked at my father.
“Dad, she did this on purpose.””
He closed his eyes briefly.
When he opened them, he looked older.
“Vanessa, I want you to leave this house for tonight.””
She stood so quickly that the sofa cushion bounced back into place.
“You're kicking me out?””
“I'm asking you to stay somewhere else while I figure out what happened.””
“After everything I've done for you?””
“You lied about my daughter.””
“I was trying to save our marriage!””
“By destroying her?””
Vanessa stared at him.
Then her gaze shifted toward me, and the hatred I'd seen before returned.
“You have no idea what you've done,” she whispered.
I stepped behind Malik.
Dad pointed toward the hallway.
“Pack a bag.””
Vanessa grabbed her purse.
“Fine. But don't expect me to come crawling back when you realize what she's really like.””
She brushed past him, climbed the stairs, and slammed the bedroom door.
A few minutes later, we heard drawers opening and closing.
Malik stood beside me.
“Are you okay?””
I shook my head.
He gave me a small, helpless smile.
“Yeah. Me neither.””
Dad remained beside the coffee table, staring at the pregnancy test as if it might explain how his family had reached this point.
I wanted him to apologize.
I wanted him to come over, kneel beside me, and tell me that he should have listened.
Instead, he said, “Maya, I need to ask you something.””
My stomach tightened.
“Okay.””
“Has Vanessa ever threatened you before?””
I hesitated.
Malik looked at me.
“You can tell him.””
I twisted the hem of my shirt between my fingers.
“Last month, she said if I kept making you choose between us, she'd make sure I didn't live here anymore.””
Dad's expression hardened.
“Why didn't you tell me?””
“Because she said you wouldn't believe me.””
He looked away.
That silence hurt more than I expected.
Then he sat down heavily.
“Oh, Maya.””
I stared at the carpet.
“I tried to tell you.””
“I know.””
“No, you don't.”” My voice shook.
“You don't know what it's like when you're at work. She tells me I'm a burden. She says you only keep me because Mom died and you feel guilty.””
Dad pressed his palms against his eyes.
“I am so sorry.””
The words came quietly.
But they were real.
For the first time that day, I let myself cry without hiding my face.
Dad opened his arms.
I stood there for several seconds before moving toward him. When he wrapped me in his embrace, I held on to his shirt like I had when I was little.
“I should have listened,” he whispered.
“I should never have made you feel like you had to prove you belonged here.””
I wanted to forgive him immediately.
But some hurts don't disappear just because the person who caused them finally understands.
I stepped back.
“Are you still going to send me to Aunt Rebecca's?””
“No.””
“Promise?””
He looked directly into my eyes.
“I promise.””
Above us, a suitcase rolled across the bedroom floor.
Vanessa was leaving.
For the first time in months, I thought I might be able to sleep without worrying about what she would do while Dad was away.
Then Malik's phone buzzed again.
He glanced at the screen, and his expression changed.
“What is it?”” Dad asked.
Malik hesitated.
“It's a message from someone at the pharmacy.””
“Who?””
“A friend who works there. I sent him the video because I wanted to know whether the tests had come from their store.””
Dad frowned.
“And?””
Malik swallowed.
“He checked the transaction records. Vanessa bought two tests, just like we saw. But he also told me something else.””
“What?””
“The second test—the one with the two pink lines—wasn't from today's purchase.””
Dad stood slowly.
“What are you saying?””
Malik turned his phone toward him.
His friend had sent a photograph of a receipt from a purchase made nearly three weeks earlier.
The same brand of pregnancy test.
The same pharmacy.
And beneath the transaction details was a name.
Vanessa Carter.
Dad stared at the screen.
“Three weeks ago?””
Malik nodded.
“That's what the records show.””
Vanessa appeared at the top of the stairs, dragging her suitcase behind her.
She had changed into a black coat and wiped away her tears. Her face was composed again, but her eyes moved nervously between the three of us.
“What are you looking at?”” she demanded.
Dad held up the phone.
“Why were you buying pregnancy tests three weeks ago?””
Vanessa stopped moving.
For several seconds, she didn't speak.
Then she lifted her chin.
“Because I was pregnant.””
The words struck the room like a gunshot.
Dad stared at her.
“You were what?””
Vanessa gripped the suitcase handle.
“I found out I was pregnant three weeks ago. I didn't tell you because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do.””
Malik's mouth fell open.
Dad looked as if the floor had shifted beneath him.
“Is that why you bought the tests today?””
Vanessa glanced at me.
Then she looked back at Dad.
“I lost the pregnancy.””
For a moment, even Malik said nothing.
I watched Dad's anger falter, replaced by shock and something that looked painfully like grief.
“Why didn't you tell me?”” he asked.
“Because I knew you'd be happy, and I didn't want to give you something else to worry about.””
“Vanessa, we could have talked about it.””
She laughed bitterly.
“Could we? Or would you have spent every minute worrying about Maya?””
Dad flinched.
I felt sick.
She had turned her own possible pregnancy into another weapon against me.
But then Malik looked at the receipt again.
“Wait,” he said.
Vanessa froze.
He enlarged the photograph.
“Dad, this receipt is dated three weeks ago. But the test in today's video has a batch number printed on the wrapper.””
He zoomed in.
“I can read part of it. The last four digits are different.””
Dad stared at him.
“What does that mean?””
“It means the positive test she bought three weeks ago isn't necessarily the same test she put in Maya's backpack.””
Vanessa tightened her grip on the suitcase.
Malik looked directly at her.
“So where did you get the positive test you brought into this house?””
Vanessa said nothing.
Dad took a step toward her.
“Answer him.””
Her eyes filled with tears again, but this time she didn't look at Dad.
She looked at me.
Then she whispered five words that changed everything.
“Ask your daughter who she's protecting.””
My blood ran cold.
May you like
Dad turned toward me.
And suddenly, the room that had finally begun to feel safe became terrifying all over again.
