My stepson moved his chair out of the way just before we took our first family photograph with my newborn daughter.
—I’m not going to be in that photo. That girl took everything that belonged to me.
What shocked me the most was not her words, but my husband’s reaction.
He didn’t even ask her what she meant.
She simply looked at the photographer and ordered:
—Take the picture without him. We’ll cut out the empty chair later.
Eleven days earlier I had returned from the Denver hospital with my little Emma in my arms, a painful cesarean scar, and the hope that, at last, we could become a united family.
My name is Valeria. My husband, Daniel, had a twelve-year-old son named Lucas, from his first marriage.
Lucas’s mother had died when he was five years old. I met him four years later and, since then, I had tried to gain his trust without taking the place of that woman he missed so much.
I never demanded that she call me mom.
I never removed the photographs of his mother.
And when last Christmas he gave me a mug that said « The world’s most acceptable stepmother, » I laughed so hard I ended up crying.
From then on, he drank coffee from that cup every morning.
That’s why, when Emma was born, she hoped Lucas would be curious about his little sister.
But the exact opposite happened.
On the day of the photograph, Daniel had hired a professional, filled the room with flowers, and personally chosen the dress I was to wear.
« Just a nice photograph for the grandparents, » he promised me. « Then you can rest. »
Lucas came downstairs wearing a blue shirt and with his hair still wet.
« You look very handsome, » I told him.
—I look like a defendant awaiting sentencing.
I tried to smile, but he didn’t even look up.
The photographer placed a chair next to the sofa.
—Lucas, you can sit here, next to your little sister.
The child remained motionless.
—I don’t want to be near her.
« You don’t have to carry it, darling, » I replied. « We just want you to show up with us. »
Daniel sighed.
—Lucas, stop acting like a little kid.
Then my stepson pushed the chair so hard that its legs squeaked against the floor.
Emma startled in my arms.
« She’s not my family! » Lucas shouted. « Because of her, Dad decided to erase me! »
A small paper badge that read « Big Brother » fell from his hand.
« Delete yourself from what? » I asked.
Daniel immediately intervened.
« He’s jealous, Valeria. We’ve already talked about this. »
« You said she wanted it that way! » Lucas retorted.
My husband paled for just a moment.
—To your room. Right now.
Lucas ran upstairs.
I tried to get up, but a sharp pain shot through my abdomen.
—I’m going to talk to him.
—After the photograph—Daniel replied—. We’re not going to waste the money.
And then he uttered words I will never forget:
—This will be our first photograph of a real family.
I looked towards the stairs.
A real family?
Had Lucas ceased to be his son because I had given birth?
« Put the camera away, please, » I asked the photographer.
Daniel glared at me.
—You’re exaggerating.
—There will be no photography without Lucas.
When the photographer left, my husband went into his office and closed the door.
I waited until Emma finished her milk and left her in the care of my sister-in-law, who had come to help us that afternoon.
Then I slowly went up the stairs.
I found Lucas sitting on his bed, hugging a school folder.
« If you’ve come here to force me to apologize, you can leave, » he muttered.
—I didn’t come here for that. I want to know what’s bothering you so much.
Her eyes filled with tears.
—You know what you did.
—Lucas, I don’t know.
He stared at me for several seconds.
Finally, he opened the folder and took out a document.
It was a proposed modification of the family trust.
I recognized the name of our lawyer and the heading of the Kessler estate.
Below was a list of beneficiaries.
Lucas Kessler: 50%.
His name was crossed out in red ink.
Next to it someone had written:
REMOVE AS PRIMARY BENEFICIARY.
And right below:
Emma Kessler: 100%.
I felt the blood drain from my face.
—Where did you find this?
—On Dad’s printer.
—And who told you that I had requested this change?
Lucas started to cry.
—Dad. He told me that now that you have a real daughter, you want everything to be for her.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
I had never asked for such a thing.
I didn’t even know that document existed.
But when I looked at the date, I discovered something even more disturbing.
The modification had not been prepared after Emma’s birth.
It was dated three months earlier.
And next to my daughter’s name appeared a signature that looked very much like mine.
There was only one problem.
I had never signed anything.
At that moment we heard footsteps in the hallway.
Daniel was standing in the doorway.
He looked at the document in my hands, then at Lucas, and his expression changed completely.
—Valeria —he said with terrifying calmness—, give me that paper.
I pressed the sheet against my chest.
—First you’re going to explain to me why my signature appears on a document I’ve never seen.
Daniel slowly closed the door behind him.
—There are things about that money that you don’t understand.
And then Lucas whispered something that chilled me to the bone:
—Valeria… she still hasn’t told you where that money really came from.
Part 2
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