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I was on a video call with my daughter, two months pregnant, when a dying woman who looked exactly like me suddenly appeared on the screen.
【Don't believe her husband. Your daughter is not doing well. He beats her, and he's already beaten five babies out of her.】
【He threatened her, and she was afraid of worrying you, so she never told you a thing.】
【Tonight she'll try to run, and he'll break her legs, then dump her on the highway. Two lives gone at once. And when you learn the truth, you'll spend the rest of your life eaten alive with guilt for not noticing anything now.】
I thought my old eyes were playing tricks on me, or that this was some new kind of AI scam.
After all, my daughter had married into the most charitable family in town.
Her husband was famous for his easy temper, giving her anything she asked for.
He was always asking after me too, checking on my health. Otherwise I'd never have agreed to the marriage.
But the next second, one sentence from the woman on the screen made me believe her completely.
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【You were carrying Robin Gilbert's child, one of the crown princes of the city's elite circles, when you ran off. He's stayed unmarried all these years searching for you. You have to contact him right now. He's the only one who can save our daughter.】
My pupils shrank.
That my daughter was Robin Gilbert's child was something no one knew but me.
The woman on the screen looked frantic.
【There isn't much time. I can't explain it all to you. You have only two hours to stop the tragedy from my past life. Remember, you must tell Robin Gilbert……】
By the time I came back to myself, she was gone.
On the other end of the call, my son-in-law Frederick Delgado was still speaking in that gentle voice of his.
"Mom, don't worry. There's no need to make the trip out here."
"We've hired a nurse to look after the pregnancy this time. She'll take good care of Carly Winfield."
His arm was around Carly's shoulder, the pad of his thumb stroking her arm, the whole pose intimate and easy.
"Isn't that right, sweetheart?"
My daughter smiled and nodded.
"Mom, I'm doing fine."
But once suspicion takes root in a person's heart, you become terribly sensitive.
Like the stiffness at the corners of my daughter's mouth when she smiled, and the dullness in her eyes.
I should have noticed long ago.
She used to video-call me every couple of days, and we'd talk for hours.
Or she'd come back home to visit every few days, saying she missed me.
These past two years the calls had grown scarce, and even when she phoned, she'd hang up after a few words.
At first I'd comforted myself, telling myself she was married now, all grown up, that her focus would slowly shift from her old home to her own little family.
It never once crossed my mind that it was because she wasn't happy.
The words kept echoing in my head.
【Five babies she couldn't keep, all of them beaten out of her.】
Five.
What had my daughter been through, in all the places I couldn't see?
And here I'd thought her body was just too weak to hold on to the babies.
Every time I faced Frederick, I'd felt so guilty about it.
"Mom, Carly needs her rest. The doctor said she has to get enough sleep now."
"We'll hang up for tonight. We'll come see you another day."
Frederick's voice came through, and I dug my nails into my thigh to keep from screaming out my questions.
"All right. Get some rest, you two."
Just as I was about to hang up, Carly suddenly called out to me.
"Mom!"
My finger froze.
Frederick turned at once to look at her, that same doting expression on his face.
"What is it?"
But if you looked closely at the reflection in his glasses, you could see it: his right hand, hanging at his side, was holding a knife, pressed against my daughter's belly.
My breath caught.
Too many things flickered through my daughter's eyes.
Fear, reluctance, despair…… and then they went calm.
"It's nothing. I just want you to take care of yourself, Mom."
I swallowed the sting behind my eyes and didn't dare look at her again.
"Mm. Don't you worry about me. Mom's got everything handled."
The instant the call ended, I dialed the number I'd never saved to my contacts but had memorized by heart.
"Kate Winfield?"
Hearing my voice, he sounded like he couldn't believe it.
I had no time for reminiscing. I bit down on my lip and forced the tears back.
"If you don't want to end up looking at your daughter's corpse, come save her right now."
He was silent for a few seconds.
"Send me the location."
