Months after returning home with Scott and little Ella, Scott suddenly excused himself from our family time with the supposed urgency of seeing a friend. His sudden departure on his day off was unsettling. What could be so urgent that it couldn’t wait?
The situation worsened when, the next day, a mysterious envelope appeared on his doorstep. Inside was a photo of a mysterious woman on the beach holding a baby, along with a chilling message: “Maya isn’t the only secret Scott is keeping.”
The implication was obvious: there were other secrets hidden beneath the surface of Scott’s past.
Panic gripped me, I called the number on the card and managed to get through to a woman on the beach who eventually introduced herself as Amanda.
“Let’s meet at the Brown Beans Café,” she insisted, adding, “Don’t tell Scott.”
At the café, Amanda, accompanied by her daughter, dropped the bombshell: “I’m Scott’s ex-wife… and this is our daughter, Renée.”
I didn’t have to think twice. I knew she wasn’t lying. But I hadn’t expected the sharp pain I felt as I watched my world crumble once again.
“Sco-Scott’s ex-wife?” I stammered, heartbroken.
Amanda’s revelations grew darker as she delved into Scott’s past and his involvement in a cult that practiced strange rituals and sought to increase the number of men. “Everly, you have to understand the danger you’re in. Scott isn’t who he seems. He’s just using you,” she insisted.
I froze in shock. “But why? How did you find out about all this?” I asked, my voice trembling.
“Maya found out somehow. She tried to report him, and then she had an accident,” she whispered, taking my hand. You have to be careful. Don’t tell him what you’ve discovered. Act like nothing happened until we come up with an escape plan.
It was too much. I stood up, but my body betrayed me. I staggered and lost consciousness.
A few hours later, as I lay in a hospital bed, the doctor gave me even more shocking news: I was pregnant.
***
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