CHAPTER 2: THE WOMAN WHO SHOULDN'T EXIST
For several seconds, nobody moved.
The champagne glasses remained frozen in midair. Conversations died instantly. Even the musicians stopped playing.
Logan Mercer stared at his daughter as if he had just witnessed a miracle.
"Emma..." he whispered.
The little girl clung tighter to Marina's leg.
Her tiny body was shaking.
"Mommy..."
She said it again.
Clearer this time.
The room erupted into murmurs.
Vanessa's smile vanished.
"What is going on?" she demanded.
Logan stepped forward slowly.
Emma had never spoken before.
Not a single word.
Yet now she was crying in the arms of a woman she had known for less than two weeks.
Marina looked equally shocked.
Her eyes filled with tears as she knelt beside the child.
"Emma..." she whispered.
The little girl immediately wrapped both arms around her neck.
As if she never wanted to let go.
A strange expression crossed Logan's face.
Recognition.
Not because Marina was Emma's mother.
But because he suddenly remembered where he had seen her before.
Three years ago.
Before the accident.
Before his wife died.
Marina had worked at the hospital where Emma was born.
"How do you know my daughter?" Logan asked quietly.
Marina froze.
The ballroom became silent again.
Vanessa immediately stepped closer.
"Answer him."
Marina looked at Emma.
Then at Logan.
Finally she said something nobody expected.
"I knew your wife."
The color drained from Logan's face.
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Because nobody outside the family was supposed to know what happened the night she died.
And yet Marina seemed to know far more than she should.
