He Accused Me of Stealing, But I Heard the Truth novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: The Painter

Two days later the story was everywhere.

I found out on the hospital steps, holding Birdie's hand, on the way to her infusion.

A woman in a red coat shoved a phone at my face.

"Ms. Mahoney! Is it true you took an illegal abortion pill while pregnant and nearly killed your daughter?"

Three more phones came up behind hers.

A man with a camera on his shoulder walked backward in front of me.

"Carrington's secret child! Is the mother a gold digger? Did you hide her for six years to squeeze him?"

Birdie went rigid against my leg.

I knew where the story had come from.

Her medical chart had been leaked word for word: the drug markers, the malnutrition, the shelter.

The headline on the red coat's screen read: BILLIONAIRE'S LOVE CHILD: MOTHER'S SECRET DRUG TRIAL.

I put my hand over Birdie's ear.

"I'm Birdie's mother," I said, to every lens. "Somebody held me in a chair and forced those pills down my throat. I climbed out a window to save her. That's all of it."

"Do you have proof?"

"Yes."

"Where?"

"In a place you're not allowed yet."

Nobody wrote that down.

The red coat laughed.

My phone buzzed in the parka's pocket.

It was Maureen, and her voice was flat.

"The director's office just called me in. You're terminated, effective this morning. They say the center can't be associated. They want your keys."

"I don't have keys. I don't have a room."

"I know, honey. I'm sorry."

I put the phone away.

A flash went off an inch from my eye.

Then a wall of dark charcoal moved into the camera crews, and the flashes stopped, because Laurence was standing between me and every lens.

← Chapter 7 · All chapters · Chapter 9 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend