Chapter 2 - The Belly Wasn't Real
Nobody spoke.
The only sound in the backyard was my mother's shaky breathing as the 911 operator kept asking if anyone was injured.
Emily slowly stood up.
The fake belly hung crooked beneath her blue dress where the punch had knocked it loose. She grabbed the fabric, trying to hide it, but everyone had already seen the thick foam padding and black Velcro straps wrapped around her waist.
My aunt dropped the birthday cake onto the grass.
My father whispered, "Dear God..."
My mother stared at her daughter as if she were looking at a complete stranger.
Emily's voice came out cold.
"You don't understand."
Alex held his phone higher.
"No," he replied. "Now everyone understands."
My older brother released Alex's arm.
"What is he talking about?" he demanded.
Alex unlocked his phone and turned the screen toward us.
"I didn't want to believe it either."
A video began to play.
It showed Emily sitting inside a coffee shop that morning.
She wasn't alone.
Across from her sat a woman wearing hospital scrubs.
Neither of them knew they were being recorded from a nearby table.
Emily slid a thick envelope across the table.
The nurse counted the cash.
Then she handed Emily a folded sheet of paper.
Hospital floor plans.
Maternity ward.
Security exits.
Nursery entrance.
I felt my knees weaken.
"No..."
Alex swallowed hard.
"I followed her after she left the house yesterday."
Another video started.
This one showed Emily standing outside Memorial Women's Hospital.
She wasn't looking at the entrance.
She was studying the security cameras.
Timing the guards.
Writing notes.
Then the recording switched again.
Audio only.
Emily's voice.
"I don't care which baby it is."
The backyard became completely silent.
"As long as it's a newborn."
The nurse answered quietly.
"The mother will only be asleep for twenty minutes after surgery."
Emily laughed.
"Twenty minutes is enough."
My mother screamed.
It wasn't a scream of anger.
It was heartbreak.
She collapsed into one of the folding chairs, covering her face with both hands.
My father looked like all the life had drained from his body.
Emily folded her arms.
"So what?"
Every head turned toward her.
"So what?" my brother repeated.
She stared directly at Alex.
"You had me followed."
"I called the police this morning."
Emily smiled.
"They don't have proof."
"I gave them everything."
She laughed again.
"You have videos."
She pointed toward the phone.
"Nothing happened."
Then she looked around at every member of our family.
"You all treated me like I mattered for the first time in years."
Nobody answered.
"You finally loved me."
Tears filled her eyes.
"So I made sure it stayed that way."
"You lied for eight months," I whispered.
"I did what I had to do."
She looked straight at our mother.
"You cried over me."
Then at Dad.
"You built a nursery."
Then at me.
"You canceled your vacation to help with my fake pregnancy."
I couldn't recognize the woman standing in front of me anymore.
Alex quietly said, "Tell them about Olivia."
Emily's confident expression cracked for the first time.
My stomach tightened.
"Who's Olivia?"
Alex looked at me with exhausted eyes.
"The woman whose baby Emily planned to take."
He opened one final message.
It wasn't from Emily.
It was from Detective Sarah Mills.
"We identified the expectant mother Emily has been following for weeks. Her scheduled C-section is tomorrow morning at 9:30."
A photograph filled the screen.
A smiling young couple stood outside the hospital, hands resting on the woman's very real pregnant belly.
"They have no idea," Alex said softly.
"They don't even know someone has been watching them."
Just then...
The distant sound of police sirens echoed through our neighborhood.
Emily heard them too.
Her face lost every trace of confidence.
Then she did something none of us expected.
May you like
She turned—
And ran straight toward the backyard gate.
