The Hungry Girl Wore My Daughter's Locket

CHAPTER 2 - THE DAUGHTER I DROVE AWAY

I ordered dinner for Maisie.

She ate slowly at first, as if she expected someone to take the plate away.

Then hunger overcame her caution.

Veronica refused to sit near her.

"You are letting a street child manipulate you," she said.

"Her name is Maisie."

"That doesn't make her family."

I looked at the locket.

"She is Anna's daughter."

Veronica's expression changed for a moment.

It was not surprise.

It was fear.

Maisie told me her mother had collapsed at a bus terminal that morning. Paramedics took Anna away while a police officer brought Maisie to a temporary children's center.

Maisie escaped after hearing someone say she might be placed with strangers.

She remembered the address hidden inside her mother's locket.

It led her to the Vale Grand Hotel, where my banquet was being held.

I contacted the police and learned Anna had been admitted to St. Catherine's Hospital.

Before leaving, I asked Veronica to return home.

She objected.

"I am coming with you."

"No. Maisie has already heard enough cruelty from you."

At the hospital, a physician explained that Anna had a serious blood disorder.

She had been receiving treatment at a free clinic, but her condition had worsened.

"Why didn't anyone contact me?"

The physician opened Anna's records.

"She listed you as an emergency contact six months ago."

The hospital had called my private office repeatedly.

Someone told them I wanted no involvement.

That was impossible.

My personal calls were screened by only two people.

My chief assistant.

And Veronica.

The doctor led me toward Anna's room.

The bed was empty.

A nurse had found Anna crying after Maisie disappeared. She removed her IV and left the hospital to search for her daughter.

On the pillow was an envelope addressed to me.

Inside, Anna had written:

I tried to come home, Dad.

But every letter was returned.

Every call ended with the same message.

You said you had no daughter.

"I never said those words."

Then I noticed the initials written beneath each rejected call.

V.L.

Veronica Laurent.