The Maid Was His Daughter's Real Mother

CHAPTER 1 - The Woman in the Kitchen

Liam Hartwell entered the kitchen and stopped.

Sophie stood beside the sink wearing an apron, tears sliding down her cheeks as she scrubbed plates from the charity dinner upstairs.

His mother, Evelyn, watched with a glass of wine in her hand.

"Liam, what are you doing here?"

"What is going on?"

Evelyn caught his arm.

"Don't overreact. She was trying to help."

Liam pulled away and approached Sophie. He knew her as a temporary kitchen assistant hired three weeks earlier.

"Sophie, look at me. Is this where you want to be?"

Sophie hesitated.

Then her restraint broke.

"No! She told me I belong in the kitchen just because I'm the mother of your daughter!"

Liam stared at her.

His eight-year-old daughter, Emma, had been adopted as a newborn. The adoption agency claimed her biological mother had requested permanent anonymity.

"What did you say?"

Evelyn placed down her glass.

"She's lying. I recognized her tonight and asked her to leave. She became hysterical."

Sophie removed a hospital bracelet from beneath her sleeve.

The faded label carried Emma's birth date and the name Baby Bennett.

"My name is Sophie Bennett."

Liam examined the bracelet.

"Where did you get this?"

"I wore the matching one when I gave birth to her."

Liam shook his head.

"Emma's mother signed adoption papers."

"I never signed them."

Evelyn moved toward Sophie.

"Leave this house immediately."

Liam stepped between them.

"No one leaves until I hear the truth."

Sophie explained that she had taken the kitchen job after tracing Emma through an old hospital employee. She never intended to take the child away. She only wanted to know that Emma was safe.

"Why didn't you contact me directly?" Liam asked.

"Because your mother found me first."

Sophie looked at Evelyn.

"She offered me money to disappear. When I refused, she said no one would believe a woman like me."

Liam's face hardened.

"What happened after Emma was born?"

Sophie clutched the bracelet.

"Your mother took my baby and told me she had died."