Chapter 1

"Mommy, are we really leaving?" Lily asked, her small voice trembling slightly.

She clutched a worn-out doll in her arms, a gift from a man she barely knew.

Sarah Miller looked at her daughter, her heart aching. "Yes, sweetie. We're going on a big adventure to a new country."

She tried to sound cheerful, but the words felt like ash in her mouth. This wasn't an adventure. It was an escape.

For six years, Sarah had been married to Liam Hayes, a man who was a ghost in their lives. He was a prominent real estate developer, a name everyone knew. But no one knew he had a wife and a daughter.

He had made sure of that.

Sarah remembered the day Lily was born. She had been alone in the hospital room, a sterile white space that felt as cold as her marriage. Liam hadn't been there. He had been with Olivia Chen, his high school sweetheart.

He always chose Olivia.

Later, when she brought Lily home, he had looked at the tiny baby with a chilling indifference. "Don't let her get in my way," he had said, his voice flat. Those words had been the foundation of their life together.

Lily, sweet and innocent, had spent her life trying to win his affection. Sarah had taught her to call him "Mr. Hayes." It was the only way he would even acknowledge her presence.

"Mr. Hayes," Lily would say, her eyes wide with hope, "can you read me a story?"

"I'm busy," he would reply, not even looking up from his phone.

Sarah had watched her daughter' s heart break a thousand times. She saw him dote on Olivia, saw him treat Olivia's daughter with a kindness he never showed his own. The final straw had been a few weeks ago, at a company event. He had brought Olivia as his date, laughing and holding her hand while Sarah stood in the shadows, an invisible employee at his own company.

She had decided then. They had to leave.

But now, Lily's big brown eyes were filled with a familiar, painful hope. "My birthday is in two weeks," she whispered. "Maybe... maybe he'll come this time."

Sarah knew he wouldn't. Liam had never celebrated Lily's birthday. Not once.

Yet, seeing the desperate plea in her daughter's face, Sarah's resolve crumbled. "Okay, sweetie," she heard herself say. "We'll wait two more weeks. We'll leave after your birthday."

She was giving her daughter a promise she knew would be broken. It was a final, painful gift, one last chance for a dream to die.