The revelation hit like a punch to the gut. Veronica’s head throbbed as she tried to make sense of it all. Every bizarre incident now clicked into place—the makeup, the advanced speech, the adult-like behavior. Esther had been hiding her true self all along.
The air between them was thick with disbelief and fear. Their dream of adopting a daughter had morphed into a waking nightmare. They had opened their home—and hearts—to someone who wasn’t a child at all, but an adult cloaked in manipulation and deceit.