Victoria was throwing a frightened woman and her little girl out of the house when Ethan suddenly walked in.

The next few days are a blur of fear and anxiety.

We stay in the hotel, rarely leaving. Ethan works with Mr. Henderson on the case, while I spend every moment with Lily, trying to make things feel normal for her.

But normal is impossible when you're looking over your shoulder every second.

Lily asks about Victoria sometimes. She asks when she can see her, when she can go back to her own house, when things will be like they used to be. I don't have the heart to tell her that things will never be like they used to be.

The court hearing for emergency custody is scheduled for Friday.

Mr. Henderson says it should be straightforward, given the evidence we have. But I can't help but worry. Victoria is smart. And she's desperate. She'll do anything to win.

Thursday night, I can't sleep.

I lie in bed, listening to Ethan and Lily breathe, my mind racing. I keep thinking about Victoria. About where she might be. About what she might be planning.

Around two o'clock in the morning, I hear it.

A soft knock on the hotel room door.

I freeze, my heart pounding.

Ethan stirs beside me. "What is it?"

"Someone's at the door," I whisper.

Ethan gets out of bed, grabbing the baseball bat he keeps by the door for protection. He tiptoes to the peephole, looking through.

His face goes pale.

"Who is it?" I whisper.

He doesn't answer. He unlocks the door, opening it slowly.

Victoria stands in the hallway.

She looks terrible. Her hair is a mess, her clothes are wrinkled, and her eyes are red and puffy. She looks like she hasn't slept in days.

"What are you doing here?" Ethan says, his voice low and dangerous. He keeps the bat raised.

Victoria ignores him, looking past him at me. Her eyes are filled with a mixture of hatred and desperation.

"I need to talk to you," she says to me. "Alone."

"Like hell," Ethan says. "You're not talking to her. You're not even supposed to be here. I'm calling the police."

"Wait," Victoria says, her voice cracking. She reaches into her bag, pulling out a stack of papers. "I have something. Something you need to see."

Ethan hesitates, then takes the papers. He looks at them, and his face goes white.

"What is it?" I ask, getting out of bed.

He hands me the papers.

My hands shake as I look at them.

They're medical records. From seven years ago.

Victoria was pregnant.

The same time I was.

"What is this?" I whisper, looking up at her.

Victoria's face crumples.

"I was pregnant too," she says, her voice breaking. "With Ethan's baby. I found out the same day I found out about you. I was so happy. So sure that everything would be okay."

She takes a shaky breath.

"But then I lost it. I had a miscarriage. Two weeks later. And I was devastated. And then I saw you, with your perfect little baby, and I just... I snapped."

Tears stream down her face.

"I know what I did was wrong. I know I hurt you. I hurt Ethan. I hurt Lily. But I loved her, Elena. I loved her like she was my own. She was the only thing that made the pain go away."

I stare at her, my mind reeling.

This doesn't excuse what she did. Nothing can excuse kidnapping a child, faking a death, putting a family through seven years of hell.

But it explains it.

And for the first time, I see Victoria not as a monster, but as a broken woman who made terrible, terrible choices.

"I'm sorry," she whispers, tears streaming down her face. "I'm so sorry for everything. I never meant for it to go this far. I just... I just wanted to be a mother."

She looks past me, at Lily sleeping in the bed.

"Can I see her?" she asks softly. "Just for a minute. Before you turn me in. Before I lose her forever."

Ethan looks at me, his eyes asking the question.

I think about everything Victoria did. The pain. The suffering. The seven years I lost with my daughter.

But I also think about the seven years she gave Lily. The love. The care. The mother she was when I couldn't be.

I nod.

"Okay," I say softly. "But just for a minute."

Victoria steps into the room, her eyes never leaving Lily. She walks to the bed, kneeling down beside her. She reaches out, her hand trembling, and gently brushes hair from Lily's face.

"Goodbye, my sweet girl," she whispers, tears falling onto the pillow. "Mommy loves you. Always."

She kisses Lily's forehead, then stands up. She turns to us, her face calm now.

"I'm ready," she says.

Ethan calls the police.

Victoria doesn't run. She doesn't fight. She just stands there, waiting, her eyes never leaving Lily's sleeping form.

When the police arrive and put handcuffs on her, she doesn't say a word. She just looks at me one last time, and in her eyes, I see something I never thought I'd see from Victoria.