PART 2 — THE SECRET INSIDE BUNNY
The church was so quiet that I could hear my own breathing.
No one understood what was happening.
Nearly two hundred guests stared at me as if I had suddenly lost my mind.
My white dress dragged across the stone floor as Lieke clung tightly to my hand.
Across the church, Thomas was still standing at the altar.
His face had changed.
No smile.
No calmness.
No trace of the kind fiancé I thought I knew.
Only pure fear.
I held up the tiny black device.
“You asked where I got it.”
My voice trembled, but I forced myself not to look away.
“It was hidden inside Bunny.”
Thomas looked at Lieke.
“Lieke…”
My daughter immediately hid behind my dress.
I felt her tiny fingers tighten around my leg.
“Don’t talk to her.”
Thomas raised his hands.
“I can explain.”
“You said that before.”
A few guests began whispering among themselves.
My mother stood up in the first row, staring at me in shock.
“What is going on?”
I didn't answer.
Instead, I looked at the object in my hand again.
It was small.
A black recording device.
There was a tiny light on the side.
My stomach twisted.
A recorder.
My daughter had been carrying a recording device inside her favorite stuffed rabbit.
And Thomas had known it was there.
“Why was this inside Bunny?”
Thomas said nothing.
That was the moment I knew he was lying.
If he truly had nothing to hide, he would have been confused.
He would have asked what the device was.
But he knew exactly what I was holding.
A man sitting behind me whispered:
“Call the police.”
Thomas heard him.
His eyes immediately darted toward the exit.
I saw it.
And suddenly, I understood something.
He wasn't afraid of me.
He was afraid that someone else would hear what was recorded on that device.
I pressed the button.
A faint crackling sound filled the church.
Then I heard Lieke's voice.
“Mommy is downstairs.”
My heart stopped.
Then came Thomas's voice.
Calm.
Cold.
Completely different from the man I thought I knew.
“You know what we agreed on.”
A long silence followed.
Then I heard my daughter quietly crying.
“I don't want to.”
Thomas replied:
“You only have to stay quiet.”
I felt my knees almost give way.
My mother covered her mouth with her hand.
The recording continued.
“If you tell your mother, everything will be her fault.”
Lieke sobbed.
“Why?”
“Because then she'll be sad.”
I immediately stopped the recording.
My whole body was shaking.
I looked at Thomas.
“What did you do to my daughter?”
He shook his head.
“It sounds worse than it really is.”
I could hardly believe what I was hearing.
“Worse than it really is?”
“You don't understand.”
“My daughter begged you to leave her alone!”
“She imagines things.”
Those words broke something inside me.
For years, I had told myself that maybe I was being too protective.
That Lieke simply had trouble adjusting to change.
That Thomas was right.
But my daughter had never lied to me.
Not once.
I turned toward the door.
“We're leaving.”
Thomas stepped down from the altar.
“Wait.”
I pulled Lieke behind me.
“Stay away from us.”
“You can't just walk out.”
“Yes, I can.”
My voice grew louder.
“She is my daughter.”
Then something unexpected happened.
An elderly man in the front row stood up.
He looked at Thomas.
“Let her go.”
Thomas turned toward him.
“This doesn't concern you.”
The man replied:
“Perhaps it concerns me more than you think.”
I recognized him immediately.
It was Mr. Van Dijk.
The lawyer Thomas had recommended when we were preparing our marriage documents.
He slowly walked toward me.
“Mrs…”
He glanced at the device in my hand.
“May I see that?”
I hesitated.
“Why?”
He looked directly at Thomas.
“Because I suspect this isn't the only thing he has been hiding.”
Thomas turned deathly pale.
“Stay out of this.”
Van Dijk stared at him.
“I tried to stay out of it for the past three months.”
My heart began pounding again.
“What do you mean?”
The lawyer pulled an envelope from inside his jacket.
“Thomas asked me to prepare certain documents for you.”
I stared at the envelope.
“What documents?”
He swallowed.
“A prenuptial agreement.”
“I knew about that.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“You don't know what's inside it.”
He handed me the envelope.
I opened it with trembling fingers.
The first page looked normal.
But then I saw a passage that made my breath catch.
If I died before Thomas, a large portion of my assets would go to him.
But that wasn't all.
There was also a section concerning guardianship.
Lieke.
My hands began to shake.
“This…”
I looked at Thomas.
“Why is my daughter mentioned here?”
He didn't answer.
Van Dijk looked at him angrily.
“That is exactly what I asked him.”
“Asked him?”
“Yes.”
The lawyer took a deep breath.
“A week ago, I discovered that Thomas had given me information that did not match reality.”
I looked at Thomas.
“What information?”
Van Dijk answered:
“He claimed that Lieke's biological father was dead.”
My heart nearly stopped.
“What?”
Thomas closed his eyes.
Van Dijk continued:
“But I was never able to verify it.”
The world seemed to spin around me.
Lieke's biological father had disappeared when she was still a baby.
That was all I knew.
I had never seen a death certificate.
Never seen a grave.
Never had any proof.
Only Thomas had told me that he was probably dead.
I looked at him.
“How did you know that?”
Thomas remained silent.
Lieke tugged at my hand.
“Mommy…”
I immediately knelt beside her.
“What is it, sweetheart?”
She looked at Thomas.
Then whispered:
“That isn't the worst part.”
My heart sank.
“What do you mean?”
She looked at Bunny.
“Thomas once told me that my real daddy is still alive.”
The church fell completely silent.
I looked at Thomas.
He didn't move.
“Is that true?”
No answer.
Tears rolled down my cheeks.
“Thomas…”
He finally looked at me.
And in his eyes, I saw something I had never seen before.
Not love.
Not regret.
Fear.
Suddenly, the sound of a car braking hard came from outside.
The church doors swung open.
An unfamiliar man stepped inside.
He looked directly at Lieke.
Then at me.
And said:
“Lieke…?”
My daughter froze.
The man took one step forward.
“I'm your father.”
Thomas spun around.
And for the first time, I saw pure panic on his face.
But what he said next made everything even worse:
“He's lying.”
The stranger gave a bitter smile.
“No, Thomas.”
He pulled an old photograph from his jacket.
“You're the one who has been lying to her for five years.”
I stared at the photograph.
And at that moment, I saw something that made my entire world collapse.
There was a date written on the back.
And that date was exactly the day Thomas first entered my life.
