Aubrey Hayes Julian Vance Lily Novel My Heroine My Shame

I was a disgrace to the entire journalism profession. They said I chased thrills, which meant I starred in adult films and fell into a crippling drug habit.

Dr. Julian Vance, the chief forensic scientist and my ex-husband, was the one who despised me. He threw me out of our home, accusing me of selling my skin for a quick buck.

Later, I vanished completely, just as he wanted.

It wasn't until five years later that Julian received a call from the police department, asking him to pick up an abandoned child.

"Can you help me find my mommy? She was sleeping in a red suitcase, and someone carried her away."

Lily's innocent words brought a roar of laughter from the room.

To them, I was just another junkie who had probably gotten high and disappeared on a binge.

Julian's face was dark as he pressed them. "Where is Aubrey Hayes, that wretched woman, hiding now? Did she run out of money for her fix and send you to beg?"

I floated in the air, watching Lily raise a blood-spotted rag doll, timidly saying.

"Mommy said this is a gift for the hero uncle. It has bad people's secrets inside."





I floated above, watching Lily. She was curled on a police station bench, covered in grime, clutching that blood-stained rag doll for dear life.

Her small face was a mask of grime, her hair a nest of tangles.

The officer beside her made the call, his face a mask of disdain.

"Dr. Vance? Your ex-wife's vanished again. Left the kid. Didn't want her."

"Once a junkie, always a junkie. When the monkey climbs on their back, they forget everything, even their own child."

I was numb to their vicious, vulgar words. But Lily shouldn't hear this. I tried to cover her ears, my hands passing through her in a ghostly failure. Powerless.

On the other end of the line, Julian's voice was clear. "I'll be right there."

Thirty minutes later, Julian finally appeared at the police station entrance.

He appeared at the station thirty minutes later, the smell of formaldehyde still on his coat, his expression stormy.

He completely bypassed Lily, asking the officer nearby.

"Where's Aubrey Hayes?"

The officer shrugged. "Her phone's off. No one's home.."

Julian let out a cold sneer. "Probably overdosed in a ditch somewhere. Saves us the trouble. One less junkie on the streets."

Lily heard his voice and timidly looked up.

"Are you my daddy? Mama said my daddy is a hero."

Julian recoiled in disgust, stepping back to avoid Lily's outstretched, dirty little hand.

"Don't call me that. I don't have a child with a junkie, let alone a bastard."

Lily flinched, tears flooding her eyes. In a desperate, hurried motion, she thrust her rag doll toward him.

"Mama said to give this to the hero uncle. And we can get food."

Julian slapped the doll away. "Don't you dare try to disgust me with that filthy thing!"

Lily stumbled to the ground, crying as she picked up the doll, carefully brushing off the dust.

Julian knelt down, staring at Lily. "Where's your mother?"

"Mama was put in a suitcase by a bad man." Lily sobbed, hugging her doll tightly.

"The suitcase had lots and lots of red liquid coming out of it. Mama told me to run, and to give the doll to Uncle..."

The surrounding police officers burst into laughter.

"A red suitcase? This kid must have inherited her mother's psychosis."

"Aubrey probably got high and hallucinated, and the kid's just making things up."

"Or maybe her drug dealers came for her. Aubrey skipped town with a huge debt, cooking up this red suitcase story to fool the kid."

Julian's face turned grim, listening to their disgusting remarks. He grabbed Lily's arm and pulled her towards the exit.

"Come home with me. We'll wait and see when your wretched mother decides to grace us with her presence."

By the car, as the headlights flashed, Julian noticed Lily's bare arms were covered in dense bruises and tiny needle marks.