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Prologue: The Cruel Business Arrangement

"So we're clear then?"

The woman nodded in response still not believing her eyes and staring down at the check that she had in her hand. There had to be a mistake. There were so many zeroes on it.

"I just disappear with the baby and this money's mine?"

"Very good. At least, you can follow some direction. Although you haven't up to this point," the other woman sneered back.

"No one could successfully work for you lady." She had tried to work for this insolent woman as a maid for the past three months and had quickly come to the conclusion that it was impossible to please her.

"You'll want to get out of the area as soon as possible because I will be reporting her missing. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, take the kid, run, and get rich. I got it."

"Ok, then go quickly before anyone wakes up."

"I don't get it, why do you want to get rid of this kid?"

"Because it's the only way my daughter can have a decent life. Now go!"

With that, the woman got up and left carrying a sleeping 2-month old baby in her arms. She looked back at her former employer who had tears in her eyes. "What a fake!" She muttered under her breath.

Three hours later………………..

A frantic scream interrupted the quiet, calm night.. "Mom, Dad, she's gone! Someone took her… someone took Rory…" Lorelai Gilmore screamed, her voice breaking. "Someone, please anyone. Oh my God! No! No!"

The following days had been hell for Lorelai. She hadn't slept or ate. She spent most of her time in Rory's room–staring at her daughter's crib. She rocked back in forth in the rocking chair she had used to comfort Rory night after night. It had to be a nightmare. It just had to be. Soon she would wake up and find Rory– her sweet little Rory–in her arms. The days blended in one after another—and still no leads. No one could explain how a tiny baby had been stolen from a large house with a state of the art security system. They speculated that it had been an inside job but Lorelai hadn't realized just how horrifying the truth was until one fateful night...

One month later…………..

Lorelai came down the stairs in the middle of the night. As usual, she wasn't sleeping and she had found that walks around the house and grounds helped clear her mind. Toward the bottom of the steps, she heard loud voices coming from the kitchen–disturbing the usual peaceful calm of the night at the Gilmore house. She paused to listen.

"I thought I told you to disappear and never come back here!" Lorelai heard her mother say.

"You did. I want more money. That kid does nothing but scream her lungs out all night."

Lorelai's mouth dropped open as she recognized the voice of the former Gilmore maid that had disappeared around the same time that Rory had.

"That's what babies do you insolent fool. Do you know what happens if you're caught?"

Tears were running down Lorelai's face as she realized what was happening. It had been her own mother–her own mother had been behind Rory's disappearance. Her own mother who had watched Lorelai live in her own private hell, had been the culprit all along. It took all of her self control at that moment to not become violently ill as the truth began more and more to sink in. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and she stormed into the kitchen.

"Don't you mean if you're caught, Emily?" Lorelai screamed at her mother. Turning to their former maid, "Where is she? Where's Rory?"

Immediately, the maid took off running in response. Lorelai ran after her as fast as she could but to no avail…

"Lorelai, we'll call the police. They'll catch her and find Rory, I promise."

With angry tears burning in her eyes, Lorelai shook her head. Even now Emily Gilmore couldn't admit the truth to her daughter. She had sold her own granddaughter and was now claiming she would fix it. Lorelai felt the vomit rise to her throat as her eyes flashed with hatred at her mother.

"How dare you? How dare you? It's your fault she's gone and it's your fault that she's never coming back again. I hate you! I will never forgive you for this! You and me we're through!"

That night Lorelai had packed her bags and slipped out the door–vowing never to return to the Gilmore house ever again.