Chapter 3: The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Ethan stood frozen in the foyer, the bloodstained envelope trembling between his fingers.
For six years, he had believed his wife was dead.
For six years, he had visited her grave.
For six years, he had told Sophie stories about the mother she barely remembered.
And now a voice that could only belong to her had come through his phone.
Don't trust the man upstairs.
Ethan looked toward the staircase.
Empty.
The stranger had vanished.
So had Celeste.
So had Richard.
The mansion suddenly felt enormous.
And dangerous.
"Daddy?"
Sophie stood beside him, clutching the photograph against her chest.
"Is Mommy really alive?"
Ethan couldn't answer.
He wanted to say yes.
He wanted to tell his daughter that everything was going to be fine.
But he had learned something tonight.
Every answer in this house seemed to hide another lie.
He crouched beside Sophie.
"I don't know."
Her lower lip trembled.
"But I'm going to find her."
He opened the envelope.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
No signature.
Only a message.
ETHAN,
IF YOU HAVE FOUND THIS, THEN CELESTE HAS ALREADY MADE HER MOVE.
DO NOT CALL THE POLICE.
DO NOT GO TO THE HOSPITAL.
DO NOT TRUST ANYONE WHO TELLS YOU YOUR WIFE IS DEAD.
MOST IMPORTANTLY, DO NOT LET THEM TAKE SOPHIE.
At the bottom was an address.
Nothing else.
Ethan stared at it.
He recognized the location immediately.
A small private clinic outside Hartford.
The same clinic where his wife had supposedly received treatment shortly before her death.
His pulse quickened.
"Sophie, stay close."
He grabbed his keys.
Then he stopped.
His eyes fell on the security cameras mounted around the foyer.
He had installed them himself after his wife's death.
If the cameras were still recording, he might finally see what had happened tonight.
He rushed into his office.
The security monitor was still running.
Ethan rewound the footage.
6:12 PM.
His own car entered the driveway.
6:14.
Celeste appeared at the front door.
6:16.
Richard entered.
6:23.
The footage showed Celeste carrying a large hard-shell suitcase upstairs.
Ethan's jaw tightened.
He fast-forwarded.
6:31.
Celeste returned downstairs.
The suitcase was gone.
6:37.
Richard entered the frame.
He was carrying something.
A syringe case.
Ethan froze.
He rewound.
Again.
Richard walked directly toward the staircase.
Then the footage suddenly distorted.
The screen went black.
Ethan checked the timestamp.
6:38 PM.
The exact moment he had entered the house.
Someone had remotely interrupted the cameras.
Someone who knew the security system.
His eyes narrowed.
"Celeste."
But then another thought struck him.
He checked the footage from the previous week.
Hours of recordings.
Nothing unusual.
Until Tuesday night.
At 2:17 AM.
A woman appeared outside the mansion.
She stood at the gate.
Her face was hidden beneath a hood.
Ethan leaned closer.
She remained there for almost three minutes.
Then she lifted her face toward the camera.
Ethan's blood turned cold.
He paused the footage.
Zoomed in.
The image was grainy.
But the woman's eyes...
He knew those eyes.
He had spent years looking into them.
"Mommy?"
Sophie had come into the office.
Ethan quickly turned around.
She looked at the screen.
Her face changed.
"That's her."
Ethan swallowed.
"You're sure?"
Sophie nodded.
"That's Mommy."
He looked back at the image.
His wife's face.
Alive.
Standing outside their home three nights ago.
Why hadn't she come inside?
Why had she watched from the gate?
And why had she been afraid to approach them?
Then Ethan noticed something else.
His wife wasn't alone.
A second figure stood behind her.
A man.
Ethan zoomed in.
His stomach dropped.
The man was Richard.
But that was impossible.
The footage was from three nights ago.
And Richard had told Ethan he was in Boston that entire week.
Ethan grabbed his phone.
He opened Richard's contact.
Before he could call, another message appeared.
UNKNOWN:
YOU ARE LOOKING AT THE WRONG CAMERA.
Ethan's blood ran cold.
Another message followed.
THE HOUSE HAS A SECOND SYSTEM.
Ethan slowly looked around his office.
"Where?"
Sophie pointed toward the bookshelf.
"Mommy used to hide things there."
Ethan moved toward it.
He searched behind the books.
Nothing.
Then Sophie walked over.
She pulled out an old blue book.
It was one of her mother's favorites.
The bookshelf clicked.
A hidden panel opened.
Inside was a tiny monitor.
And a recording device.
Ethan pressed play.
Static filled the room.
Then his wife's face appeared.
She looked exhausted.
Her hair was messy.
There was a bruise beneath one eye.
Ethan stopped breathing.
"Emily."
Her lips trembled.
"If you're watching this, then something has happened to me."
Ethan moved closer.
"I don't know how long I have."
She looked directly into the camera.
"Please listen carefully."
She took a breath.
"Richard isn't the man you think he is."
Ethan's eyes narrowed.
"He has been working with Celeste for years."
The recording continued.
"But he's not the one who started this."
Emily looked terrified.
"The person behind everything is someone much closer to you."
Ethan stared at the screen.
"Someone you trust."
Emily's eyes filled with tears.
"I wanted to tell you before Sophie was born."
She paused.
"But when I discovered what they had done at the hospital, I realized I couldn't trust anyone."
Ethan's heartbeat thundered.
"What did they do?"
Emily leaned toward the camera.
"They changed the identity of a newborn."
Ethan's face went pale.
"Not Sophie."
A pause.
"Another baby."
Sophie stood beside her father, listening silently.
Emily continued.
"Six years ago, two girls were born at the same hospital within twenty minutes of each other."
Ethan's eyes widened.
"One belonged to us."
"The other belonged to a family with a secret."
Emily's voice cracked.
"Someone switched the babies."
Ethan stared at the screen.
"No..."
Emily continued.
"I discovered it because the DNA results didn't match."
Ethan's mind raced.
The birth certificate.
The doctor.
The photograph.
The mysterious second baby.
Emily looked behind her.
For a moment, she seemed to hear something.
Then she whispered:
"If they find out I recorded this, they'll kill me."
The screen suddenly flickered.
Emily looked straight into the camera.
"Ethan, listen to me."
Her voice became urgent.
"Sophie is your daughter."
Ethan exhaled.
"But she isn't the baby they were trying to steal."
Silence.
"What does that mean?" Ethan whispered.
Emily continued.
"The baby they wanted was the other girl."
Ethan's heart pounded.
"Because that child is the heir to a fortune worth hundreds of millions of dollars."
Sophie stared at the screen.
Emily lowered her voice.
"And that child is still alive."
The recording abruptly cut to black.
Ethan stood motionless.
Then the office door slammed shut.
He spun around.
Celeste stood outside.
Her face was streaked with tears.
"Ethan."
He stepped between her and Sophie.
"Where is my wife?"
Celeste shook her head.
"I don't know."
"Liar."
"I swear."
"Then explain Richard."
Celeste said nothing.
Ethan stepped closer.
"Explain the hospital."
Her expression changed.
Then she whispered:
"You don't understand what you've uncovered."
"I understand enough."
"No."
Celeste looked at Sophie.
"You don't understand who is looking for her."
Ethan's voice hardened.
"Who?"
Celeste's eyes filled with terror.
"The people who killed Emily."
Ethan stared at her.
"Then tell me where they are."
Celeste shook her head.
"They're already here."
A loud crash came from downstairs.
All three froze.
Then another.
Something heavy had fallen.
Ethan grabbed Sophie.
Celeste whispered:
"They found us."
"Who?"
She looked toward the hallway.
Then came the sound of the front door being forced open.
Three men entered the mansion.
Celeste's face went completely white.
One of them shouted:
"Find the girl!"
Ethan pulled Sophie toward the hidden passage behind the bookshelf.
But before he could open it, Celeste grabbed his wrist.
"There's something you need to know."
"What?"
She looked directly into his eyes.
"I wasn't trying to take Sophie out of the country."
Ethan stared at her.
"Then why did you buy a ticket in her name?"
Celeste's voice broke.
"Because I was trying to save her."
Ethan hesitated.
"From whom?"
Celeste whispered four words.
"From your own brother."
Ethan's blood ran cold.
"My brother died eight years ago."
Celeste shook her head.
"No."
She looked toward the approaching footsteps.
"He didn't."
And then the hidden door behind them suddenly opened from the other side.
A man's voice whispered from the darkness:
"Ethan."
May you like
Ethan turned.
The face waiting in the secret passage belonged to a man he had buried eight years earlier.
