Chapter 10 - David couldn't breathe.“What does that mean?”

Emily's face hardened.

“Melissa was supposed to give me Lily.”

Melissa shook her head.

“I couldn't.”

“So you switched them.”

“No.”

“You switched them.”

Emily's voice filled the apartment.

“You took my daughter and gave me someone else's child.”

David looked at Clara.

Clara was crying now.

“I don't understand.”

David knelt beside her.

“You don't have to.”

But he needed answers.

“Emily, where is your daughter?”

Emily looked at Clara.

“She is standing right here.”

David's blood ran cold.

“No.”

Emily nodded.

“Yes.”

“Then who is Lily Harper?”

Emily's eyes filled with tears.

“A child who was meant to die.”

David stared.

Emily explained.

Daniel had discovered a secret program inside Harper Security.

Children from wealthy families were being targeted.

But one child had become especially valuable.

Lily.

Her biological parents controlled a trust worth millions.

The trust could only be accessed when she turned eighteen.

The people behind the operation wanted her hidden until then.

They needed a replacement child to make the disappearance convincing.

And Clara had been selected.

“Why Clara?”

Emily looked at Melissa.

“Because she was born under the right circumstances.”

David frowned.

“What circumstances?”

“Her biological parents died in an accident.”

David stared.

“What?”

“Her mother and father were killed before she was born.”

“That isn't possible.”

“They were.”

Emily handed him another photograph.

A young couple.

The man was David Carter.

The woman was not Melissa.

David felt the world disappear.

He looked at the photograph.

“No.”

Emily said,

“You weren't supposed to remember.”

David stared.

“I've been married to Melissa for eight years.”

Emily shook her head.

“You remember a false marriage.”

David looked at Melissa.

She was crying.

“What is she talking about?”

Melissa couldn't meet his eyes.

Emily continued.

“The company altered your records.”

“Why?”

“Because your identity was useful.”

David's hands shook.

“What was my name before?”

Emily whispered it.

David went still.

A memory flashed.

A different apartment.

A different woman.

A newborn baby.

A car crash.

Smoke.

Sirens.

Then everything vanished.

David stumbled backward.

He grabbed the wall.

Ryan looked at him.

“You remembered.”

David covered his face.

Fragments kept coming.

He had known Emily.

Not just known.

Worked with her husband.

Daniel.

He had helped hide something.

Something about the children.

The memory was broken.

But one image remained.

A baby wrapped in a pink blanket.

A woman screaming.

And Melissa standing over them.

David looked at her.

“You weren't my wife.”

Melissa whispered,

“I became your wife later.”

His voice cracked.

“Why?”

“Because they told me you would be safer with me.”

“You lied for seven years.”

“I protected you.”

“You stole my life.”

Melissa cried.

“I saved your daughter's life.”

Emily interrupted.

“That's not what she did.”

David turned.

Emily's voice was cold.

“She saved one child by sacrificing another.”

David looked at Clara.

“Which one?”

Emily pointed at her.

“Your daughter.”

David felt his heart collapse.

Emily continued.

“The child you think is Clara is actually Lily.”

David stared.

“Then where is Clara?”

Emily said nothing.

David's fear became rage.

“Where is my daughter?”

Emily looked toward the old hidden cameras.

Then she whispered,

“She's been living with another family.”

David's phone rang.

He answered.

A man's voice said,

“Stop looking.”

David clenched his jaw.

“Who are you?”

“You've already found too much.”

“Where is Clara?”

A pause.

Then:

“Alive.”

David exhaled.

“Where?”

“You'll find her when you're ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“Ready to learn who you really are.”

The call ended.

A second later, another message arrived.

A location.

An abandoned warehouse.

And one sentence.

COME ALONE.

David looked at Ryan.

Ryan shook his head.

“It's a trap.”

David looked at Emily.

“Where is Clara?”

Emily closed her eyes.

Then she whispered,

“I know that warehouse.”

David stared.

“What happened there?”

May you like

My Family Inherited Millions and Left Me a Ruined House. Four Months Lat...

The lawyer’s office fell silent as my grandmother’s will was read, and I watched my family inherit millions while I received nothi...

A Desperate Mother Begged a Billionaire for a Job to Feed Her Two Childr...

I was stranded on a lonely Arizona highway with two starving children, a pair of ruined suitcases, and no way to reach our destina...

I Saved the Mafia Boss’s Baby from a Dumpster, but He Threw Me in Jail f...

The first thing I noticed when I opened the dumpster behind the Valente mansion was a tiny blue hand sticking out from beneath a f...

Emily's face went pale.

“That is where Daniel disappeared.”