Chapter 9 - David spread the photograph across the table.Two girls.

Two faces.

Both seven years old.

The resemblance was impossible to ignore.

Ryan examined it.

“This picture was taken recently.”

“How do you know?”

“The camera quality.”

David stared.

“Then where is the other girl?”

Ryan pointed at Lily.

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“Whether she is actually Lily.”

David looked at him.

“What are you saying?”

“I think someone fabricated the identity.”

Melissa shook her head.

“No.”

Ryan turned.

“You don't know that.”

“I do.”

“How?”

Melissa stared at the photograph.

“Because I remember Lily.”

“You remember a child from three years ago.”

“Yes.”

“She could look different.”

Melissa shook her head.

“She had a scar.”

David looked closer.

“Where?”

“Behind her left ear.”

David took a magnifying glass.

The photograph showed Lily's left ear.

No scar.

David looked at Clara.

Her hair covered her ear.

He moved it aside.

A small white scar curved behind her left ear.

Melissa stopped breathing.

Ryan whispered,

“Oh, God.”

David stared at the scar.

“How did she get that?”

Melissa whispered,

“I don't know.”

David's mind raced.

He remembered Clara falling from a bicycle when she was four.

At least he thought she had.

He remembered taking her to the emergency room.

He remembered Melissa telling him she needed stitches.

But suddenly he couldn't remember the hospital.

He couldn't remember the doctor.

He couldn't remember the paperwork.

He remembered only Melissa carrying Clara.

And now he wondered why.

He opened every old family album.

Birthday pictures.

Christmas.

Beach trips.

School photos.

Seven years.

David noticed something strange.

In nearly every photograph, Clara's face was slightly turned.

Never fully toward the camera.

Until one photo.

A Christmas picture.

Clara was three.

And behind her, standing in the doorway, was a woman.

The same woman listed as the mother on the birth certificate.

David zoomed in.

The woman was looking at Clara.

Not smiling.

Crying.

David whispered,

“She found her.”

Melissa started shaking.

“David…”

“You knew she existed.”

“No.”

“Then why did you hide the photographs?”

“I didn't.”

David turned.

“There are no photographs of Clara's first six months.”

Melissa went silent.

“Where are they?”

“I don't know.”

“You don't know?”

“I lost them.”

“You lost every photo of our baby?”

Melissa looked down.

David stood.

“Tell me what happened.”

Melissa's voice broke.

“I wasn't there.”

“What?”

“When Clara was born.”

David stared.

“You were at the hospital.”

“No.”

“Melissa.”

“I was told she was.”

David's face went pale.

“Who was?”

“Another woman.”

“What woman?”

“I don't know her name.”

David looked at Ryan.

Ryan was checking the birth certificate.

“This signature.”

“What about it?”

“It doesn't belong to the doctor listed.”

David frowned.

Ryan zoomed in.

“Someone copied it.”

“Why?”

“To create a false record.”

David felt sick.

“So Clara's birth certificate is fake.”

“Yes.”

“Then where was she actually born?”

Ryan looked at Melissa.

She whispered,

“Harper Security's private clinic.”

David froze.

“Security company had a clinic?”

“For employees and their families.”

“Why would my daughter be born there?”

Melissa started crying.

“Because she wasn't supposed to be our daughter.”

Silence.

David whispered,

“Then whose was she?”

Before Melissa could answer, the apartment door opened.

Ryan immediately reached for his weapon.

A woman stepped inside.

Older.

Dark hair.

Red eyes.

She looked directly at Clara.

Then she whispered,

“My baby.”

Clara froze.

David moved in front of her.

“Who are you?”

The woman stared at him.

“You took my daughter.”

David shook his head.

“We didn't.”

She pointed at Clara.

“Her name is Lily.”

Melissa screamed,

“No!”

The woman looked at Melissa.

“You know me.”

Melissa backed away.

“Please…”

“You promised me she'd be safe.”

“I tried.”

The woman stepped closer.

“You lied.”

David asked,

“Who are you?”

The woman looked at him.

“My name is Emily Harper.”

David's heart stopped.

“You're dead.”

Emily smiled bitterly.

“They wanted you to think that.”

Then she reached into her coat.

David instinctively raised his hand.

Emily pulled out a small photograph.

It showed a hospital room.

Melissa stood beside a newborn baby.

David stepped closer.

The baby had a tiny birthmark on her wrist.

Clara had the same mark.

Then Emily whispered,

“Your wife didn't steal my daughter.”

David looked at Melissa.

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Emily finished:

“She gave me yours.”