Chapter 6 - Daniel was waiting in the living room when we arrived.Jacqueline sat beside him.
She wasn't crying.
She wasn't angry.
She looked calm.
That frightened me more than anything.
Sophie was nowhere in sight.
I stepped inside.
"Where is my daughter?"
Daniel stood.
"Safe."
"Where?"
"With my mother."
"You lied to me."
"I had to."
"Why?"
He didn't answer.
I looked at Jacqueline.
She looked at me for a long moment.
Then she said,
"Because if you knew the truth, you would have taken her away."
My hands curled into fists.
"You have one minute."
Jacqueline nodded.
"Fair."
She placed a folder on the coffee table.
"Open it."
I didn't.
"What is it?"
"Your hospital file."
I looked at Daniel.
He nodded.
I opened it.
Page after page.
Medical notes.
Blood tests.
Delivery records.
Then I saw the problem.
The blood type.
Mine was O positive.
Sophie was AB positive.
That was impossible.
I stared at Daniel.
He whispered,
"Now you understand."
"No."
My voice was barely audible.
"This isn't enough."
Jacqueline leaned forward.
"Your blood was tested when you gave birth."
"What?"
"You're not Sophie’s biological mother."
The room tilted.
I grabbed the edge of the table.
"No."
Daniel spoke quietly.
"The hospital made a mistake."
I looked at him.
"What mistake?"
"The babies were switched."
Everything went silent.
Jacqueline continued.
"There were two girls born that morning."
One was mine.
One was Jacqueline's.
During an emergency, both infants were taken to the neonatal unit.
Then came a power outage.
The identification bands were damaged.
Someone made a mistake.
The babies were switched.
I stared at her.
"You expect me to believe this?"
"It's the truth."
"Then why did nobody tell me?"
Daniel looked down.
"Because your father paid to keep it quiet."
The shock was so complete that I couldn't speak.
"My father knew?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Jacqueline answered.
"Because when the hospital discovered the mistake, your father made a choice."
"What choice?"
"He kept Sophie."
My stomach twisted.
"What?"
"He refused to return her."
"Why?"
"Because he believed the other child would be dangerous."
I laughed.
A broken, disbelieving sound.
"A child?"
Jacqueline nodded.
"She was the daughter of a woman your father considered unstable."
"Her own mother?"
"No."
"Then who?"
Jacqueline looked at Daniel.
He hesitated.
Then said,
"Someone connected to the trust."
I stared at him.
"What does that mean?"
"It means the other child wasn't just Jacqueline's."
My blood ran cold.
"Then whose was she?"
Nobody answered.
I slammed my palm onto the table.
"Whose daughter was she?"
Jacqueline whispered,
"Your father's."
The words hit harder than the first time.
I stared at her.
"That makes no sense."
"It does."
She opened another document.
A DNA report.
My father's name.
Jacqueline's name.
A child.
Probability: 99.99%.
I looked at the date.
The test had been performed twenty-six years ago.
Before I was born.
Ethan stepped forward.
"This isn't about Sophie."
Daniel turned toward him.
"No."
"It never was."
He looked at me.
"This is about the missing child."
"Where is she?"
Daniel didn't answer.
Jacqueline did.
"She was raised under another name."
"Where?"
"Here."
I looked around.
My house.
Daniel smiled faintly.
"She's closer than you think."
I felt sick.
"No."
He opened the final page.
A photograph.
A teenage girl.
Dark hair.
Green eyes.
A small scar near her left eyebrow.
I recognized the face.
I had seen her before.
At my daughter's school.
In family photographs.
At birthday parties.
A teenager who had always seemed strangely familiar.
"Who is she?"
Jacqueline whispered,
"Her name is Sophie."
I shook my head.
"No."
She corrected herself.
"Your Sophie isn't your daughter."
I stared at the photograph.
Then at Daniel.
"What are you saying?"
He leaned closer.
"The girl you've called Sophie for fifteen years is Jacqueline's biological daughter."
Everything inside me cracked.
And then Jacqueline said,
"The daughter you gave birth to is alive."
I could barely breathe.
"Where?"
May you like
She smiled.
"She's been living in your life all along."
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