Chapter 7 - I refused to believe them.Belief wasn't the problem.

The problem was that every lie now had a shape.

A date.

A document.

A name.

A signature.

A photograph.

I looked at Daniel.

"You've known?"

He nodded.

"For years."

"How long?"

"Since before our wedding."

My throat burned.

"Did you marry me because of this?"

He didn't answer.

That was answer enough.

I turned to Jacqueline.

"And you?"

"I became your friend because your father asked me to stay close."

"To spy on me?"

"At first."

"And later?"

She looked away.

"I became attached to you."

I laughed.

"You watched me grow up."

"Yes."

"You held Sophie when she was a baby."

"Yes."

"You came to my wedding."

"Yes."

"And every time I called you my best friend, you knew."

She started crying.

"I knew the truth."

I walked toward her.

"Did you love me?"

She whispered,

"Yes."

"Then why?"

"Because I wanted my daughter back."

There it was.

The real motive.

Not revenge.

Not money.

Motherhood twisted into obsession.

I looked at the photograph again.

The teenage girl.

Something about her face haunted me.

Then I realized.

The scar.

I had seen it on my own face.

My mother used to tell me I got it falling from a bicycle when I was seven.

Except the scar had appeared after the accident.

And this girl had the exact same small crescent near her eyebrow.

I looked at Ethan.

He understood before I did.

"Emily."

"What?"

"Your old childhood medical records."

I stared at him.

"If you were switched, that scar wouldn't be genetic."

"No."

"But the girl has the same scar."

I turned to Jacqueline.

"Where did she get that?"

Jacqueline went pale.

"From your father."

Silence.

"What does that mean?"

She slowly sat down.

"She wasn't switched by accident."

My heart stopped.

"What?"

Jacqueline's tears started falling.

"Your father ordered the switch."

Ethan cursed.

"Why?"

"Because he knew the child was in danger."

"From whom?"

Jacqueline looked at Daniel.

"His father."

Daniel flinched.

"My father had nothing to do with it."

"Then tell her."

Daniel said nothing.

Jacqueline turned toward me.

"The Carter family had enemies."

I shook my head.

"My family wasn't criminal."

"Your father wasn't."

She swallowed.

"But Daniel's family was."

I looked at him.

His expression had changed.

"You knew."

"I knew some of it."

"Some?"

"My father owned companies overseas."

"Shell companies?"

He nodded.

"Money laundering?"

His silence answered.

Ethan pulled out his phone.

"I know that name."

Daniel looked at him.

"Which name?"

"The D.R. Holdings account."

Daniel went still.

I looked between them.

Ethan continued.

"D.R. isn't Daniel Carter."

Daniel's face hardened.

"Stop."

"It's your father's old company."

He looked at me.

"It was supposed to disappear."

"But it didn't."

Ethan opened another file.

Payments.

Three hundred thousand.

Seven hundred thousand.

One million.

All connected to accounts associated with the trust.

I stared.

"Why was my money going there?"

Daniel whispered,

"Because it wasn't your money."

"What?"

"The trust belongs to your father."

"Legally, it belongs to me."

"Not anymore."

I stepped back.

Jacqueline stood.

"The documents tomorrow will transfer the trust."

"And the house."

"Yes."

"To Daniel?"

She nodded.

"And the missing daughter?"

Jacqueline looked at me.

"She's the beneficiary."

My blood ran cold.

"Which daughter?"

She answered,

"Your biological daughter."

I couldn't speak.

For fifteen years, I had raised the wrong child.

And somewhere in my life, my real daughter had been living without knowing who she was.

I suddenly remembered a girl from three years ago.

A shy teenager who volunteered at the school library.

She had once looked at me and said,

"You look like someone I know."

I had laughed.

She had walked away.

The scar.

The eyes.

The face.

"Oh my God."

Ethan stared at me.

"What?"

"I know where she is."

Daniel stepped forward.

"Emily, don't."

I ignored him.

I grabbed my coat.

Jacqueline called after me.

"You don't understand."

I turned.

"Then explain."

She was trembling.

"The girl isn't safe."

"Because of what?"

"Because your father wasn't the only person who knew the truth."

"Who else?"

She looked at Daniel.

Then whispered,

"The person who ordered the original switch."

Daniel's face went white.

I stared at him.

"Was it you?"

He shook his head.

"No."

"Then who?"

He didn't answer.

Jacqueline whispered,

"Your mother."

I froze.

"My mother?"

"She wasn't the victim."

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She stepped closer.

"She was the one who planned it."