Chapter 8 - The Daughter Who Called Her MomValentina couldn't move.

The woman stood in the doorway.

Older than Ellie.

Same eyes.

Same expression when frightened.

Same small scar beneath her chin.

Valentina knew instantly.

Sofia.

Her daughter.

Alive.

The woman took one step forward.

"Are you my mother?"

Valentina's eyes filled.

"I think so."

Sofia laughed once, bitterly.

"That's not the answer I waited twenty years to hear."

Valentina approached slowly.

"I didn't know."

Sofia's face hardened.

"That's what they told me."

"I swear."

"Victor said you gave me away."

Valentina's voice broke.

"I would never do that."

Sofia looked at Ellie.

Then back at Valentina.

"She knows?"

Valentina nodded.

"She knows you're her sister."

Sofia stared at the child.

Ellie looked frightened.

Valentina knelt beside her.

"Baby, this is Sofia."

Ellie studied the woman.

"You look like me."

Sofia smiled through tears.

"So do you."

Ellie reached toward her.

Sofia slowly took her hand.

The moment their fingers touched, Sofia began crying.

Valentina looked away.

She couldn't remember the last time she had felt hope.

But hope was dangerous in this family.

Victor's voice came from behind them.

"Enough."

Sofia turned.

"You."

Victor stared at her.

"You were supposed to be gone."

Sofia's face went cold.

"I spent twenty years hearing that I was dead."

Victor said nothing.

"I was hidden."

"You were protected."

"From what?"

Victor looked at Valentina.

"From the truth."

Sofia laughed.

"You still talk like that?"

Valentina stepped between them.

"The truth is coming out tonight."

Victor smiled.

"Do you really think a few videos will destroy this family?"

Valentina raised the phone.

"Not the videos."

She held up the archive.

"The records."

Victor's expression changed.

Sofia looked at the documents.

"What records?"

Valentina told her.

The forged medical reports.

The trust.

The payments.

The hidden therapy.

The swapped birth records.

Sofia listened in silence.

Then asked:

"Why me?"

Victor finally answered.

"Because you were born with a marker."

"What marker?"

Victor looked at Valentina.

"Your father believed one child had inherited a genetic trait associated with an old family illness."

Sofia stared.

"I don't have an illness."

"I never said you did."

"Then why hide me?"

Victor hesitated.

"Because your grandfather believed the family could be exposed through you."

Valentina frowned.

"That's not the whole story."

Victor didn't answer.

Sofia looked at Marcus.

"You told her?"

Marcus nodded.

"Almost everything."

Sofia turned to him.

"Then tell her the last part."

Valentina looked at Marcus.

"What last part?"

Marcus's face went pale.

"Your father wasn't the one who ordered the switch."

Valentina felt a chill.

"Who was?"

Marcus said:

"Your mother."

Valentina turned toward Clara.

Her mother looked devastated.

"No."

Clara shook her head.

"I was forced."

"By whom?"

Clara couldn't speak.

Sofia stepped closer.

"Tell her."

Clara whispered:

"Your grandmother."

Valentina stared.

"My grandmother was dead before I married."

"She wasn't."

The words landed like a blade.

Valentina's face drained of color.

"That's impossible."

Clara opened another file.

Inside was an old photograph.

An elderly woman standing beside a private hospital.

Alive.

Thirty years earlier.

Valentina recognized the face.

Her grandmother.

Underneath the photograph was a handwritten note.

"Phase Two begins when Valentina has her first child."

Valentina looked at Ellie.

Then Sofia.

Then at the family crest stamped on the file.

The plan had started before either child was born.

Then her phone rang.

Unknown number.

She answered.

A distorted male voice said:

"You found Sofia."

Valentina gripped the phone.

"Who are you?"

A pause.

Then:

"The man your father tried to kill."

The call ended.

Marcus stared at her.

"That voice..."

Valentina looked at him.

"You know him?"

Marcus whispered:

"He's the reason Ellie saw the office."

Before Valentina could ask why, Sofia suddenly looked toward the tunnel.

"They found us."

Footsteps echoed below.

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Someone was coming.

And this time there were too many to count.