Chapter 5: My Mother Finally Told Me Who I Really Was
Chapter 5: My Mother Finally Told Me Who I Really Was
For several seconds, I couldn’t hear anything.
Not the hotel music.
Not Ryan breathing beside me.
Not Daniel arguing somewhere behind my shoulder.
All I could hear was that woman’s voice.
The same voice that had comforted me when I was sick.
The same voice that had called me downstairs for dinner.
The same voice that had whispered goodnight when I was a child.
My mother.
She stood inside my hotel room as if nothing unusual had happened.
Her gray hair was neatly tied back.
Her coat was buttoned to the neck.
And in her hand was the small black purse I had given her three Christmases ago.
She looked at Anna.
Then at me.
Then she sighed.
“I had hoped you would never meet.”
My stomach turned.
“Who are you?”
She looked hurt.
“You know who I am.”
“No.”
My voice shook.
“I don’t know anything anymore.”
She took one step toward me.
Ryan immediately moved in front of me.
“Don’t come any closer.”
My mother stopped.
Then she looked at him.
“Ryan Cole.”
He froze.
“You know me?”
“I know everyone Daniel has hired.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“That’s enough.”
She turned toward him.
“You should have listened to me six years ago.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I was supposed to be.”
Anna stepped into the light.
My mother stared at her.
For the first time, her expression broke.
She looked frightened.
“Anna.”
Anna’s eyes narrowed.
“You remember me.”
My mother slowly nodded.
“I remember both of you.”
I stared at her.
“Both of us?”
She looked at me.
Then at Anna.
“You were never supposed to grow up together.”
The words made my chest tighten.
“What does that mean?”
She lowered her eyes.
“You were born eleven minutes apart.”
“We already know that.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You don’t know what happened afterward.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Don’t tell her.”
My mother looked at him.
“You’ve lied to her for six years.”
“And you lied to me for longer.”
Silence.
I looked between them.
“What are you talking about?”
My mother closed her eyes.
Then she whispered,
“You were switched.”
My blood ran cold.
“Switched?”
“Yes.”
“Who switched us?”
She didn’t answer.
I stepped closer.
“Who?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I did.”
Everything inside me seemed to stop.
Anna stared at her.
“You?”
My mother nodded.
“I took Claire from the nursery.”
Daniel looked stunned.
“You said the babies were already gone.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
My mother looked at me.
“Because someone wanted one of you dead.”
I felt the floor disappear beneath me.
“Which one?”
She didn’t answer.
“Which one of us?”
“Anna.”
Anna’s face went pale.
My mother continued.
“Your biological father was investigating a company involved in illegal financial transfers. He discovered names, accounts, politicians, executives, shell companies. People who could destroy entire careers.”
I listened silently.
“He was going to expose them.”
Daniel interrupted.
“And they killed him.”
My mother nodded.
“Your father was murdered three months after you were born.”
Anna whispered,
“And my mother?”
“Disappeared.”
Anna’s eyes filled with tears.
“So you knew all along?”
“I knew enough to be afraid.”
I looked at my mother.
“Then why take me?”
“Because they were searching for Anna.”
“Why?”
“Because she was the child connected to your father’s evidence.”
I stared at Anna.
She looked as shocked as I felt.
“But I’m just a person.”
My mother shook her head.
“You were a key.”
Ryan frowned.
“What kind of key?”
My mother looked toward Daniel.
“He knows.”
Every eye turned toward my husband.
Daniel said nothing.
I stepped toward him.
“What does she mean?”
He looked at me.
Then at Anna.
Then at my mother.
Finally, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a small silver key.
My stomach tightened.
“I’ve had this since the night I found Anna.”
Anna stared at it.
“That key belonged to my father.”
Daniel nodded.
“He gave it to me.”
“When?”
“Before he died.”
My mother suddenly whispered,
“No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“He knew he was being watched.”
“He wasn’t supposed to tell you.”
“He did.”
Daniel turned toward me.
“And he told me something else.”
“What?”
“He said that if Anna ever disappeared, I should find the other girl.”
My heart stopped.
“The other girl?”
Daniel nodded.
“You.”
I couldn’t speak.
My entire life suddenly felt like a story someone else had written.
My mother had raised me.
Daniel had married me.
Anna had been hidden.
And somewhere beneath all of it was a secret involving two newborn girls and a dead man who had apparently trusted my husband with his final warning.
I looked at Anna.
“Then why do we look identical?”
My mother answered.
“Because your mothers were identical.”
Anna’s face changed.
“What?”
My mother nodded.
“They were twin sisters.”
I stared at her.
“Then we’re cousins?”
“Yes.”
“But not sisters?”
“No.”
The explanation should have relieved me.
Instead, it created another question.
“Then why were we born on the same day?”
My mother looked away.
“Because they both went into labor early.”
Ryan frowned.
“That doesn’t explain the resemblance.”
My mother hesitated.
Then she said,
“They weren’t identical twins.”
She looked directly at us.
“They were genetically engineered.”
Nobody moved.
Anna whispered,
“What?”
My mother continued.
“Your fathers were scientists.”
Daniel suddenly stepped forward.
“Stop.”
My mother ignored him.
“They were involved in a private medical research project. A project that was supposed to study genetic disorders.”
Ryan’s expression darkened.
“And what did they actually do?”
My mother looked at us.
“They created children who looked exactly alike.”
My stomach turned.
“No.”
She nodded.
“You were part of the experiment.”
Anna stepped backward.
“I don’t believe you.”
“I wish I were lying.”
My mother reached into her purse.
She pulled out a photograph.
Two newborn babies.
Side by side.
Both with tiny hospital bracelets.
I looked closer.
One bracelet said ANNA.
The other said CLAIRE.
But beneath the names was something else.
A number.
Subject 07.
Subject 08.
My hands began shaking.
“Why did you never tell me?”
“Because I wanted you to have a normal life.”
“You let me believe you were my real mother.”
“I became your mother.”
“That isn’t the same thing!”
My voice cracked.
She looked devastated.
“I know.”
Anna suddenly pointed at the photograph.
“Where is Subject 06?”
My mother went completely still.
Daniel looked at her.
“That’s the question.”
Ryan stepped closer.
“What happened to Subject 06?”
My mother didn’t answer.
Then my phone vibrated.
Everyone froze.
I looked at the screen.
A message had arrived from an unknown number.
There was only one sentence.
YOU’RE ASKING THE WRONG QUESTION, CLAIRE.
A second message appeared.
ASK YOUR HUSBAND WHAT HAPPENED TO SUBJECT 09.
I slowly lifted my eyes toward Daniel.
He had gone completely pale.
Anna noticed.
“So there was another one.”
Daniel said nothing.
My mother covered her mouth.
And Ryan whispered the words none of us wanted to hear.
“Then Subject 09 may still be alive.”
The phone vibrated again.
This time, there was a photograph.
I opened it.
My heart stopped.
It showed a man standing outside the hotel.
A man I had never seen before.
Except for one detail.
He had my eyes.
And beneath the photograph was a final message.
HE’S BEEN WATCHING YOU FOR SIX YEARS.
