Chapter 4: The Woman In The Photograph Had My Exact Face
Chapter 4: The Woman In The Photograph Had My Exact Face
For several seconds, I couldn’t understand what Daniel had just said.
Someone using my identity had tried to have him killed.
Three years ago.
The same year Marcus had started following me.
The same year Melissa had suddenly become obsessed with introducing me to new people.
The same year Daniel began acting strangely.
And now Daniel was telling me that perhaps none of it had started with my betrayal.
I looked at him.
“How?”
He didn’t answer.
“How could someone use my identity?”
“They had your documents.”
“That doesn’t explain anything.”
“They had more than documents.”
He reached into the envelope again.
This time, he pulled out a photograph.
He placed it on the table.
I looked down.
And everything inside me stopped.
The woman in the photograph had my face.
Not someone who looked like me.
Not someone with similar hair or similar features.
Me.
My eyes.
My nose.
My mouth.
Even the small scar above my eyebrow.
I grabbed the photograph.
“When was this taken?”
“Three years ago.”
“Where?”
“Here.”
I stared at him.
“This is impossible.”
“I know.”
I turned the photograph over.
There was a date.
Then an address.
Then a name.
My name.
But something was wrong.
The woman in the photograph was wearing a ring.
A thin silver ring on her right hand.
I had never owned one.
I looked closer.
Daniel noticed.
“You see it?”
“Yes.”
“That ring belonged to your mother.”
I looked at him sharply.
“My mother never gave me a ring.”
“Exactly.”
I felt a chill run through me.
“My mother is dead.”
“I know.”
“Then how did she have her ring?”
Daniel looked at me.
“That is what I spent three years trying to find out.”
I sat down.
My legs no longer felt strong enough to hold me.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because every time I got close to the truth, someone disappeared.”
“Who?”
“Two investigators. One lawyer. A private security contractor.”
I stared at him.
“And Marcus?”
“He was supposed to be next.”
My heart sank.
“That’s why he disappeared?”
Daniel nodded.
“Probably.”
I looked back at the photograph.
The woman stared directly into the camera.
She looked exactly like me.
But something about her expression bothered me.
She looked colder.
More confident.
Almost as if she knew the photograph would eventually find its way into my hands.
“Where did you get this?”
“Marcus gave it to me.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
I looked at him.
“Then why didn’t you show me at dinner?”
“Because I needed to know whether you were still working with him.”
I flinched.
“You thought I was working with him?”
“I didn’t know what to think.”
I laughed bitterly.
“After everything we’ve been through, you thought I was part of some plan?”
“I thought someone had manipulated you.”
“That isn’t better.”
“I know.”
Silence filled the room.
Then my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
I opened the message.
Ask Daniel about the second woman.
Another message appeared.
The first one is dead.
I looked at Daniel.
“What second woman?”
His face changed.
He took my phone.
Read the messages.
Then he whispered,
“She shouldn’t know about you.”
My blood ran cold.
“Who?”
Daniel didn’t answer.
“Who shouldn’t know about me?”
He looked toward the hallway.
Then he locked the hotel room door.
“There are things I haven’t told you.”
“Obviously.”
“Three years ago, I thought there was one woman using your identity.”
“And?”
“There were two.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“One was the woman in the photograph.”
“Who is she?”
“We don’t know.”
“And the other?”
Daniel’s eyes met mine.
“The other one is you.”
I shook my head.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“It will.”
He pulled out his phone and opened a file.
Inside were medical records.
My medical records.
Or at least they appeared to be.
Name.
Date of birth.
Blood type.
Everything.
But there was one detail I didn’t recognize.
A second date.
A birth date.
Only eleven minutes earlier than mine.
I looked at Daniel.
“What is this?”
“Your original birth record.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“My birthday is—”
“I know your birthday.”
He showed me another document.
Two girls.
Same hospital.
Same date.
Same mother.
Born eleven minutes apart.
I felt sick.
“My mother only had one child.”
“That is what everyone believed.”
“Daniel…”
“I found this three years ago.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because the records were sealed.”
“By who?”
He looked at the document.
“Your mother’s name was removed.”
I stared at the page.
There was another name beneath it.
A hospital administrator.
I recognized it.
“That’s my mother’s maiden name.”
Daniel nodded.
“Exactly.”
I suddenly remembered something my mother had said years ago.
A sentence I had never understood.
Sometimes the truth is safer when nobody remembers it.
I had thought it was just something strange she used to say.
Now it sounded like a warning.
Daniel’s phone rang.
He answered.
“Hello?”
His face changed.
“What?”
He stood immediately.
“Where?”
He listened.
Then hung up.
“What happened?”
He looked at me.
“Marcus was found.”
My heart jumped.
“Is he alive?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Outside the hospital.”
“What happened to him?”
“He’s badly injured.”
I stood.
“We need to go.”
Daniel grabbed my arm.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because he specifically asked for you.”
I froze.
“Me?”
“He said he wouldn’t speak to anyone else.”
We left the hotel.
The drive to the hospital was almost silent.
When we arrived, Marcus was in a private room.
His face was bruised.
There was dried blood near his temple.
One arm was bandaged.
When he saw me, his eyes widened.
Then he looked at Daniel.
“You finally told her.”
Daniel nodded.
Marcus looked at me.
“I owe you an apology.”
I stood beside the bed.
“For what?”
“For what happened between us.”
I swallowed.
“Was it planned?”
He closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
My chest tightened.
“By who?”
He looked at Daniel.
“Your wife wasn’t supposed to know.”
I felt sick.
“Who planned it?”
Marcus hesitated.
Then he whispered,
“Melissa.”
I stared at him.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she needed to know whether you remembered.”
“Remembered what?”
Marcus reached beneath his pillow.
He pulled out a small envelope.
He handed it to me.
Inside was a photograph.
I opened it.
My hands began trembling.
It showed two little girls standing in front of a hospital.
One was me.
The other had my face.
But the girl beside her was holding the silver ring from the earlier photograph.
On the back, someone had written:
One was raised as a daughter. The other was raised as a weapon.
I looked at Marcus.
“What does this mean?”
He stared at me.
“You weren’t the target, Sarah.”
My heart stopped.
“My name is—”
“I know.”
His eyes filled with fear.
“That’s the problem.”
He leaned closer.
“The woman everyone thinks is you…”
He glanced toward Daniel.
Then back at me.
“She’s been living under your name for three years.”
I couldn’t breathe.
Daniel stepped forward.
“Where is she?”
Marcus looked at him.
“She isn’t hiding.”
“Then where?”
Marcus pointed toward the hospital window.
“She came here tonight.”
I turned.
Outside the glass, across the parking lot, stood a woman.
Long dark hair.
Black coat.
Silver ring.
She slowly raised her face.
Even from that distance, I knew.
It was my face.
My exact face.
The woman smiled.
Then she lifted her hand and waved directly at me.
Daniel grabbed my shoulder.
“Don’t move.”
But I was already moving toward the door.
Because the woman outside wasn’t running away.
She was waiting.
And when I reached the hallway, my phone vibrated.
One final message appeared.
You finally found me, sister.
I stopped breathing.
Sister.
The word echoed inside my head.
Because if that message was true, then the affair, the photographs, Room 417, Marcus, Melissa, and Daniel’s investigation had all been distractions.
The real secret was much older.
Someone had spent my entire life making sure I never discovered that I had been born with someone else beside me.
And now that woman had finally come looking for me.
