Chapter 4: The Woman Who Looked Like Me Wasn’t My Sister
Chapter 4: The Woman Who Looked Like Me Wasn’t My Sister
I stared at the photograph until my eyes began to hurt.
Two women stood beside Sarah.
Both looked like me.
Same face.
Same eyes.
Same dark hair.
Same small scar beneath the left eyebrow.
But I knew immediately that something was wrong.
“I don’t have a twin.”
Daniel didn’t answer.
“Do I?”
“No.”
“Then who is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’ve had this photograph for eight years.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re telling me you don’t know?”
“I know who she was pretending to be.”
My skin prickled.
“Pretending to be me?”
Daniel nodded.
“She had your identification.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“It didn’t make sense to me either.”
He took the photograph from my hand and turned it over.
On the back, beneath the words Only one survived that night, someone had written a date.
The date of our wedding.
I looked at Daniel.
“Who wrote this?”
“Sarah.”
“How do you know?”
“She told me.”
“You saw Sarah three months ago.”
“Yes.”
“And she gave you this?”
“No.”
He reached into the folder and pulled out a handwritten letter.
“She mailed it to me.”
I unfolded the paper.
The handwriting was neat and deliberate.
The first sentence made my heart stop.
If you’re reading this, he has finally told you enough to make you dangerous.
I looked up.
“Who is ‘he’?”
“I’m not sure.”
I continued reading.
Eight years ago, I thought Daniel was the target.
I was wrong.
The target was the woman he was going to marry.
My hands began to shake.
I looked at Daniel.
“Me?”
He nodded.
I kept reading.
They needed someone who looked like her.
Someone who could sign documents.
Someone who could inherit what her father left behind.
I stopped.
“The trust.”
“Yes.”
“That’s why they needed someone who looked like me.”
“Yes.”
“But why didn’t they just take my identity?”
“They tried.”
“And the other woman?”
Daniel looked at the photograph.
“She was part of the plan.”
“What plan?”
“To replace you.”
The word made my stomach turn.
“Replace me?”
“She was supposed to marry me.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“Not you.”
“Then why did I marry you?”
“Because the plan failed.”
“How?”
“Sarah stopped it.”
I couldn’t understand.
“Sarah saved me?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did she disappear?”
“She didn’t disappear.”
I looked at him.
“She ran.”
“From who?”
“Everyone.”
I folded the letter.
“Tell me everything.”
Daniel was silent.
“Now.”
He finally nodded.
“The night before our wedding, I met Sarah at an abandoned office downtown.”
“Why?”
“She told me someone had stolen your identity.”
“My identity?”
“Yes.”
“She had copies of your driver’s license, your passport, bank records.”
My heart raced.
“Where did she get them?”
“We don’t know.”
“And the woman who looked like me?”
“Her name was Anna.”
I froze.
“Anna.”
Daniel nodded.
“She was a professional impersonator.”
“That sounds insane.”
“I thought so too.”
“Then why did you believe Sarah?”
“Because Anna showed up at my apartment pretending to be you.”
I stared at him.
“When?”
“Three days before our wedding.”
I felt cold all over.
“What did you do?”
“I knew it wasn’t you.”
“How?”
“You called me that morning.”
I blinked.
“What did I say?”
“You asked if I’d eaten.”
A strange warmth moved through me.
“That sounds like me.”
“I know.”
Daniel smiled sadly.
“That was how I knew.”
I looked down.
“And Anna?”
“She realized I knew.”
“What happened?”
“She attacked me.”
I looked up.
“With what?”
“A knife.”
My breath caught.
“Did she hurt you?”
He pulled up his sleeve.
A thin scar crossed his forearm.
I had seen it countless times.
He had always told me it happened during college.
I touched it.
“You lied about this.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Sarah told me the less you knew, the safer you’d be.”
I stepped away.
“Then what happened that night?”
“Sarah took Anna away.”
“Where?”
“To the hotel.”
Room 614.
The same room I had visited that morning.
I suddenly remembered the hallway.
The red EXIT sign.
Emily—
No.
Sarah.
My memory was becoming confused.
“Wait.”
I closed my eyes.
A woman’s voice.
Not Sarah.
Someone else.
“Run.”
Another voice.
“She’s coming.”
Then a door slamming.
I opened my eyes.
“I remember something.”
Daniel looked at me.
“What?”
“There was a woman in the hallway.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“She was wearing a black dress.”
Daniel’s face changed.
“That was Anna.”
My heart pounded.
“She was running.”
“Yes.”
“Someone was chasing her.”
“Who?”
I looked at him.
“You.”
Daniel went completely still.
“I was chasing her?”
“Yes.”
“But why?”
“I don’t know.”
Suddenly, a loud knock came from the hotel room door.
We both froze.
Three knocks.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Daniel stood.
“Don’t move.”
He walked toward the door.
I whispered:
“Who is it?”
No answer.
Then a woman’s voice came from the hallway.
“Daniel?”
His face turned white.
I recognized the voice.
It was Sarah.
Daniel opened the door.
A woman stood outside.
Blonde hair.
Black coat.
Older than the woman in the photograph, but unmistakably the same person.
Sarah.
She looked directly at me.
Then she said something that made every piece of the puzzle collapse.
“You’re not the woman I married him to.”
I couldn’t breathe.
Daniel stepped between us.
“Sarah, stop.”
She shook her head.
“You still haven’t told her.”
“Told me what?”
Sarah’s eyes filled with tears.
“That the real woman in this room died eight years ago.”
I stared at her.
“No.”
Sarah looked at Daniel.
“Tell her.”
He didn’t move.
“Daniel.”
Nothing.
Sarah whispered:
“You didn’t change the locks because she cheated.”
My heart sank.
“You changed them because you finally realized who came home.”
I looked at Daniel.
“What is she talking about?”
He reached for my hand.
I pulled away.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Listen to me.”
“No.”
I backed toward the table.
“You said I was the target.”
“You are.”
“You said someone was pretending to be me.”
“Yes.”
“Then who am I?”
Daniel’s eyes filled with tears.
Before he could answer, Sarah stepped forward.
“You’re the woman who took her place.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“You’ve been living her life for eight years.”
I shook my head violently.
“That’s impossible.”
Sarah reached into her coat.
She pulled out an old photograph.
Then she placed it on the table.
It showed the real woman.
The woman whose face I had been carrying.
Beside her stood Daniel.
And beside them was another man.
I recognized him immediately.
The man I had spent last night with.
Jason.
My phone suddenly vibrated.
A message appeared from an unknown number.
Now ask Daniel why he chose you instead of the real woman.
I looked at my husband.
He closed his eyes.
And when he finally spoke, his answer was the last thing I expected.
“Because the real woman asked me to.”
