Chapter 5: My Twin Finally Told Me Why She Stole Everything
Chapter 5: My Twin Finally Told Me Why She Stole Everything
I stood in the hospital hallway, staring through the glass.
She was still there.
The woman with my face.
My face.
Not a resemblance.
Not a coincidence.
The same eyes.
The same jaw.
The same tiny scar above the eyebrow.
Even the way she stood with one shoulder slightly lower than the other was exactly how I stood when I was nervous.
Daniel grabbed my wrist.
“Don’t go outside.”
I pulled away.
“She called me her sister.”
“I heard.”
“You knew.”
“No.”
“You knew there was another woman.”
“I knew there might be.”
I stared at him.
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“No,” he admitted. “It isn’t.”
Behind us, Marcus struggled to sit up.
“She’s not here to hurt you.”
I turned toward him.
“How do you know?”
“Because if she wanted you dead, you’d already be dead.”
The words silenced me.
Marcus looked exhausted.
“She wanted you to see her.”
“Why?”
“Because she wants you to remember.”
“Remember what?”
He looked at Daniel.
“Tell her.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“I can’t.”
Marcus laughed weakly.
“You’ve spent three years protecting her from the truth.”
Daniel didn’t answer.
I looked between them.
“What truth?”
Marcus reached for the glass of water beside his bed.
His hand was shaking.
“Your mother didn’t give you away.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“She didn’t abandon your sister.”
I stared at him.
“You’re saying my mother knew about her?”
“She knew everything.”
My chest tightened.
“My mother told me I was her only child.”
“She lied.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“She had a reason.”
“What reason?”
Marcus looked toward the window.
“Because your sister wasn’t supposed to survive.”
My body went cold.
“What?”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Her name was supposed to be erased.”
“Why?”
“Because of what she was.”
I looked at him.
“What was she?”
Daniel hesitated.
Marcus answered.
“Proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“That someone had been experimenting on children.”
The hallway seemed to tilt.
I stared at him.
“No.”
“Your mother worked at the hospital.”
“My mother was a nurse.”
“She was more than that.”
Marcus continued.
“She worked in a private research program funded through several companies.”
I thought about my mother’s old stories.
The years she had refused to discuss.
The boxes she had kept locked in her bedroom.
The photographs she never let me see.
I had always assumed they were ordinary secrets.
Now I wasn’t sure anything about my childhood had been ordinary.
“What kind of research?”
Marcus looked at Daniel.
Daniel finally spoke.
“Behavioral conditioning.”
I felt sick.
“You mean psychological experiments?”
“Yes.”
“On children?”
“Yes.”
I stepped backward.
“Why?”
Marcus answered quietly.
“Because they wanted to create people who could be controlled.”
I stared at him.
“That sounds insane.”
“I wish it were.”
The door behind us opened.
A nurse stepped out.
“Mr. Marcus?”
“Yes?”
“You have a visitor.”
We all turned.
The woman from the parking lot was standing at the end of the hallway.
She walked toward us.
Slowly.
Calmly.
She stopped three feet away.
For the first time, I saw her up close.
I couldn’t speak.
She looked at me as though she were looking into a mirror.
Then she smiled.
“Hello, sister.”
My eyes filled with tears.
“What is your name?”
She paused.
“Which one?”
I didn’t understand.
“What do you mean?”
She looked at Daniel.
“He never told you?”
“Told me what?”
She smiled sadly.
“They gave me many names.”
She touched the silver ring on her finger.
“But my first name was Sarah.”
I froze.
Sarah.
The name written on the hospital records.
The name Daniel had accidentally used earlier.
I looked at him.
He closed his eyes.
“You knew her name.”
“I knew one of her names.”
Sarah looked at him.
“You knew much more than that.”
Daniel didn’t respond.
I turned toward her.
“Why did you steal my identity?”
Her expression changed.
“I didn’t steal it.”
“You used my name.”
“Yes.”
“You used my documents.”
“Yes.”
“You destroyed my marriage.”
She looked at me for a long moment.
“No.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You slept with my husband.”
Her eyes widened.
“I did what?”
I stopped.
“What?”
She looked at Daniel.
Then back at me.
“I never slept with Daniel.”
My heart skipped.
I turned toward Daniel.
He looked devastated.
“What?”
Sarah shook her head.
“Marcus was the one who slept with you.”
I swallowed.
“I know.”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“You don’t.”
She pointed at me.
“The man you met wasn’t Marcus.”
I stared at her.
My entire body went cold.
“What are you talking about?”
She looked at the hospital room.
“The real Marcus is lying in that bed.”
I slowly turned.
Marcus was watching us.
His face was pale.
Sarah whispered,
“The man who was with you in Room 417 was someone else.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“No.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“I was never in Room 417.”
My knees nearly gave out.
I looked at Daniel.
He wasn’t surprised.
That frightened me more than anything.
“You knew?”
Daniel nodded.
“I discovered it two weeks ago.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t know who the man was.”
Sarah answered.
“I do.”
Everyone went silent.
She looked at me.
“The man in Room 417 was our brother.”
I stared at her.
“We don’t have a brother.”
“We did.”
My voice cracked.
“What happened to him?”
“He died.”
“How?”
Sarah looked at Daniel.
“Because of the same people who created us.”
Daniel’s phone suddenly rang.
He looked at the screen.
His expression changed.
“It’s Melissa.”
He answered.
Nobody spoke.
Then Daniel’s face went completely white.
“What?”
He listened.
“Where?”
Another pause.
Then he hung up.
I stared at him.
“What happened?”
He looked at me.
“Melissa is at our house.”
“Why?”
“She says someone broke into the basement.”
My heart dropped.
“Our basement?”
Daniel nodded.
“She found something.”
Sarah suddenly grabbed my arm.
“Don’t go home.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s exactly where they want you.”
“Who?”
She looked toward the hospital entrance.
Then whispered,
“The people who have been watching you since you were born.”
I felt a chill run through me.
Daniel stepped closer.
“We need to leave.”
Sarah shook her head.
“No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
She pointed toward the parking lot.
“They already know we’re here.”
A black SUV slowly passed the hospital entrance.
Then another.
Then another.
Marcus sat up in his bed.
“That’s them.”
Daniel immediately locked the hospital room door.
I looked at Sarah.
“How do you know all of this?”
She stared at me.
“Because I was with them.”
My heart stopped.
“For how long?”
“All my life.”
“Why would they let you go?”
“They didn’t.”
She touched the silver ring.
“I escaped.”
“Then why come back?”
She looked directly into my eyes.
“Because I couldn’t escape without you.”
I didn’t understand.
She reached into her coat and pulled out a small photograph.
She handed it to me.
It showed our mother.
She was standing between two little girls.
Me.
And Sarah.
But there was something else in the photograph.
A man stood behind our mother.
I recognized him immediately.
Daniel did too.
His face changed.
“No…”
I looked at him.
“Who is that?”
Daniel stared at the photograph.
“That man died eight years ago.”
Sarah shook her head.
“He didn’t.”
“Who is he?” I demanded.
Daniel finally answered.
“My father.”
My blood ran cold.
Sarah looked at me.
“Your husband isn’t the only person who’s been lying to you.”
Then she turned toward the locked hospital door.
“Because your husband isn’t the man you think he married.”
I stared at Daniel.
For the first time, he looked genuinely terrified.
And somewhere outside the room, footsteps stopped directly in front of the door.
Then someone knocked.
Three slow knocks.
Sarah whispered,
“They found us.”
