Chapter 4: Daniel Finally Revealed Why He Had Married Me
Chapter 4: Daniel Finally Revealed Why He Had Married Me
I didn’t move.
Daniel stood beside the elevator, his eyes fixed on me.
Anna stood on my other side.
Ryan remained slightly behind us, watching all three of us like he was waiting for someone to make the first mistake.
For six years, Daniel had been the safest person in my life.
Now I couldn’t tell whether he was the reason I was in danger.
Or the reason I was still alive.
“Claire,” Daniel said again. “Come with me.”
“Why?”
His face tightened.
“Because Anna is lying to you.”
Anna laughed once.
“Of course I am.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You disappeared for six years.”
“I was trying to survive.”
“You left people believing you were dead.”
“You made them believe I was dead.”
My stomach twisted.
I stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Both of them stopped.
I looked at Daniel.
“No more half-truths.”
Then I pointed at Anna.
“And no more mysterious photographs.”
Finally, I looked at Ryan.
“And you don’t get to stand there pretending you know everything.”
Ryan nodded.
“That’s fair.”
I turned back to my husband.
“Tell me who she is.”
Daniel stared at Anna for several seconds.
Then he looked at me.
“She was my wife.”
The words landed heavily.
I already knew.
But hearing him say them made everything worse.
I swallowed.
“Before me?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you marry me?”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“I didn’t know you weren’t her.”
Anna’s face went still.
I felt a cold sensation move through my chest.
“What?”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Six years ago, Anna disappeared.”
Anna interrupted.
“I didn’t disappear.”
“You were gone.”
“I was kidnapped.”
Daniel’s eyes flashed.
“And I spent months looking for you.”
“Until you stopped.”
“I was told you were dead.”
“You wanted to believe it.”
Daniel’s voice cracked.
“No.”
For the first time, his anger disappeared.
He looked exhausted.
“I wanted to believe you were alive every single day.”
Anna looked away.
I stared at Daniel.
“Then where did I come from?”
He looked at me.
“You were the woman who came into my life afterward.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“I know.”
His voice dropped.
“You looked exactly like her.”
I shook my head.
“So you married me because I looked like your dead wife?”
“No.”
He stepped toward me.
“At first, I thought you were Anna.”
My entire body went cold.
“What?”
“You had her face. Her voice. Her mannerisms. Even the same scar.”
I touched the scar above my eyebrow instinctively.
Daniel continued.
“When you told me your name was Claire, I thought you were using another name.”
Anna’s expression changed.
“But she really was Claire.”
Daniel nodded.
“I learned that later.”
“When?”
“After our wedding.”
I stared at him.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“And you stayed married to me?”
He closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
The hallway suddenly felt too small.
I stepped backward.
“Why?”
Daniel didn’t answer.
Anna did.
“Because he was afraid.”
Daniel looked at her.
Anna continued.
“Afraid that whoever took me had sent Claire to replace me.”
I stared at her.
“Replace you?”
She nodded.
“That’s what Daniel believed.”
I looked at my husband.
“Did you?”
He hesitated.
“Yes.”
The honesty hurt more than a lie.
“So for six years,” I whispered, “you thought I might be some kind of replacement?”
“I investigated you.”
Ryan suddenly spoke.
“That part is true.”
I turned toward him.
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“Ryan.”
Ryan ignored him.
“I was hired three weeks ago because Daniel wanted to know whether someone had deliberately placed Claire in his life.”
My heart pounded.
“And what did you find?”
Ryan looked at Anna.
“Nothing.”
Anna smiled faintly.
“Exactly.”
Ryan continued.
“Claire’s identity is real. Birth records, school records, employment history, family records. Everything checks out.”
I looked at Daniel.
“So I am who I say I am.”
“Yes.”
Anna stepped closer.
“But that’s not the important question.”
I looked at her.
“What is?”
“Why do we look identical?”
Nobody answered.
Then Daniel said quietly:
“We were born in the same hospital.”
My breath caught.
Anna nodded.
“Same day.”
I stared at both of them.
“That’s impossible.”
“No,” Daniel said. “It happened.”
Ryan pulled a folder from his bag.
“I found the hospital records.”
He opened it.
Two birth certificates.
Two different names.
Two mothers.
Same hospital.
Same date.
The birth times were only eleven minutes apart.
I stared at the documents.
“Were we twins?”
“No,” Ryan said.
“Then what?”
He looked uncomfortable.
“That’s what I couldn’t explain.”
Anna reached into her purse and pulled out a third document.
She placed it on top of the folder.
A handwritten note.
I recognized the handwriting immediately.
Daniel’s.
My husband’s face changed.
I picked it up.
There were only three sentences.
If either woman ever finds out the truth, keep them apart.
They must never meet.
Especially Claire.
I looked at Daniel.
“You wrote this?”
He didn’t deny it.
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
“Why?”
His eyes filled with fear again.
“Because I found out what happened to us.”
Anna whispered, “Tell her.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“Tell her!”
“No!”
His voice echoed down the hallway.
Then every light on our floor suddenly went out.
Complete darkness.
I heard Ryan swear.
Anna grabbed my hand.
Daniel shouted my name.
Then came a sound from inside our hotel room.
A door opening.
Someone was inside.
Ryan immediately turned on his phone flashlight.
“Stay here.”
He moved toward the room.
I held Anna’s hand without realizing it.
Then Daniel grabbed my wrist.
“We have to go.”
I pulled away.
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Claire, listen to me.”
“No.”
He looked directly into my eyes.
“The person who has been watching you isn’t Anna.”
My heart stopped.
“Then who?”
Daniel’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“The woman who raised you.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“My mother?”
He nodded.
“Your mother isn’t your mother.”
Before I could ask what he meant, the hotel room door opened wider.
A woman’s voice came from inside.
Soft.
Familiar.
A voice I had heard every night of my childhood.
“Claire?”
My knees nearly gave out.
Ryan raised his phone.
The flashlight illuminated the doorway.
And standing inside my hotel room was the woman I had spent my entire life calling Mom.
She looked at me.
Then at Anna.
And slowly smiled.
“Oh,” she whispered.
“So you finally found each other.”
