PART 11 — CLAIRE
I couldn’t speak.
Rebecca whispered, “You said she died.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I never said that.”
“Where is she?”
I demanded.
He smiled faintly.
“Safe.”
Owens stepped closer.
“You’re going to tell us where.”
“No.”
Owens cuffed him.
Daniel didn’t resist.
I grabbed the front of his coat.
“WHERE IS CLAIRE?”
Owens pulled me back.
Daniel looked almost pleased.
“There she is.”
“What?”
“The temper.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Definitely mine.”
I wanted to hit him.
Instead I said, “You don’t get to call yourself my father.”
Something changed in his face.
Just for a second.
Then he smiled again.
“I gave you life.”
“No.”
I looked him straight in the eyes.
“You gave me DNA.”
His smile vanished.
“My father raised me.”
From behind me, Rebecca whispered, “Even after what Richard did?”
I looked at her.
“Yes.”
That answer surprised even me.
Richard had lied.
Stolen.
Manipulated.
Framed Lily.
Helped hide a body.
But fatherhood wasn’t one moment.
It was thousands.
Teaching me to ride a bike.
Sitting beside me when I broke my wrist.
Walking me down the aisle.
Holding Lily the day she was born and crying because he was terrified he would drop her.
He had failed us terribly.
Maybe unforgivably.
But Daniel didn’t get to steal thirty years of love because genetics gave him permission.
Owens pushed Daniel toward the door.
Daniel suddenly stopped.
“Aaron.”
I ignored him.
“If you want Claire, you need me.”
Owens said, “Keep walking.”
Daniel laughed.
“You still think this is about money.”
I turned.
“What is it about?”
“Claire took something from me.”
“What?”
“My future.”
Rebecca stepped forward.
“You abused her.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“You know nothing.”
“I know enough.”
He looked at her carefully.
“You’re Emily.”
She said nothing.
“I wondered what happened to you.”
Rebecca’s hands curled into fists.
“You had me stolen.”
“No.”
For the first time, Daniel sounded genuinely offended.
Rebecca stared.
“Then who did?”
He looked toward me.
“Claire.”
Silence.
I shook my head.
“What?”
Daniel smiled.
“Your precious mother arranged the switch.”
Rebecca whispered, “That’s a lie.”
“Ask Sloan.”
“Why would Claire switch her own baby?”
“She wasn’t protecting her baby.”
Daniel looked directly at Rebecca.
“She was protecting you.”
Rebecca went still.
“What?”
Daniel continued.
“Donna’s child was never supposed to be involved.”
I felt sick.
“Explain.”
Daniel looked toward the front window.
“I’ll explain everything when you take me to Claire.”
Owens said, “You’re not negotiating.”
Then a gunshot exploded outside.
Glass shattered.
Owens shoved me down.
Rebecca screamed.
Another shot punched through the wall.
“DOWN!”
Owens dragged Daniel behind the kitchen counter.
Officers outside shouted.
Then more gunfire.
I covered my head.
Rebecca crawled toward me.
“Who is shooting?”
“I don’t know!”
Owens shouted into his radio.
“Shooter location!”
Static.
Then:
“Rear tree line!”
Daniel started laughing.
Owens stared at him.
“You expected this.”
Daniel smiled.
“I told you people were coming.”
“Who?”
Daniel said nothing.
Then an engine roared behind the house.
Owens swore.
Someone shouted over the radio.
“Vehicle moving!”
A crash followed.
Then silence.
Owens pulled Daniel upright.
“Move.”
We were rushed outside through the front.
One police SUV had a shattered window.
An officer was bleeding from his shoulder but conscious.
A black pickup tore away down the road.
Owens shouted instructions.
Then Daniel suddenly said, “That wasn’t for me.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“They weren’t trying to rescue me.”
“Then who?”
He looked at Rebecca.
“They were trying to kill Emily.”
Rebecca turned pale.
“Why?”
Daniel smiled without humor.
“Because Emily is the only person alive who can prove who ordered the hospital switch.”
Rebecca stared at him.
“Who?”
Daniel said one name.
“Richard.”
My stomach dropped.
“No.”
Daniel nodded.
“Your father.”
“That makes no sense.”
“He knew Donna’s baby was at risk.”
“From who?”
“Me.”
“What did you want with a newborn?”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“Nothing.”
For the first time, I believed him.
Which terrified me.
“Then why was Emily taken?”
Daniel looked at Rebecca.
“Because Richard believed Claire’s baby was mine.”
I stared at him.
“And?”
“He wanted the babies switched so he could raise mine and hide his.”
My mind couldn’t process it.
“Hide his from who?”
Daniel answered quietly.
“Claire.”
Rebecca whispered, “Why would Richard have a child with Claire?”
Daniel smiled bitterly.
“Now you’re asking the right question.”
Owens said, “Enough games.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Richard wasn’t just helping Claire escape me.”
My chest tightened.
“He was sleeping with her.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You’re lying.”
“Ask him.”
I remembered Mom saying Richard and she had been together once.
But what if that wasn’t the whole truth?
Daniel continued.
“Claire wanted to leave me. Richard wanted Donna. Everybody wanted somebody who belonged to someone else.”
He laughed bitterly.
“Very romantic family.”
I felt sick.
“So whose daughter is Emily?”
Daniel looked at Rebecca.
“Richard’s.”
Rebecca stepped backward.
“No.”
“Claire told me herself.”
“No.”
“You are Richard Collins’s biological daughter.”
Rebecca shook her head violently.
Daniel turned to me.
“And you?”
My stomach dropped.
“You really are mine.”
The world seemed to stop.
Rebecca was Richard and Claire’s child.
I was Daniel and Claire’s child.
Two half-siblings.
Born forty minutes apart to different women?
No.
Something still didn’t fit.
I stared at Daniel.
“That’s impossible. Claire had one baby.”
His expression changed.
He realized he had said too much.
Rebecca whispered, “Wait.”
Then she looked at me.
“If Aaron is Claire’s child…and I’m Claire’s child…”
Owens finished.
“Twins.”
Silence.
Daniel closed his eyes.
I stared at him.
“Claire gave birth to twins.”
He said nothing.
“ANSWER ME.”
“Yes.”
My knees nearly gave out.
Rebecca covered her mouth.
Twins.
Claire hadn’t had one child that night.
She had given birth to two.
A boy and a girl.
Me.
And Rebecca.
The hospital records had been altered so completely that one child became Donna’s baby and one supposedly died.
“What about Emily Collins?”
I asked.
Daniel looked at Rebecca.
“There was never an Emily Collins.”
My mother’s baby.
The daughter Donna remembered.
The hospital entry.
The forged death certificate.
My voice shook.
“What happened to Donna’s actual child?”
Daniel’s face changed.
Not smug now.
Afraid.
“I don’t know.”
I stepped toward him.
“You know.”
“I don’t.”
“WHERE IS SHE?”
“I DON’T KNOW!”
For the first time, Daniel lost control.
Owens stared at him.
Then Daniel said, “That is what Claire discovered.”
“What?”
“That there were three babies.”
Nobody moved.
“Three?”
Daniel nodded.
“Claire’s twins.”
He looked at me.
“And Donna’s daughter.”
My mind raced.
Three babies.
Three identities.
Three lives rearranged in one night.
Rebecca whispered, “Then who took Donna’s baby?”
Daniel looked toward the road.
“I’ve spent thirty years trying to find out.”
Owens said, “You expect us to believe you’re the victim?”
“No.”
Daniel looked at him.
“I’m a lot of things.”
His face became cold.
“But I did not steal that child.”
Then Owens’s radio crackled.
“Detective.”
He answered.
“Go.”
“We have Richard Collins requesting to speak to Aaron immediately.”
Owens looked at me.
“Why?”
A pause.
“He says Daniel is lying about Claire.”
Daniel smiled.
“Of course he does.”
The officer continued.
“And Richard says he knows where Claire is.”
CONTINUE READ NEXT PART… 👇
