Chapter 36 - THE DAUGHTER WHO NEVER EXISTED
Daniel searched the cemetery in a panic.
“Emma!”
A blow struck the back of his head.
He fell against a tombstone as a masked attacker seized the necklace.
Daniel fought desperately, but the attacker punched him across the face and kicked him to the ground.
“Give up!” the man shouted. “Your family has already lost!”
Daniel grabbed the man's ankle and dragged him down.
They struggled in the mud until Daniel ripped off the mask.
It was Harris.
Daniel stared at him in disbelief.
“You were helping me!”
Harris wiped blood from his mouth.
“I was helping the person who paid me.”
Before Daniel could react, Harris struck him again and escaped with the necklace.
Daniel staggered toward the chapel.
Inside, he found Emma's shoes beside an open grave.
A phone lay on the floor.
Claire's voice played through its speaker.
“Daniel, if you've reached this point, you must understand something. One of our daughters was never meant to survive.”
Daniel's knees weakened.
The recording continued.
“The child you raised may not be the child I gave birth to.”
The screen went black.
Then a door opened behind him.
The mysterious woman wearing Claire's face entered, holding a newborn baby.
“Your family stole my child,” she whispered.
Daniel stepped backward.
“Who are you?”
She removed a pendant from her neck.
Inside was a photograph of Sarah Hale holding a baby beside a woman who looked exactly like Claire.
“My name is Lily Hale.”
Daniel froze.
“Lily disappeared years ago.”
Lily smiled through her tears.
“So did your wife.”
She handed him a document proving that Claire had been admitted to a private medical facility under a false identity after her supposed death.
Daniel stared at the signature.
It was Claire's.
A car horn sounded outside.
Lily rushed toward the door.
“Come with me if you want to see her.”
Daniel followed, but the cemetery gates slammed shut.
A loudspeaker crackled overhead.
Harris's voice filled the darkness.
“Daniel, you have ten minutes to decide which daughter lives.”
Two screens illuminated the chapel.
On one, Emma cried inside a locked room.
On the other, a second girl sat beside a woman whose face remained hidden.
Daniel looked at Lily.
“Which one is my daughter?”
Lily lowered her eyes.
“Both.”
Daniel's phone rang.
Claire's voice whispered through the receiver.
“Daniel, don't save either child.”
He stopped breathing.
“Why?”
A long silence followed.
Then Claire answered.
“Because the person who kidnapped them is standing beside you.”
Daniel slowly turned toward Lily.
She was smiling.
May you like
Behind him, the chapel doors locked.
And from somewhere beneath the floor came the sound of a baby crying.
