Chapter 7 - The Woman Living as MeI read the message three times.
Your sister is alive.
My thumb hovered over the screen.
Then the second message appeared.
And she has been living under your name for twenty-eight years.
I looked at Daniel.
“What does that mean?”
He didn't answer.
“Daniel.”
His eyes remained fixed on the screen.
“Tell me.”
“I don't know exactly.”
“You're lying.”
“No.”
“You knew something about this.”
“I knew there was a second identity.”
My pulse raced.
“What identity?”
Daniel looked at Lily.
She was already crying.
“Lily.”
She wiped her cheek.
“There was another child.”
“I know.”
“She wasn't registered under her birth name.”
“I know.”
“And someone gave her your identity.”
I stared at her.
“Who?”
“My mother.”
The words came so quietly that I almost missed them.
“Claire?”
“Yes.”
“Why would she give a child my name?”
Lily shook her head.
“She didn't know it was yours.”
“Then whose was it?”
“Yours.”
My stomach tightened.
“That doesn't make sense.”
Lily stepped closer.
“Your mother changed your records after the disappearance.”
“My mother changed my records.”
“Yes.”
“To hide me.”
“Yes.”
“And then someone else got them?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Lily's eyes met mine.
“The other girl.”
I stared at her.
“You're saying my sister has my birth certificate?”
“Not just the birth certificate.”
“What else?”
“Your medical records. Your school records. Your social history.”
The room seemed to shrink around me.
“But she couldn't live my life.”
“She did.”
“No.”
“She grew up believing she was you.”
I shook my head.
“That’s impossible.”
Daniel finally spoke.
“It isn't.”
I turned toward him.
“Explain.”
“When your mother disappeared with you, Victor couldn't find either of you. But he found the records.”
“So?”
“So he used them.”
“For what?”
“To create a replacement.”
The words made my skin crawl.
“A replacement for me?”
Daniel nodded.
“Someone who could be tracked.”
“Why would he need that?”
“To lure your mother out.”
Lily added softly, “And it worked.”
I looked at her.
“When?”
“Eight years later.”
I remembered nothing.
“What happened?”
“Your mother started receiving photographs.”
“Of the girl?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“School.”
“Home.”
“Hospital.”
“Everywhere.”
I felt sick.
“They were watching her.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Victor's people.”
Daniel stepped toward the table.
“He wanted your mother to believe you were living under a normal identity.”
“But I was.”
“Yes.”
“Then who was the girl?”
Daniel looked at me.
“The person everyone else believed was Emma Carter.”
My heart stopped.
“Someone else had my name.”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't anyone notice?”
“Because she looked enough like you as a child.”
I stared at him.
“That isn't possible.”
Lily touched the photograph.
“She had the same dark hair.”
“The same eyes.”
“The same birth date.”
“And the same medical records.”
My breathing became shallow.
“Who knew?”
“Your mother.”
“Victor.”
“Claire.”
“Daniel.”
“And now you.”
I swallowed.
“What happened to her?”
Nobody answered.
“Where is she?”
Daniel looked down.
“That's the problem.”
“What problem?”
“She disappeared.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
The exact length of my marriage.
I stared at him.
“Three years.”
“Yes.”
“That's when I met you.”
Daniel nodded.
My chest tightened.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“You knew someone using my identity had disappeared before we got married.”
“I was searching for her.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought she had been killed.”
“And you married me instead.”
“I didn't know who you were at first.”
I laughed bitterly.
“That's convenient.”
“Emma—”
“You thought I was her.”
“No.”
“Then what did you think?”
Daniel's voice dropped.
“I thought you were the bait.”
Silence.
I stared at him.
“What?”
“I believed Victor had finally found you.”
“So you got close to me.”
“Yes.”
“To find out where my mother was.”
“Yes.”
My throat burned.
“And then?”
“I realized you weren't part of the plan.”
“What changed?”
He looked at me.
“You.”
For a second, I hated myself for still believing the pain in his face.
Then Lily interrupted.
“You're both missing something.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“The girl who lived as Emma wasn't created by Victor.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
“She was created by your mother.”
He went still.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I found the records.”
“Where?”
“In Claire's house.”
Lily reached into her coat and pulled out a folded sheet of paper.
She handed it to me.
At the top was an adoption number.
Below it was a child's name.
Evelyn Reed.
My eyes widened.
“That's my old name.”
Lily nodded.
“It's also hers.”
I looked further down.
Under the child's name was a handwritten note.
Transfer identity to Emma Carter.
My fingers started shaking.
“Why would my mother do this?”
Lily looked at me.
“Because she knew one of you had to disappear.”
“And she chose me?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“She couldn't choose.”
A sound came from outside.
An engine.
We all turned toward the shed door.
Headlights swept across the cracks in the wood.
Daniel whispered, “We need to leave.”
I ignored him.
“Lily, tell me the truth.”
She nodded.
“Your mother didn't know which child Victor would come for.”
“So she made two identities.”
“Yes.”
“One for me.”
“One for your sister.”
I stared at the paper.
“And then?”
“One of those identities became public.”
“The other disappeared.”
“Which one?”
Lily took a long breath.
“Yours.”
My heart dropped.
“What?”
“She didn't erase your identity.”
“She erased hers.”
I shook my head.
“Then the woman living as me…”
“Was actually supposed to be you.”
I stared at her.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“She had my name.”
“Yes.”
“My records.”
“Yes.”
“My birthday.”
“Yes.”
“Then who am I?”
Lily didn't speak.
Daniel looked at the paper.
Then he whispered:
“You're Evelyn Reed.”
I closed my eyes.
The name sounded strangely familiar.
Not because I had heard it.
Because I hadn't.
My entire life had been built around the name Emma Carter.
And now it felt borrowed.
“Where is Evelyn?”
Daniel looked at Lily.
She answered.
“She came back.”
I opened my eyes.
“When?”
“Last week.”
My blood ran cold.
“Where?”
Lily slowly pointed toward my house.
I turned.
A figure stood behind the upstairs window.
A woman.
Watching us.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
The lights in the house came on one by one.
Bedroom.
Hallway.
Office.
Living room.
Then the front door opened.
A woman stepped outside.
She looked exactly like me.
Same height.
Same dark hair.
Same face.
Even the tiny scar beside her eyebrow.
She stood beneath the porch light wearing my gray coat.
My breath disappeared.
Daniel stared at her.
“That's her.”
I couldn't move.
The woman looked directly at me.
Then she smiled.
Not coldly.
Not angrily.
Almost sadly.
She lifted one hand.
In it was a cream-colored envelope.
My mother's will.
She pressed it against the glass door.
Then she mouthed four words.
I knew exactly what she was saying.
You took my life.
Lily grabbed my arm.
“Don't go to her.”
But I couldn't stop looking.
The woman turned.
Before she disappeared back inside, she held up a second object.
A framed photograph.
My childhood photograph.
Except there was something different about it.
Someone had scratched out my face.
And written a different name beneath it.
EVELYN.
I looked at Daniel.
“Why does she think I stole her life?”
He didn't answer.
“Daniel.”
He stared at the house.
Then he said quietly,
“Because she was told that you did.”
“By who?”
He looked terrified.
“Your mother.”
I felt the world go silent.
Then every light in the house went dark.
Except one.
May you like
The office.
And behind the glass, the woman who looked exactly like me opened my mother's safe.