CHAPTER 5 — THE DIVORCE WAS A LIE
Chương 5 sẽ nối trực tiếp từ khoảnh khắc Clara nhìn thấy cô gái 16 tuổi ở St. Jude, đồng thời bóc dần sự thật về cuộc hôn nhân với Julian và lý do cuộc ly hôn được dựng lên.
CHAPTER 5 — THE DIVORCE WAS A LIE
I couldn't move.
Across the street, behind the glass of St. Jude Hospital, stood a girl who looked impossibly familiar.
Sixteen years old.
Dark hair.
Pale skin.
My eyes.
My face.
My mother's expression.
She stood perfectly still, staring through the window as if she had been waiting for me to look back.
I pressed my palm against the glass.
The girl lifted her hand.
For one second, our palms seemed to meet through the distance.
Then the lights in the hospital hallway flickered.
She disappeared.
I turned around.
"Where did she go?"
Nobody answered.
Marianne was crying.
The woman in black stood beside the door.
Grant looked pale.
I turned toward him.
"Get me to the hospital."
He didn't move.
"Now."
"Clara—"
"Now."
Something in my voice finally made him obey.
He stepped aside.
I ran.
The drive to St. Jude took less than five minutes.
It felt like an hour.
I sat in the back seat, staring through the window.
My thoughts were racing.
A daughter.
Sixteen years old.
Alive.
Somewhere inside the hospital.
My daughter.
But how?
I had never been pregnant.
At least, that was what I had believed.
I had never given birth.
I had never held a newborn.
I had never been told I had a child.
Yet there was a girl with my face standing behind that glass.
And somehow, she was connected to everything.
The fertility treatment.
The stolen embryo.
Sienna.
Julian.
My mother.
Marianne.
I looked at the woman in black sitting across from me.
She hadn't spoken since we left the mansion.
"What's your name?"
She looked at me.
"Vivian."
"Vivian what?"
"Vivian Cross."
"How do you know my mother?"
Vivian looked out the window.
"Your mother saved my life."
"Then why did you help steal my embryo?"
Her eyes lowered.
"Because I thought I was saving yours."
I stared at her.
"You're going to have to explain that."
"I will."
"Now."
She shook her head.
"Not until we're inside."
"Why?"
"Because there are people at St. Jude who will do anything to stop you from finding the girl."
My stomach tightened.
"Who?"
Vivian looked at me.
"People who have been watching your family for sixteen years."
I felt a chill.
"My family?"
"Your mother wasn't the only one keeping secrets."
She paused.
"Neither was Julian."
My heart stopped.
"What does Julian have to do with my daughter?"
Vivian didn't answer.
She didn't have to.
I already knew.
Everything always came back to him.
When we reached the hospital, I pushed through the entrance.
Dr. Vance was waiting.
He looked relieved to see me.
"Clara."
"Where is she?"
He frowned.
"Who?"
"The girl."
His face changed.
"You saw her?"
"Yes."
"Where is she?"
He looked toward the elevators.
"She was here."
"Was?"
"She disappeared about twenty minutes ago."
My heart sank.
"Who was she?"
Dr. Vance hesitated.
"Her name is Maya."
I stopped.
"Maya."
He nodded.
"Maya Reynolds."
"How long has she been here?"
"Three days."
"Why?"
"Her grandmother brought her."
"Who?"
He looked at me.
"Your mother."
I couldn't breathe.
"My mother?"
"Yes."
"She's here?"
"She was."
"When?"
"An hour ago."
I turned toward the elevators.
"Where did she go?"
"We don't know."
I looked at Vivian.
She closed her eyes.
"Marianne knew."
"What?"
Vivian looked at me.
"She knew your mother was coming."
I turned back to Dr. Vance.
"What was Maya doing here?"
"She was receiving treatment."
"What kind?"
He hesitated.
"Genetic screening."
I felt cold.
"Why?"
"Because she has the same rare genetic marker you have."
I stared at him.
"What marker?"
Dr. Vance lowered his voice.
"The one your mother spent sixteen years trying to keep hidden."
I found Julian outside the pediatric wing.
He was standing alone.
His hands were in his pockets.
His face was exhausted.
When he saw me, he immediately knew something had happened.
"What did you find?"
I walked toward him.
"You knew."
He looked confused.
"Knew what?"
"My daughter."
He froze.
I watched his face.
That was enough.
"You knew."
"Clara..."
"You knew I had a daughter."
He closed his eyes.
"I knew about Maya."
My chest tightened.
"How long?"
"Not long."
"How long?"
He looked at me.
"Six months."
I laughed.
It was a terrible sound.
"Six months."
"Yes."
"And you said nothing."
"I was trying to protect you."
"Don't."
He flinched.
"Don't use that word."
I stepped closer.
"Everyone has used that word to justify lying to me."
"I know."
"No, you don't."
I pointed toward the pediatric wing.
"That girl has spent sixteen years without her mother."
Julian looked down.
"I know."
"You knew she existed."
"Yes."
"You knew where she was."
"Yes."
"You knew my mother was alive."
"Yes."
"And you still divorced me."
His face broke.
"Clara..."
"Why?"
He swallowed.
"Because I thought you were in danger."
I stared at him.
"From whom?"
"My mother."
"Marianne?"
"Yes."
"She was threatening you?"
"She was threatening everyone."
"Then why did you leave me?"
He looked directly into my eyes.
"Because she told me if I stayed with you, she would kill you."
The hallway went silent.
I stared at him.
"That's what she told you?"
"Yes."
"And you believed her?"
"I had reason to."
"What reason?"
Julian took a breath.
Then said:
"Because someone tried to kill you."
My heart stopped.
"When?"
"Three weeks before the divorce."
I remembered.
The accident.
My car.
The brakes.
I had been told it was mechanical failure.
Julian had told me not to worry.
I had forgotten about it.
Or tried to.
"What happened?"
"The brakes were cut."
I stared at him.
"You knew?"
"Yes."
"And you never told me."
"I was afraid."
"Again."
His eyes filled with tears.
"I was afraid that if I told you, you'd stay."
I frowned.
"What?"
"If you knew the truth, you would refuse to leave me."
"And?"
"I thought the only way to keep you alive was to make you hate me."
I stared at him.
"So you made me believe I was infertile."
"No."
"Then why did you tell everyone that?"
"Because Marianne did."
"You let her."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because she needed everyone to believe the divorce was your fault."
I shook my head.
"You destroyed me."
"I know."
"You let my friends believe I was unstable."
"I know."
"You let Sienna take my home."
"I know."
"You let me think I was broken."
His voice cracked.
"I know."
I stared at him.
"Then don't ask me to forgive you."
"I won't."
He looked at me.
"I only want you to know the truth."
We went into a private conference room.
Dr. Vance joined us.
Vivian stood near the door.
Julian sat across from me.
For the first time since our divorce, there were no lawyers.
No family members.
No cameras.
Just the two of us.
And the truth.
Julian placed a small box on the table.
"I kept this."
I opened it.
Inside was a bracelet.
Tiny.
Silver.
With a name engraved on it.
MAYA.
My fingers trembled.
"Where did you get this?"
"Your mother gave it to me."
"When?"
"After you left."
"Why?"
"She wanted me to remember that your daughter was alive."
I looked at him.
"You knew she was my daughter."
"Yes."
"How?"
"DNA."
My heart pounded.
"Who tested it?"
"Marianne."
I frowned.
"Why would Marianne test it?"
"Because she wanted to know whether Maya carried the Blackwood genetic marker."
"What marker?"
Julian looked at Dr. Vance.
The doctor answered.
"A rare hereditary mutation."
"What does it do?"
"It increases the risk of a neurological disease."
My stomach tightened.
"Does Maya have it?"
"Yes."
I looked down.
"What about me?"
"You carry it too."
The room became silent.
"Then why didn't anyone tell me?"
"Because your mother didn't want you to know."
"Why?"
Julian answered.
"Because she believed the knowledge would destroy you."
I laughed bitterly.
"Everyone seems to think I'm too fragile for the truth."
Julian looked at me.
"You weren't."
"No."
I closed the box.
"I wasn't."
Then Julian told me everything.
Sixteen years ago, before we met, my mother had become involved with a private research organization.
The organization studied inherited diseases.
Maya was born as part of a secret fertility experiment.
Not because I wanted it.
Not because Julian wanted it.
But because my mother had volunteered my genetic material without my knowledge.
I had been sixteen.
Too young to understand.
Too young to consent.
The pregnancy had been hidden.
The child was born.
Then taken.
My mother had eventually stolen Maya back.
She disappeared with her.
Everyone believed my mother had died.
She hadn't.
She had been running.
For sixteen years.
Then I met Julian.
My mother watched from a distance.
She didn't trust the Blackwoods.
She knew their family had connections to the research organization.
And then came the fertility treatment.
Julian and I wanted a child.
We went to the clinic.
Two viable embryos were created.
One was intended for me.
The other was frozen.
But someone saw an opportunity.
Marianne.
Sienna.
And someone else.
They took the first embryo.
They moved it to Sienna.
Then they altered my medical records.
But why?
Because Marianne wanted a Blackwood heir.
And because someone else wanted access to my genetic material.
I looked at Julian.
"Who?"
He shook his head.
"I don't know."
"Then why does everyone keep saying there is someone else?"
"Because there is."
"Who?"
He looked at Vivian.
She finally spoke.
"Me."
I turned.
She removed her gloves.
"My real name is Vivian Cross."
She paused.
"And I worked for the organization that studied your family."
My blood ran cold.
"What organization?"
She gave me a name.
One I had never heard before.
The Aster Foundation.
Dr. Vance immediately stood.
"The Aster Foundation was shut down fifteen years ago."
Vivian shook her head.
"No."
"It was renamed."
"Into what?"
She looked at me.
"Blackwood Medical Research."
My heart stopped.
Julian stood.
"My family owns it."
"Not anymore."
Vivian reached into her bag.
She placed a document on the table.
"It belongs to someone else."
I looked down.
The signature at the bottom was unmistakable.
Sienna Vale.
I stared at it.
"No."
Vivian nodded.
"Yes."
I looked at Julian.
His face was pale.
"Sienna owns the research foundation?"
"She owns the controlling trust."
I couldn't speak.
Then everything clicked.
The baby.
The embryo.
The fertility clinic.
The genetic marker.
The missing records.
The charity.
Sienna hadn't just wanted my child.
She had wanted something my child carried.
Something inside his DNA.
Something that could make her powerful.
I whispered:
"Why?"
Vivian answered.
"Because the research program never ended."
I found Sienna in the neonatal observation room.
She was standing beside the baby.
Her back was toward me.
For a moment, she looked peaceful.
Then she turned.
She saw me.
Her face fell.
"Clara."
I walked inside.
"Where is Maya?"
Sienna froze.
"What?"
"My daughter."
"I don't know."
"You know exactly where she is."
"No."
"You knew she existed."
She looked down.
"Yes."
"You knew she was my daughter."
"Yes."
"You knew the baby you're holding is mine."
She began crying.
"Yes."
"Then why?"
Sienna looked at me.
"I was afraid."
"Of what?"
"Of losing everything."
"You already had everything."
"No."
Her voice cracked.
"I had nothing."
She looked at the baby.
"I had spent years trying to have a child."
"You had your own life."
"I wanted yours."
The honesty was horrifying.
"I wanted your marriage."
"I wanted your house."
"I wanted your husband."
"And I wanted your child."
I stared at her.
At least she was finally telling the truth.
"Did you ever love me?"
Sienna looked at me.
"Yes."
"Then why?"
"Because loving you made me hate myself."
She cried.
"You had everything I wanted."
I shook my head.
"I didn't."
"You had Julian."
"You had a family."
"You had a future."
She whispered:
"I thought if I took it, I'd finally become someone."
I looked at the baby.
"And did you?"
She shook her head.
"No."
A nurse suddenly entered.
"Ms. Vale?"
Sienna turned.
"What?"
"We need the baby for another test."
Sienna's face changed.
"No."
The nurse frowned.
"Ma'am?"
"No."
She held the baby tighter.
I immediately noticed.
"What's wrong?"
Sienna looked at me.
Then toward the hallway.
"Don't let them take him."
"Who?"
She whispered:
"The people who came for Maya."
My blood froze.
"Who came?"
Sienna looked terrified.
"The same people who took your first child."
I stepped closer.
"My first child?"
She nodded.
"Your daughter wasn't the only child your mother hid."
I stared at her.
"What are you talking about?"
Sienna whispered:
"There's another baby."
My heart stopped.
"Another?"
She nodded.
"The embryo they transferred into me..."
She looked at the baby in her arms.
"...wasn't the only one they took."
The door behind us suddenly slammed shut.
The lights went out.
The baby began crying.
And in the darkness, I heard a man's voice.
"Nobody leaves this room."
Then a second voice whispered from the hallway.
"Find the girl."
I grabbed Sienna's hand.
"Where is Maya?"
Sienna's eyes widened.
"She's with your mother."
"Where?"
She shook her head.
"I don't know."
A gunshot echoed somewhere downstairs.
The baby screamed.
And I finally understood.
The divorce hadn't been the end of my marriage.
It had been the beginning of a carefully constructed lie.
A lie designed to separate me from Julian.
A lie designed to make me doubt my own body.
A lie designed to hide my children.
But someone had made one mistake.
They had underestimated how badly a mother would fight once she finally learned the truth.
I reached for the emergency light.
And in the darkness—
I made myself a promise.
I would find Maya.
I would protect the baby.
May you like
And I would uncover every person who had built a life on the destruction of mine.
Even if the final truth destroyed everyone I had ever loved.
