CHAPTER 2: THE WOMAN WHO LIED FOR TWENTY-TWO YEARS
Three days later...
DNA results arrived.
No one opened the envelope for several minutes.
Victoria couldn't.
Neither could the bride.
Finally Ethan broke the seal.
His eyes scanned the report.
Then widened.
Probability of biological relationship:
99.99998%.
Victoria collapsed into tears.
The bride did not.
She simply stared at the paper.
Everything she believed about herself shattered in silence.
Because if Victoria was her mother...
Then who had raised her?
She drove directly to the small farmhouse where Linda Harper lived.
The only mother she had ever known.
Linda opened the door with a smile.
It disappeared the moment she saw the DNA report.
"You knew."
The bride's voice was steady.
"You knew all along."
Linda closed her eyes.
"I prayed this day would never come."
"You lied to me."
Linda stepped aside.
"There are things you don't understand."
Inside the attic, she unlocked an old wooden chest.
Hidden beneath children's clothes was another hospital bracelet.
Another birth certificate.
Another name.
The bride's real name.
Emily Grace Ashford.
Linda began crying.
"I didn't steal you."
"I rescued you."
The room froze.
"What?"
Linda took a long breath.
"The woman who kidnapped you wasn't me."
"She sold babies."
"I worked for her."
"When I realized what she was doing, I ran away with you before she could sell you overseas."
"You were only twelve days old."
"I've spent twenty-two years hiding us."
The bride's entire world tilted.
"You should have gone to the police."
Linda nodded through tears.
"I tried."
"They found me first."
"They said they would kill you."
"I believed them."
Before anyone could speak...
A black SUV stopped outside.
Three strangers stepped out.
One looked directly through the living room window.
Then smiled.
May you like
Linda's face turned white.
"They found us."
