I took my daughter, Lily, and my son, Leo, to meet Valerie, my close friend who had just returned from Europe. She looked at them, a teasing smile on her lips. "Oh, when did you have a second child? How old is she?" I frowned. "What do you mean, second child? They're twins." She froze for a few seconds. Then, she burst out laughing as if I had just told a hilarious joke. "Come on, stop messing with me. Five years ago, when you were in labor, I was right outside the delivery room. I saw the nurse carry the baby out. They said you only had a boy." Seeing the confusion on my face, she pulled out her phone and handed it to me. It was a photo. In the picture, my husband, Harry, was holding a single newborn baby boy, looking down and whispering to him. The nurses around him were all smiling. But the timestamp in the bottom right corner of the photo was from exactly five years ago. The night I had an emergency C-section, suffered severe hemorrhaging, and fell into a coma for two whole days.
The moment I saw the photo, my mind went blank. There was indeed only one baby boy in Harry's arms. Lily was nowhere to be seen. But from the very first prenatal checkup, every single ultrasound report showed twins. How could only one baby have been delivered? My fingers gripped the phone so hard they turned white. "Valerie, is it possible that Lily was brought out later? Maybe you just missed her?" Valerie shook her head, her tone absolute. "No way. I was standing right by the doors for over an hour. If there really was a second baby, why didn't any nurse bring her out?" "And I remember it clearly. The nurse came out and said, 'Congratulations, it's a healthy boy, and the mother is safe.' She never mentioned a girl at all!" I instinctively shook my head. "That's impossible. All our scans showed twins. The doctor never said the other baby was in danger before the surgery!" Valerie scratched her head, looking just as confused as I was. "Yeah, I was super confused that day too. You'd been talking about having a boy and a girl for months. So why was there only one?" "But Harry told me that because of your severe bleeding, the baby girl didn't make it. He begged me not to bring it up because he didn't want to break your heart. So, I never asked again." "But now you're telling me you actually raised twins? This is insane!" The blood in my veins turned to ice. What did he mean by the baby girl didn't make it? Harry had never mentioned a single word of this to me! When I finally woke up in the ICU, both he and his mother, Mary, told me that the twins were perfectly healthy. They told me I had a little prince and a little princess. If Lily had been alive and well this entire time, why did he lie to Valerie? A cold shiver ran down my spine. Slowly, I turned my gaze toward the playground, looking at Leo and Lily. Leo had my eyes, but his nose and jawline looked exactly like Harry's. He was obviously our biological child. But Lily... I stared at her. I had never thought anything of it before. But looking closely now... She had Harry's eyes, his chin. But she didn't look like me at all. Instead, she looked exactly like... My best friend, Nora! The moment that name popped into my head, my heart stopped. But I quickly shook the thought away. Nora was my best friend. She was even the kids' godmother. Back in high school, when the whole class bullied and isolated me, she was the only one who stood by me. In college, when someone framed me for stealing, she was the one who cleared my name. Even Harry was introduced to me by her. If she and Harry were having an affair, why would she have set us up in the first place? Trying to suppress the terrifying thoughts, I hurriedly grabbed my phone and dug up an old photo from our college graduation. In the photo, I was standing in the middle. Harry was on my left, and Nora was on my right.
I zoomed in on Nora's face, then looked up at Lily, who was currently chasing Leo around. The more I looked, the harder my hands shook. Lily's almond-shaped eyes when she laughed, the faint dimple on her right cheek, the slight curve of her lips... She was a spitting image of Nora in that old photo. My throat tightened, and my palms began to sweat. "Valerie, look at this. Am I going crazy? Why does Lily... look so much like Nora?" Valerie thought I was joking at first. But when she took the phone and compared the photo to the little girl playing in the distance, the smile on her face faded completely. "Chloe... oh my god." "She really does." She stared at the screen for another ten seconds, and then, as if realizing something terrible, her head snapped up. "Wait!" "I just remembered something. On the day you went into labor, Nora was at the same hospital!" "I ran into her in the lobby!" My mind exploded. Everything went blank. A week before my due date, I had specifically texted Nora on Snapchat, asking if she would come to support me. She had replied saying she couldn't make it because of a huge work project. But now, Valerie was telling me she was there. And she hid it from me. Why? "And... her belly looked really big. She looked pregnant!" Those words pierced right through my heart. I stood frozen, completely numb. Suddenly, a sharp cry echoed from the playground. It was Leo. I snapped out of my trance and rushed over. I saw Lily sitting on top of Leo, her hands clawing viciously at his face. Leo's face was covered in five deep, bloody scratches. Droplets of blood were oozing out. Horrified, I screamed at her. "Lily! Stop it right now!" Lily looked back at me, but instead of stopping, she gave me a defiant glare and dug her nails even deeper into his skin. "No!" "Leo is a worthless mistake! He's my brother, but he didn't listen to Aunt Nora, Daddy, and Grandma! They said I get to go on the slide first! I'm going to beat him up!" My entire body went rigid. "What... what did you just call your brother?" Lily showed no fear. She lifted her chin proudly. "A mistake!" "Aunt Nora said he's just a worthless mistake. Everything in the Miller-adopter house belongs to me. He has no right to take anything from me!" My brain hummed. Nora? She actually said things like that to a five-year-old child? Furious, I ignored the staff trying to intervene, rushed into the play area, pushed Lily aside, and pulled Leo into my arms. The poor boy's face was bleeding, his eyes red from pain and tears. Yet, he still reached out with a trembling hand, clutching my sleeve to defend Lily. "Mommy... don't mad at Lily." His entire body was shaking violently. "If Lily cries, Daddy, Grandma, and Aunt Nora will be very angry with me." "Last time I didn't share my toys, Grandma locked me in the dark closet for two days. I was so cold and hungry. I don't want to go back in the dark room today..." My heart felt like it was being repeatedly stabbed with needles. I could barely breathe. This was the child I carried for nine months. This was how they treated him behind my back while I was away on business trips. No wonder over the past two years, whenever I called home via FaceTime to check on the kids, it was always Lily who grabbed the phone. Whenever I bought gifts, they always told me Lily wanted this and that. When I asked about Leo, they always claimed he was too shy to talk, or that boys shouldn't be coddled. He wasn't shy. They were just terrified he would tell me the truth. They kept him away from me on purpose. Trembling with pure rage, I grabbed my phone and dialed Harry's number. "Hey, Chloe, what's up? I'm at work." "Work? Harry, you still have the nerve to pretend you're working?"
Harry was quiet for a moment, then spoke in his usual sweet, soothing voice. "What's wrong, honey? Are you upset because I couldn't join you today? Don't worry, I promise I'll make it up to you next time..." There it was again. That patronizing tone. For the past two years, while I was working out of state, he had used this exact voice to placate me. He told me to focus on making money and leave everything at home to him. And I had believed him. I never doubted him for a second, transferring my salary to him every single month. And this was how he took care of our home? My son was being called a worthless mistake in his own family! "Harry, I need an explanation right now!" "Why is Lily calling Leo a mistake? Why is she saying everything we own belongs to her? How on earth are you raising her?" "Is this how you let her abuse my son when I'm not around?!" The line went dead silent. Then, Harry sighed, his tone filled with helpless exasperation. "Chloe, are you listening to Leo's lies again? He's only five. Kids that age make up stories all the time." My knuckles turned white clutching the phone. I couldn't believe he was trying to brush it off so easily. "Stories?!" "Harry, I saw it with my own eyes! Lily was pinned on top of Leo, scratching his face until it bled!" "I heard her call him a mistake with my own ears! She said everything in this family belongs to her!" "Are those stories too?!" Harry's voice remained dismissive. "Chloe, kids fight all the time. It's normal." "Leo is the older brother. He's supposed to let his sister have her way." "Lily is just spoiled. She doesn't know what she's saying. You're an adult, why are you starting a fight with a four-year-old?" I completely snapped. "So you admit it? You admit this is how you normally raise her?!" Harry choked on his words. "That's not what I meant." "Then what did you mean?!" I screamed into the phone. "A four-year-old girl doesn't just come up with the word 'mistake' on her own! She doesn't just invent the idea that everything we own belongs to her!" "Harry, you and your family disgust me." "I want a divorce!" I hung up and blocked his number. A divorce was definitely happening. But before that, I needed a DNA test. After secretly gathering hair samples from Lily and Leo, I drove straight to a private DNA testing center. Three hours later, the results were ready. Leo and I had a 99.9% maternal match. But Lily and I? 0% match. We shared absolutely no biological relationship. She was indeed not my daughter. With a freezing heart, I opened the second set of results. Thankfully, when I borrowed Nora's jacket yesterday, I found some of her hair on the collar. I flipped directly to the last page. The cold truth sank in. Probability of Maternity: 99.9999%. Lily was the biological daughter of Nora and Harry. They had been sleeping together behind my back, raising their love child under my nose, and making a fool out of me for five years. I closed the report. I didn't cry, and I didn't scream. Instead, I took high-resolution photos of all three DNA reports and backed them up to my personal email and Google Drive. Then, I called my lawyer. "Mr. Green, I want to file for divorce and sole custody of my son." After hearing the details, the lawyer immediately warned me: "Chloe, do not alert them yet." "Especially regarding these DNA results. Keep them completely secret." "Also, if you suspect your child was switched at birth, you need to report this to the police immediately. We need to subpoena the hospital's records, security footage, and staff logs from five years ago. This is no longer just a divorce case; this is a criminal matter."
I nodded. "I understand." After hanging up, I didn't go home. Instead, I drove straight to St. Jude's Hospital, the place where I had given birth. I needed to know exactly who started this lie, and when. I walked straight into the OB-GYN department. "Hi, I'm looking for Dr. Carter." The receptionist looked at me with a strange expression. "Dr. Carter? He was fired two years ago." "Fired?" I blinked. "Yes. He was caught falsifying patient records and accepting illegal kickbacks. The board did an investigation, confirmed the allegations, and handed him over to the police." I froze. Once I regained my composure, I asked, "Is there anyone else who can access my delivery records from five years ago?" The nurse thought for a moment. "Dr. Evans, who was the lead surgeon on call during your emergency C-section, is still here. I can page her for you." Fifteen minutes later, as I walked out of Dr. Evans' office, my legs gave out. If a kind stranger hadn't caught me, I would have collapsed right onto the cold tile floor. "Are you okay, ma'am?" I shook my head, gasping for air like a fish out of water, Dr. Evans' words echoing in my ears: "Chloe, from the moment your pregnancy was registered to the day of your delivery, our system only ever showed a single fetus." "I can guarantee you that only one baby boy was delivered during your C-section. The entire surgical team can testify to that." "As for the ultrasound reports you showed me indicating twins? We have no record of them in our database. They are forged." So, Harry had been plotting this from the very beginning. Even the "twins" pregnancy was part of his elaborate scheme. To trick me into raising his mistress's child, he had planned every single detail. Just then, my phone buzzed. It was a text from Harry on Snapchat. "Stop being angry, sweetie. I promise I'll discipline Lily when we get back." "Tonight is my mom's birthday dinner. We promised we'd celebrate together. Can we just move past this, please?" I stared at the screen and suddenly laughed. "Of course, I'll be there." "In fact, I've prepared a huge surprise for your mother!" Harry quickly replied with six heart emojis. I smiled coldly. On my way to the restaurant, I called my parents and my three older brothers. "Harry betrayed me. I need you guys to have my back tonight." When I arrived at the restaurant, Mary's birthday dinner had already started. They had started ten minutes early, and no one had bothered to notify me. Mary sat at the head of the table. Harry and Nora were seated on either side of her, looking like a perfect, happy family. Seeing me walk in, Mary casually pointed to a cramped seat in the corner. "Chloe, you're late. You'll have to squeeze in over there." She peeked behind me. "Where is Lily? Why didn't you bring her?" Harry frowned too. "Yeah, where is Lily?" Neither of them had even mentioned Leo's name. In the past, I would have argued with them. But today, I felt no need. "They were tired from playing. They're asleep." Mary didn't say another word, turning back to chat with the relatives. I sat down quietly, checking my phone from time to time, calculating when my family would arrive. Ten minutes later, Mary's three-tier birthday cake was rolled into the room. Everyone gathered around to sing "Happy Birthday." When the song ended, Nora clapped and urged Mary to make a wish. Mary stood up, walked to her chair, and pulled out a stack of documents. "My birthday wish this year is for my son to get a divorce."
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