Chapter 2 - THE GIRL WHO WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO SEE HERSELF
I did not sleep that night.
Every time I closed my eyes, I remembered my father's voice.
People will come looking for you.
I had spent my entire life believing I was protected.
Now I wondered whether I had actually been contained.
At sunrise, I walked through the mansion without my bandages.
For the first time, the servants saw my face.
Every person who looked at me reacted differently.
Some smiled.
Some stared.
One elderly housekeeper began crying.
“Why are you crying?” I asked.
She covered her mouth.
“Forgive me.”
“For what?”
She shook her head.
“I shouldn't have said anything.”
Then she walked away.
I followed her.
“Mrs. Bell.”
She stopped.
“You know something.”
“No.”
“You do.”
She looked at the floor.
“Your father made us swear never to discuss your birth.”
My heart raced.
“My birth?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She began to cry.
“Because the day you were born, another baby disappeared.”
I froze.
“What?”
She turned away.
“I can't.”
“Please.”
She whispered:
“I promised.”
That was the first crack.
By noon, I had questioned three more employees.
They all refused to speak.
Then I found an old photograph in my father's library.
It showed my parents standing in a hospital room.
My mother was holding a newborn.
My father stood beside her.
I had seen the picture before.
But never closely.
This time I noticed something strange.
My mother was looking toward a second crib.
Empty.
I turned the photograph over.
On the back was written:
“Two children. One heir.”
My hands went cold.
Julian found me in the library.
“What happened?”
I showed him.
He studied the photograph.
“Who is that?”
“My mother.”
“And the empty crib?”
“I don't know.”
We searched the family archives.
Every document related to my birth had been removed.
Not misplaced.
Removed.
Someone had deliberately erased the records.
Then Julian found a sealed envelope hidden behind a false panel.
Inside was a hospital bracelet.
My name.
My birth date.
And another bracelet.
Same date.
Different name.
Baby Girl H.
I stared.
“What's H?”
“I don't know.”
Julian called his own family attorney.
The lawyer arrived within an hour.
He examined the bracelet and became pale.
“This shouldn't exist.”
“What is it?”
“A second birth record.”
“Whose?”
He looked at me.
“We need a DNA test.”
“Why?”
“Because the records indicate you may not be an only child.”
The room went silent.
I thought of the empty crib.
The missing documents.
The bandages.
My father's fear.
Everything connected.
Then my father arrived.
He entered the library and saw my uncovered face.
He stopped.
No anger.
No surprise.
Only sadness.
“I was hoping you would never learn this.”
I stepped toward him.
“Why did you tell me I was ugly?”
He looked away.
“Because beauty was dangerous.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It is the only answer I have.”
I held up the second bracelet.
“Who was the baby?”
His face changed.
“You found it.”
“Who?”
He sat down.
For the first time in my life, my father looked old.
“Your sister.”
The word shattered me.
I had a sister.
May you like
A twin.
And someone had spent twenty-six years making sure I never knew she existed.
