Chapter 3: The Sister I Never Knew
“Because the woman I'm marrying tomorrow is your sister.”
Daniel's words echoed in my ears.
“My sister?” I whispered. “I don't have a sister.”
“Grace, please. Let me explain.”
“Explain what, Daniel? That you've been hiding another woman from me? That my father, whom I buried three years ago, is apparently alive? Or that you're planning to marry someone who might be related to me?”
He said nothing.
That silence hurt more than any explanation could have.
“Meet me at the old family house,” Daniel finally said. “Come alone. There are things you need to know before tomorrow.”
“The old house was sold.”
“No, Grace. Your father never sold it.”
The call ended.
I stared at my phone, my heart pounding.
All my life, I had believed my father left me a modest inheritance and a few painful memories. Now, everything I thought I knew about my family was falling apart.
I took the brown envelope Margaret had delivered and examined the photograph again.
My father stood beside Daniel outside a hospital. On the back, the date matched the day of his supposed death.
But something else caught my attention.
A hospital name was written in tiny letters at the bottom.
St. Mary's Hospital.
I grabbed my handbag and left immediately.
At the hospital reception, I explained that I was searching for information about my father. The receptionist looked uncomfortable when I mentioned his name.
“Please wait here,” she said.
She disappeared through a door behind the desk.
Ten minutes passed.
Then fifteen.
Finally, an elderly doctor approached me.
“Are you Grace Williams?” he asked.
“Yes. Did you know my father?”
He glanced around before answering.
“I knew him. And I was there the night your family changed forever.”
My mouth went dry.
“What happened that night?”
The doctor pulled a chair toward me.
“Your father brought two baby girls to this hospital. One was seriously ill. The other was perfectly healthy.”
I shook my head.
“That can't be true. I'm an only child.”
He looked at me sadly.
“That's what you were told.”
My fingers tightened around my handbag.
“Where is the other girl?”
Before he could answer, his office door opened.
Sophia walked in.
She was dressed in a white suit, looking calm and confident. The diamond ring on her finger glittered beneath the hospital lights.
Daniel's engagement ring.
She looked at me, then at the doctor.
“I see you've started telling her the truth,” she said.
I stood up.
“Are you really my sister?”
Sophia's expression changed. For the first time since I had known her, she looked afraid.
“Yes,” she whispered. “But that's not the worst part.”
“What could possibly be worse?”
She stepped closer and lowered her voice.
“Your father didn't fake his death to escape his enemies, Grace. He did it to protect one of us.”
“Protect us from whom?”
Sophia looked toward the door.
Then she said a name I never expected to hear.
“Your mother.”
I froze.
My mother had died when I was a little girl.
At least, that was what my father had always told me.
Sophia reached into her handbag and pulled out a second photograph.
It showed a woman standing between two little girls.
One girl was me.
The other was Sophia.
And the woman standing between us was very much alive.
On the back of the photograph were six handwritten words:
ONE DAUGHTER KNOWS THE REAL STORY.
I looked up at Sophia, desperate for answers.
But she was already walking toward the door.
“Where are you going?” I shouted.
She stopped without turning around.
“To prepare for my wedding.”
Then she glanced over her shoulder.
“And Grace? If you want to know which one of us our mother chose, ask Daniel what happened on the night he proposed to you.”
My phone vibrated.
A message from Daniel appeared on the screen.
Don't believe anything Sophia tells you. She's the reason your father disappeared.
Before I could reply, another message arrived from an unknown number.
It contained a photograph of Daniel kneeling before Sophia, presenting her with an engagement ring.
The date on the photograph was five years ago.
Two years before Daniel and I supposedly met.
Beneath it was a final message:
GRACE, YOUR MARRIAGE WAS NEVER AN ACCIDENT.
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