Nobela ni Garnet

(Tony POV)I stumbled into my study with shaking hands, my mind reeling from everything that had just happened downstairs. Anna was alive. Elena was her sister. Alex was Anna's father. Nothing I'd believed about my family was true.But there was one more secret left to uncover, and it was calling to me from across the room.My father's safe sat behind his oil painting of the lighthouse, just as it had for twenty years since his death. I'd never opened it, never felt the need to dig through his personal papers. But now, with my world crumbling around me, I needed answers that only he could provide.My fingers trembled as I entered the combination - Anna's birthday, the one number I'd never forget no matter how much pain it brought me. The safe clicked open with a soft hiss.Inside were stacks of legal documents, bank records, and a leather journal I'd never seen before. But it was the manila envelope marked "Anna - Private" that made my breath catch in my throat.I pulled out the docum

(Lily POV)I pressed my back against the bathroom door, my heart hammering so hard I could feel it in my throat. Anna's voice drifted up from downstairs - that same gentle tone I'd heard in the implanted memories, but colder now. Harder."Hello, Daddy. I'm already home."Tony's gasp was audible even from the second floor. Then Elena's scream, high and desperate: "No, no, no! You're supposed to be unconscious! You can't be here!""But I am here," Anna replied, her voice carrying the kind of calm that comes before a storm. "I've been here for days, Elena. Watching you play house with my family."I crept to the bathroom window and peered down at the front yard. Through the living room window, I could see shadows moving - four figures facing each other in what looked like a standoff. My hands shook as I gripped the windowsill.The Anna I'd spoken to in the kitchen had looked exactly like me, but different too. Her face bore scars from the fire, thin white lines that traced across her left

(Anna POV - First Time)The first thing I remembered was the smell of smoke.Not the antiseptic hospital smell that had been my world for sixteen years, but real smoke. Wood burning. Fabric catching fire. The acrid scent that had filled my lungs the night my sister tried to kill me.I opened my eyes in the darkness of my hospital room, my heart pounding against my ribs like a caged bird. The memories came flooding back in pieces, sharp and painful as broken glass. Elena's face in my bedroom doorway. The candle falling. The flames spread across my Disney princess curtains while I screamed for Daddy.But Elena wasn't seven years old anymore. Neither was I.I sat up in bed, my body trembling from weeks of pretending to be unconscious. The nurses thought I was still catatonic, still lost in the darkness that had swallowed me after the fire. They had no idea I'd been awake for almost a month, listening to their conversations, learning about the world that had moved on without me.Learning

(Elena POV)The gun felt heavy in my hands as I stared at the two men who had shaped my entire existence without even knowing I existed. My father, who had abandoned me before I was born. And Tony, who had loved my sister with the devotion I'd craved my entire life."You want the truth?" My voice cracked like breaking glass. "You want to know why I'm here, why I've done all of this? Then sit down and listen, because I'm only going to tell this story once."Alex moved slowly toward the couch, his hands still raised. Tony remained frozen in his chair, smart enough not to test my resolve. The gun tracked between them as I struggled to find the words I'd rehearsed a thousand times but never spoken aloud."The night of the fire... everyone thinks they know what happened. Gas leak. Electrical fault. Some terrible accident that took Anna away too soon." I laughed, the sound bitter and broken. "But accidents don't choose their victims, do they?"My hands were shaking now, memories flooding ba

(Alex POV)The DNA results sat on my kitchen table like a loaded gun. I'd ordered the test three days ago, using hair from Elena's brush and a coffee cup Tony had left at my office. Sarah didn't know about it. Neither did they.But I had to know the truth.My hands shook as I opened the envelope. Twenty-three years of lies were about to come crashing down, and I wasn't sure I was ready for the wreckage.*Probability of Paternal Relationship: 99.7%*The words blurred as tears filled my eyes. Elena was my daughter. My daughter, who had been searching for a twin sister that was actually her half-sister. My daughter, who had been manipulating Tony to get close to the family that should have been hers.I set the papers down and reached for the bottle of whiskey I'd opened an hour ago. The alcohol burned, but it didn't wash away the memories flooding back. Catherine Stark, twenty-four years old, married to Tony but lonely in their big empty house. I'd been their lawyer then, handling Tony's

(Sarah POV)I adjusted the camera one final time, making sure the lighting caught the blue of my surgically altered eyes. Anna's eyes. The same cornflower blue that Tony had stared into with such desperate love just hours before he discovered my little gift.The red recording light blinked on."Hello, Tony." I smiled Anna's smile, the one I'd practiced in mirrors for months until it became second nature. "By now you've found the photographs. You've seen what I've become. What I've always been meant to be."My fingers traced the delicate line of my reconstructed nose. Six surgeries. Eighteen months of pain and recovery. Every cut, every stitch, every moment of agony had been worth it to see the look on Tony's face when he finally understood."I want to tell you a story, Tony. A story about love and loss and the lengths we go to for the people we can't live without."I leaned closer to the camera, letting the soft light catch the angles of my face. Anna's face. Perfect. Beautiful. His.