CHAPTER 9: THE GIRL WHO TOOK MY PLACE

The sound of approaching footsteps shattered the silence in the garden.

Lena turned toward the mansion.

Damian stood beside her, his phone still in his hand. His expression had changed in a way she couldn’t quite describe. The calm, controlled man she knew had vanished. In his place stood someone who seemed prepared for a storm.

“Who’s coming?” she asked.

“Vincent.”

“Your uncle?”

“Yes.”

Lena folded her arms. “Then let him come. I’m tired of everyone acting like I’m some dangerous secret.”

Damian’s gaze settled on her.

“You don’t understand what he’s capable of.”

“Then explain it to me.”

Before he could answer, the mansion’s front doors opened.

Vincent Romano stepped into the garden, dressed in a dark suit, his silver hair neatly combed. He carried himself with the confidence of a man who had never been told no.

His eyes immediately found Lena.

For a moment, his expression was unreadable.

Then he smiled.

“Ah. The missing daughter.”

Lena’s stomach tightened.

“You know who I am.”

“I’ve known for a long time.”

The words made her blood run cold.

Damian stepped between them.

“Don’t speak to her.”

Vincent’s smile widened.

“Protective already? How touching.”

Lena moved around Damian.

“I want answers.”

Vincent looked at her as though she were a child asking an inconvenient question.

“Answers are expensive, Lena. Are you certain you can afford them?”

“I’m not afraid of you.”

“Perhaps you should be.”

Damian’s voice turned dangerously low.

“Vincent.”

His uncle raised one hand.

“Relax. I’m not here to threaten her.”

Lena laughed bitterly.

“Then why are you here?”

Vincent’s gaze shifted to the mansion.

“Because your sister has made a foolish mistake.”

Elena appeared at the doorway.

“I’m standing right here, Vincent.”

He looked at her.

“You should have left the past buried.”

Elena descended the steps.

“I spent my entire life believing I was an only child. I’m not burying anything.”

Vincent’s expression hardened.

“You have no idea what you’ve started.”

“Then tell us.”

For a moment, the garden was silent.

Vincent looked from Elena to Lena.

Then he said something that made Lena’s heart stop.

“Your mother was not the innocent woman you believe her to be.”

Lena stepped forward.

“Don’t talk about my mother.”

“Your mother made a decision that destroyed this family.”

“What decision?”

Vincent’s eyes narrowed.

“She chose one daughter over the other.”

Lena froze.

Elena’s face went pale.

“That’s a lie.”

“Is it?” Vincent asked calmly. “Ask yourselves why one of you grew up in this mansion while the other was taken away.”

Lena’s thoughts spun.

Why had she been taken?

Why had Richard and Evelyn never told her?

Why had Vincent known about her all along?

She looked at Damian.

His expression was tense.

“Is it true?” she asked.

Damian didn’t answer.

Lena felt a familiar ache settle in her chest.

“Damian?”

He finally spoke.

“I don’t know what happened the night you were separated.”

Vincent chuckled.

“Of course you don’t. Your father was very good at keeping secrets.”

Damian’s jaw tightened.

“Leave my father out of this.”

“Your father?” Vincent tilted his head. “You mean the man whose death I helped your family accept?”

The garden fell silent.

Lena stared at him.

“What?”

Damian’s eyes sharpened.

“Enough.”

Vincent smiled.

“Oh, I see. You haven’t told her that either.”

Lena turned toward Damian.

“What is he talking about?”

Damian looked as though he wanted to answer, but Vincent continued.

“Your beloved fiancé has spent years pretending he knows everything about this family. Yet he doesn’t even know what happened to his own father.”

Damian took a step forward.

“Get out.”

Vincent’s smile vanished.

“Be careful, Damian. Your temper has always been your weakness.”

He turned to Lena.

“You should return to the Carter home. This family will only bring you pain.”

Lena lifted her chin.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Vincent’s eyes darkened.

“Then don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

He walked away.

The moment he disappeared into the mansion, Lena turned toward Damian.

“What was that?”

Damian rubbed a hand over his face.

“I’m trying to understand it myself.”

“Your father is dead, isn’t he?”

“That’s what I was told.”

“And Vincent just said he helped your family accept his death.”

Damian’s expression was grim.

“I’ll find out what he meant.”

Lena shook her head.

“Not later. Not tomorrow. Now.”

He looked at her.

“I can’t give you answers I don’t have.”

For once, she believed him.

But believing him didn’t make the situation any easier.

Elena approached them.

“I think we should talk.”

Lena glanced at her twin.

“About what?”

Elena hesitated.

“About the night we were separated.”

They moved into the mansion’s library.

The room smelled of old books and polished wood. Elena closed the door behind them, then walked toward a desk near the window.

“I found something in Vincent’s office,” she said.

She opened a drawer and pulled out a small envelope.

Lena’s name was written on it.

Her fingers trembled as she took it.

Inside was a photograph of a woman holding two newborn babies.

Isabella Romano.

Lena stared at her mother’s face.

She had the same eyes.

The same gentle smile.

On the back of the photograph was a handwritten note.

My daughters. If one of them ever returns, the truth must be told.

Lena’s throat tightened.

“Who wrote this?”

Elena shook her head.

“I don’t know. But there was something else.”

She reached into the envelope and removed a folded piece of paper.

It was a birth certificate.

Lena scanned it.

The date matched hers.

The hospital matched Elena’s.

But the section listing the parents had been altered.

Someone had crossed out Isabella Romano’s name.

And written another name in its place.

Evelyn Carter.

Lena stared at the document.

“Evelyn?”

Her adoptive mother.

The woman who had raised her.

The woman who had kissed her forehead every night when she was little.

The woman who had told her she was the greatest blessing of her life.

Lena felt tears sting her eyes.

“Why would she do this?”

Elena’s voice softened.

“Maybe she was trying to protect you.”

“From what?”

“I don’t know.”

Lena looked at the certificate again.

There was a signature at the bottom.

Richard Carter.

Her adoptive father.

The realization hit her like a wave.

Richard and Evelyn hadn’t simply adopted her.

They had been involved in something far more complicated.

“Did they know who my real parents were?” Lena whispered.

Elena nodded.

“I think so.”

Lena pressed the document against her chest.

She wanted to be angry.

She wanted to scream.

But all she could think about was the little girl she had once been, sitting on Richard’s shoulders, laughing as he carried her through the park.

Had he been lying to her all those years?

Or had he loved her enough to keep a terrible secret?

A knock sounded at the library door.

Damian entered.

“I need to show you something.”

Lena wiped her eyes.

“What now?”

He held up a photograph.

It showed Vincent standing outside a hospital years earlier.

Beside him was Richard Carter.

And between them stood Isabella Romano.

Lena’s breath caught.

“Where did you get that?”

“From my father’s old files.”

She took the photograph.

On the back was a date.

The day Lena and Elena were born.

Lena looked up at Damian.

“Why were they together?”

His expression darkened.

“That’s what we need to find out.”

She stared at the photograph.

Her mother.

Her adoptive father.

Vincent.

All standing together on the day her life began.

A thought crept into her mind.

“What if Richard didn’t take me away?”

Damian’s eyes met hers.

“What do you mean?”

Lena’s voice trembled.

“What if someone gave me to him?”

Before Damian could answer, Elena’s phone rang.

She looked at the screen.

Her face went pale.

“Lena…”

“What?”

Elena turned the phone toward her.

A message had arrived from an unknown number.

Your mother is alive. But if you want to see her, you must come alone.

Lena’s heart began to race.

Beneath the message was an address.

And a final warning.

Do not trust Damian Romano.