Chapter 23 — The Other Girl

The bedroom door slammed against the wall.

I flinched at the explosion of wood and glass, and Adrian immediately pulled me behind him.

“Stay behind me.”

A man stepped through the doorway, his face covered, a gun pointed straight at us.

Everything inside me froze.

Adrian grabbed my wrist and dragged me toward the hallway. Daniel shoved the small table beside the door into the man’s path.

“Run!” he shouted.

A gunshot cracked through the house.

Margaret screamed.

Adrian pushed me down just as another bullet tore through the wall above us. My heart hammered against my ribs.

“Adrian!”

“I’m fine.”

He wasn't even looking at himself. His eyes were fixed on the hallway.

“Go with Daniel,” he ordered.

“I’m not leaving you.”

His jaw tightened. “Lena, please.”

It was the first time I had heard fear in his voice.

Not for himself.

For me.

Daniel grabbed my arm. “We have to move.”

We ran through the kitchen as another shot echoed behind us.

Margaret followed, clutching something tightly against her chest.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Back door,” Daniel said.

We burst outside into the cold night air.

For a few seconds, none of us stopped.

We ran until the house disappeared behind the trees.

Only then did Adrian slow down.

He turned toward me, breathing hard, his eyes immediately scanning my face and arms.

“Are you hurt?”

I shook my head.

He touched my shoulder anyway.

Then my cheek.

His fingers were trembling.

“I’m okay,” I whispered.

He closed his eyes for a moment.

When he opened them, something had changed.

He looked less like the cold CEO I had known and more like a man who had almost lost the person standing in front of him.

Margaret finally spoke.

“We can’t stay here.”

Daniel looked at her. “What did you take?”

Margaret hesitated.

Then she opened her hand.

A tiny silver bracelet rested against her palm.

My breath caught.

“That belongs to me.”

“No,” Margaret said quietly. “It belonged to the other baby.”

I stared at her.

“What?”

She looked directly at me.

“The bracelet in the photograph was not yours.”

Adrian stepped closer.

“Then why was Lena wearing the same one in the hospital records?”

Margaret swallowed.

“Because someone switched them.”

Silence.

The words barely registered.

“Switched what?” I asked.

“The babies.”

My stomach dropped.

Margaret looked toward the dark road behind us before continuing.

“There were two girls born that night. Your mother gave birth to one. Another woman gave birth to the second.”

I shook my head.

“No. You just told me my mother wasn't my biological mother.”

“I said she wasn't the woman you think she is.”

Margaret’s eyes filled with tears.

“There were three women involved that night. Your mother, the other baby's mother, and a woman working for the Blackwood family.”

Adrian went still.

“Who?”

Margaret looked at him.

“Your father's secretary.”

Daniel cursed under his breath.

I couldn't breathe.

“Why would they switch us?”

Margaret's fingers tightened around the bracelet.

“Because one of those babies was supposed to inherit something your father wanted.”

“My father?”

“Alexander Blackwood's father,” she corrected. “The Blackwood family had a private trust. It wasn't about money.”

Adrian's expression hardened.

“Then what was it?”

Margaret looked at me.

“It contained evidence.”

“Evidence of what?”

“Everything he had done.”

A branch snapped somewhere behind us.

Everyone turned.

Nothing.

Just darkness.

But Margaret's face had gone pale.

“They know we have the bracelet.”

Adrian stepped in front of me again.

“Then we move now.”

I grabbed his sleeve.

“Wait.”

He looked down at me.

“If they switched the babies… how do we know which one I am?”

Margaret didn't answer.

She reached into her coat and pulled out an old envelope.

My name was written across it.

Not Lena Reyes.

A different name.

One I had never seen before.

Adrian stared at it.

“What does that mean?”

Margaret's voice dropped to a whisper.

“It means Lena Reyes may never have been your real name.”

My fingers went cold.

I looked at Adrian.

For once, he had no answer.

Then a phone began ringing inside Margaret's abandoned house.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Adrian's phone was in his pocket.

Daniel's was in his hand.

Margaret slowly looked toward the house.

“That isn't our phone.”

The ringing stopped.

A message appeared on Adrian's screen.

YOU FOUND THE BRACELET.

A second message followed.

NOW FIND THE OTHER GIRL.