Chapter 19 - Daniel’s Last Lie
Rachel turned toward Daniel.
He looked devastated.
“Rachel, listen to me.”
Victor laughed.
“That sentence has carried you remarkably far.”
Rachel backed away from Daniel.
“Were you paid to find me?”
“Yes.”
The answer hurt more because it came immediately.
“By Victor?”
“Yes.”
Sophie stared at him.
“Dad?”
Daniel’s face broke.
“I was supposed to identify which child Rachel had taken home from St. Vincent’s.”
Rachel whispered, “And then deliver her.”
“I never did.”
Victor smiled.
“Because Daniel developed a conscience after falling in love with the assignment.”
Daniel stepped toward Rachel.
“I burned the report. I lied to Victor. I told him Sophie was not connected.”
“And married me.”
“Yes.”
“To protect Sophie?”
“At first.”
Rachel laughed bitterly.
“There it is again.”
Victor raised the remote.
A red light appeared on the wall.
“Enough family therapy.”
Claire moved closer to Lily.
Victor’s men raised weapons.
Daniel looked at Dunn, who had entered through a side aisle.
Dunn gave the smallest nod.
Daniel lunged.
Everything happened at once.
Dunn killed the lights.
Rachel pulled both girls behind a pew.
Claire tackled one guard.
Daniel drove Victor into the altar rail.
A shot cracked.
Glass shattered.
Sophie screamed.
Rachel covered both children with her body.
When emergency lights came on, Victor was gone.
One of his men lay unconscious.
Dunn was bleeding from the arm.
Daniel stood near the side door.
“He took the envelope.”
Rachel stared at her empty hand.
The DNA results were gone.
Claire closed her eyes.
“No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Do you remember what they said?”
Claire nodded.
Rachel stood.
“Then tell me.”
Claire looked at Sophie.
Then Lily.
Before she could speak, Sophie whispered:
“I know.”
Everyone turned.
Rachel crouched.
“What do you know?”
Sophie reached into Bunny’s torn body.
She pulled out a small folded paper.
“I found this when Grandma opened Bunny. I hid it because everybody kept fighting.”
Rachel unfolded it.
It was not DNA results.
It was a handwritten letter from Thomas Morgan.
The first line read:
RACHEL, THERE WERE TWO SWITCHES.
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