Chapter 1 - The Secret Phone
I listened to Daniel’s heavy footsteps echoing on the hardwood stairs.
I quickly wiped my tears and forced a calm smile onto my face.
Daniel walked into the nursery and wrapped his arms around my waist.
He kissed my cheek and told me how perfect our new daughter was.
I stared at the baby sleeping peacefully under the pink blanket.
My heart hammered violently against my ribs as I remembered what Leo had just told me.
Daniel asked me if everything was alright because I looked a little pale.
I lied and blamed it on the exhaustion of childbirth.
He smiled warmly and said he was going to take a quick shower.
As soon as I heard the bathroom water running, I rushed over to the bassinet.
I gently lifted the baby’s tiny wrist and checked her plastic hospital bracelet.
My own hospital bracelet had the identification number ending in seven eight nine four.
The baby’s bracelet clearly ended in seven eight nine five.
It was not a match.
Panic rose in my throat like bile.
I ran to the laundry hamper and dug frantically through Daniel’s dirty clothes.
I reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket and felt a cold, hard rectangle.
It was a cheap black burner phone that I had never seen before in my life.
My hands shook uncontrollably as I pressed the power button to turn it on.
There was no passcode required to open the home screen.
I opened the text message application and saw only one active conversation.
The contact name was simply listed as the letter E.
I scrolled up and read the last message Daniel had sent.
It said that the swap was successfully completed and she needed to disappear immediately.
The response from E said that the cash was barely enough to cover her silence.
I dropped the phone on the carpet as my entire world began to collapse.
This sweet baby in the bassinet was not my biological child.
If Daniel had purchased this baby from another woman, then a terrifying question remained.
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Where was the baby that I had actually given birth to?
The bathroom door suddenly clicked open behind me.
