Chapter 2: The Message From a Stranger
The room went silent.
My mom froze near the doorway.
Owen didn't move.
He didn't even blink.
"Chloe, sweetheart," I said carefully, "what do you mean?"
She looked up at me with those wide, honest eyes.
"Daddy was here before.
With a different baby.
He said that one was ours."
My chest tightened.
"When, baby?
When was Daddy here?"
"When you were sleeping." She pointed at Owen again.
"He was holding a different baby.
Then the nurse took it away and brought this one."
I looked at Owen.
He had gone pale.
"She's four," he said quietly.
"She doesn't understand what she saw."
"Then explain it to me," I said.
"Because she sounds very clear."
He opened his mouth.
Closed it again.
My mom stepped forward.
"Owen.
Look at me.
Was there a mix-up with the babies?"
He said nothing.
But his hands — the hands that had been so steady when he held our son — were shaking.
Then my phone buzzed on the bedside table.
A message from a number I didn't recognize.
*She needs to know the truth about what happened in that delivery ward.
Ask Owen about the other family.*
I looked up.
Owen was already staring at the phone.
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What really happened while I was unconscious?
What did Owen do — and who sent that message?
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The full truth is darker than anyone in that room was ready for.
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