CHAPTER 4
The hospital room went dead silent.
Even the monitors seemed quieter.
Every eye locked onto the woman in black.
She stood with impossible composure, one gloved hand resting on the handle of a baby carrier draped in a gray blanket.
Lena stopped breathing.
Her lips trembled.
“No…”
The woman stepped into the light.
She looked to be in her early thirties—elegant, sharp, unreadable.
But what terrified Margaret wasn’t her appearance.
It was recognition.
Margaret’s face turned pale.
“You…”
The woman gave a faint smile.
“Yes. Me.”
Ethan struggled to keep his eyes open, blood soaking through the cloth pressed against his side.
Richard stared.
His face slowly changed from confusion… to shock.
“It can’t be…”
The woman looked at him.
“Hello, Uncle Richard.”
Silence exploded.
Lena blinked.
Uncle?
Ethan’s voice came out weak.
“Who… is she?”
Richard’s hands began shaking.
“No…”
The woman’s expression softened—just slightly.
“My name is Elena.”
She paused.
Then delivered the truth.
“I’m Claire’s daughter.”
The room froze again.
Margaret’s voice cracked.
“That’s impossible! Claire’s daughter died!”
Elena looked at her coldly.
“No.”
She glanced at Richard.
“I survived.”
Richard’s eyes filled with tears.
“You’re alive…”
His knees nearly gave out.
Sixteen years.
Sixteen years believing both of Claire’s children were gone.
And one of them had been standing in front of him.
Alive.
Elena continued.
“The hospital records were altered. Margaret bribed everyone involved.”
Margaret screamed.
“Shut up!”
Elena ignored her.
“Claire gave birth to twins.”
She pointed at Ethan.
“One boy.”
Then touched her own chest.
“One girl.”
Lena covered her mouth.
Twins.
Ethan and Elena.
Brother and sister.
Separated at birth.
Margaret’s breathing became ragged.
Elena stepped closer.
“You stole Ethan.”
She stared directly at Margaret.
“And you ordered my death.”
Richard whispered, “But… how did you survive?”
Elena’s eyes darkened.
“Because someone betrayed Margaret.”
Everyone stared.
She continued.
“A nurse couldn’t go through with it.”
Flashback filled her voice.
“She took me and ran.”
Margaret’s face twisted with hatred.
“That pathetic woman…”
Elena smiled without warmth.
“She raised me in secret.”
Richard cried openly now.
“My God…”
Elena’s gaze finally shifted toward the baby carrier.
Lena’s eyes followed.
Her entire body trembled.
The carrier.
The blanket.
Tiny movement underneath.
Her voice broke.
“My baby…”
Elena nodded.
“Yes.”
Lena burst into tears.
“Please… please tell me my baby is alive…”
Elena gently pulled back the blanket.
A tiny hand appeared.
Then a sleeping infant.
Peaceful.
Safe.
Alive.
Lena screamed through tears.
“Oh my God…”
Ethan cried.
Actual tears rolled down his face.
The baby.
Alive.
Alive.
Alive.
Margaret suddenly roared.
“NO!”
She thrashed violently against the officer.
“That child belongs to me!”
The officer forced her down.
“You’re done!”
Margaret screamed like an animal.
“No! You don’t understand!”
Elena turned toward her.
Cold.
Deadly calm.
“Explain.”
Margaret laughed hysterically.
“You all think this is about money?”
She looked at Ethan.
Then at Elena.
Then at the baby.
Her eyes gleamed with obsession.
“It was never just money.”
Silence.
Margaret smiled strangely.
“Claire had everything.”
Richard’s face hardened.
Margaret kept speaking.
“Love.”
Pause.
“Children.”
Pause.
“Hope.”
Her smile twisted.
“And I had nothing.”
Richard whispered, “You had a family.”
Margaret screamed.
“I HAD YOU?”
The room shook.
Tears streamed down her face now—not gentle tears, but broken madness.
“You loved Claire’s kindness.”
“You admired her warmth.”
“You trusted her.”
She laughed and cried at once.
“I spent years trying to become irreplaceable.”
Her breathing turned ragged.
“But no matter what I did…”
She pointed at Claire’s children.
“…everything returned to her bloodline.”
Ethan stared.
Horrified.
Margaret whispered:
“So I took what was hers.”
Silence.
“I took her son.”
She looked at Elena.
“I tried to erase her daughter.”
Then the baby.
“And when I learned Lena carried another heir…”
Her voice dropped.
“I took that too.”
Lena trembled with rage.
“You monster.”
Margaret smiled weakly.
“No.”
She looked at everyone.
“I’m a survivor.”
Suddenly—
BEEEEEEP!
The monitor screamed.
Ethan’s pulse dropped.
Doctor shouted.
“He’s crashing!”
Chaos erupted.
Lena screamed.
“No!”
Richard grabbed the doctor.
“Save my son!”
Elena looked at Ethan.
Her face finally cracked.
Emotion.
Fear.
She ran to his bedside.
“Ethan!”
Ethan’s vision blurred.
His breathing became shallow.
He looked at Elena.
His twin sister.
Found at last.
A weak smile formed.
“…You’re real.”
Elena broke into tears.
“Yes…”
Ethan’s hand trembled upward.
She grabbed it instantly.
He then looked at Lena.
At their baby.
At his father.
His broken family.
And whispered—
“Protect them…”
The monitor screamed louder.
BEEEEEEEEEP—
Flatline.
The world stopped.
Lena’s scream shattered the hospital.
May you like
“ETHAN!!!”
To be continued…
