“I contacted the airport. I thought Lucas and Peggy had already left the country. I never imagined he’d be here, in the hospital.” Tears roughened her voice. “And he still hasn’t woken up.”
“The police phoned Mom earlier. They told her that Peggy had been arrested. She actually had the nerve to ask about Lucas.” Teresa’s voice wavered. “That’s how I found out—Lucas took half a bottle of pills, and you rushed him here.”
Jonathan asked, “And your mom?”
“She’s already at the station.” Teresa swiped at her cheeks, drawing a tremulous breath. “Lucas… he’s going to pull through, isn’t he?”
“He’s stable, out of danger,” Jonathan affirmed, his voice low and steady. “He will wake up.”
“That’s such a relief,” Teresa breathed. She lifted her eyes to his, brimming with raw gratitude. “Thank you. Truly. For saving Lucas, for everything you’ve done, for giving my family a chance to be whole again.”
She couldn’t bear to imagine the alternative. Lowering her head, she gave in to the sobs she could no longer contain.
Jonathan sighed heavily. This was exactly what he’d feared. He knew seeing Lucas like this would shatter her. Pregnancy had already made her emotions raw. He’d intended to shield her, to handle it all himself, but she’d come anyway.
As tears streaked her face, Jonathan closed the distance, his hand coming up to gently cradle her head against his chest. His other hand rubbed slow circles on her back as he murmured, his voice a deep, soothing rumble.
“It’s alright. I’ve got you. Nothing to fear now.” In that moment, he was her anchor, unwavering and strong.
Teresa kept murmuring, the words tumbling out between hiccupping breaths—endless variations of “thank you.”
Jonathan used the pad of his thumb to brush away her tears, the calloused skin surprisingly gentle against her cheek. “Enough tears now,” he murmured. “Lucas wouldn’t want to wake up and find you like this. It’d only upset him.”
“I know,” Teresa whispered, the storm of her emotions finally beginning to subside.
At the police station, Evelyn sagged with relief when she received Teresa’s call. “He’s stable, out of danger. Oh, thank God!”
Handcuffed and disheveled, Peggy jerked upright at Evelyn’s words. Dull eyes flickered. “Lucas?” Her voice was a rasp, sharp with sudden, desperate hope. “Is he okay?”
Evelyn stared daggers at Peggy. “How dare you ask about him?” she spat, her voice trembling with fury. “Two kids swapped for thirty years—because of you! You took Lucas, then why? Why abuse him? Why torture him? Why inflict that hell on an innocent boy?”
Peggy clamped her jaw shut, lips pressed into a bloodless line. She looked as stubborn as ever. She would never yield an inch to Evelyn. Finally, she just muttered, “As long as he’s alright.”
Evelyn snapped. She lunged, fingers digging into Peggy’s shoulders, shaking her. “As long as he’s alright?” she shrieked, the words raw. “You nearly murdered him. If you hate me, then come at me. Hurt me. Kill me! Why target him? Why hurt my son!”
Two officers swiftly intervened, pulling the hysterical Evelyn back and trying to get her to calm down.
Evelyn was in no state to calm down at all. When she found out Lucas was her son, she was overjoyed. But when she learned Lucas had overdosed on sleeping pills and ended up in the hospital, all she wanted was to tear Peggy apart.
And Peggy’s cold, vacant stare, her utter lack of remorse, it was gasoline on the fire. Evelyn wished with every fiber of her being that Peggy would simply drop dead.
Meanwhile, miles away, Jennifer was packing when her world imploded. A police summons interrupted her packing. The officer’s words hit like a physical blow: she’d been swapped at birth. Her biological mother was Peggy.
The room spun. White noise roared in her ears. ‘No. Impossible. The DNA test had proven Lucas wasn’t Evelyn’s son. So how could he be? And how could I be Peggy’s daughter? It made no sense.’
“There must be a mistake!” Jennifer’s voice came out strangled.
“Ms. Nelson,” the officer said, “we need you to come to the station. We’ll explain everything there. Your cooperation is essential for the investigation.”
Jennifer stumbled back, her legs unsteady. If it wasn’t a mistake, the horrifying logic clicked into place with chilling clarity. ‘Only one explanation fits. Peggy tampered with the test. Just like I did with Michael and Jonathan’s results, she altered Evelyn and Lucas’s!’
The dam broke. A guttural denial ripped from Jennifer’s throat. “NO! This isn’t happening. It can’t be. I’m not her daughter,” she screamed, the sound tearing at her throat. “I’m NOT!”
In a blind rage, she swept her arm across the nearest surface, sending everything flying in a cacophony of shattering glass and clattering objects. Then she crumpled into the corner, knees drawn up, face buried in her hands as ragged, agonized sobs wracked her body.
Eventually, the storm of sobs subsided into shuddering breaths. Mechanically, Jennifer pushed herself up from the floor. She had to go to the police station. She had to make them see the truth. She wasn’t Peggy’s daughter. She couldn’t be.
Moving like an automaton, Jennifer came to the station in a numb daze.
At the station, the officers laid it out. Vincent had already confessed. He had helped Peggy swap two babies thirty years ago.
“One of the two babies, Lucas,” an officer stated, “endured years of abuse under Peggy—physical, psychological, constant surveillance, his privacy violated. It drove him to attempt suicide. He overdosed on sleeping pills, and he’s currently hospitalized, still unconscious."
“The other baby,” the officer’s gaze shifted to Jennifer, “is you, Ms. Nelson. You are Peggy’s biological daughter. The original birth records confirm it. Evelyn gave birth to a boy, and Peggy gave birth to a girl.”
Jennifer flinched the second she saw the document. “No!” The denial was instinctive, violent. “This is wrong. A mistake! I don’t believe it. I am not that monster’s daughter. I’m not!” Hysteria edged her voice. She refused to accept the truth.
“Ms. Nelson, we understand this is difficult,” an officer said, his tone calm. “But we need your cooperation. We require DNA samples from both you and Peggy for conclusive testing.”
Jennifer backed away. “I’m not doing it. She’s not my mom. She can’t be my mom!”
Her panicked gaze locked onto Peggy across the room. A cold dread seeped into Jennifer’s veins as a horrifying realization slammed into her: Their eyes, their jawline–uncannily alike. The resemblance was chilling.
Evelyn’s heart broke witnessing Jennifer’s torment. She rushed to her side, reaching out tentatively. “Hannah, sweetheart, please,” she pleaded softly, “try to breathe. Just try to calm down.”
“I can’t!” Jennifer wailed, shrinking away from Evelyn’s touch, hands clawing at her temples. “I can’t.”
A cold, humorless smirk touched Peggy’s lips as her gaze raked over Jennifer’s shattered form. “Spare me the theatrics,” she drawled, her voice dripping with contempt. “Believe me, claiming you was never part of my plans.”
The words struck Jennifer like a slap. She lowered her hands slowly, eyes wide with a dawning, horrified comprehension. “What do you mean? Am I really just nothing to you?”