On that fateful day, by the time I pulled Nathan out of the water, his eyes were already shut tight. I held him in my arms, his soaked body limp, his skin cold and pale. My tears fell in silence, mingling with the water clinging to his lashes.
I remembered his question from before, I leaned closer, pressing my lips to his ear, trying to soothe him with the lie I'd always told.
"Daddy doesn't hate you," I whispered. "He's just..."
But the memories that surged back made it impossible to finish that sentence. Because the truth was too cruel.
Back then, Jake hated me so much that he kept me under lock and key, just waiting for Nathan to be born so he could run a DNA test. He never believed Nathan could be his—not after what he did. He even thought of using Nathan to humiliate me, to satisfy his thirst for revenge.
But fate had other plans—Nathan was his.
Ashamed of what my body had endured, I once stood at the edge of a bridge with Nathan in my arms, ready to end it all. But Emily stopped me just in time. She slapped me, dragged me back and stormed into the Lawrence mansion to confront Jake.
Later, on the operating table, just as the anesthesia blurred my senses, she leaned down and whispered, "Wendy, it was Jake who wronged you. I'll make sure he spends the rest of his life making it up to you. And if one day you remember everything and still choose to leave, I'll let you go."
Maybe that memory had buried itself too deep, because for seven years, I truly believed I was Claudia. Emily went from hesitating over the name at first to calling me "Claudia" with maternal warmth, as if the lie had become truth.
But now—with Nathan gone—everything has returned. The pain swells like a tsunami, dragging me under, threatening to drown me.
In the hospital, Emily watched me silently. She understood, without me saying a word, that the façade could no longer hold. She clutched Nathan's tiny body to her chest, her lips trembling.
"Wendy... it was my fault," she said, her voice raw. "I thought Claudia would never come back after we faked her death..."
My heart, already numb, twisted again.
Before I could ask her anything, she grabbed her phone with shaking hands and dialed Jake.
The phone rang for what felt like forever before someone finally picked up. But it wasn't Jake's voice—it was Claudia's sugary, sweet tone.
"Emily? Jake's in the shower," she said with a soft giggle. "Is something urgent? I can pass along a message."
Emily's hands trembled with fury. "Put Jake on the phone. Tell him to get to the hospital now."
A pause. Then Jake answered, clearly annoyed. "Mom, seriously? Claudia and I are celebrating. Can you not ruin the mood? Unless you want another grandkid, maybe don't call right now."
Emily's voice broke. "Nathan is dead! You heartless bastard, get your ass to the hospital!"
Jake scoffed, laughing bitterly. "You're unbelievable. Making up something like that just to guilt-trip me? Nathan isn't a great swimmer, sure, but he wouldn't just die. And now that Claudia's back, I'm done pretending. I'm sick of playing the loving husband to that fake bitch. And you? You can stop trying to control my life."
The line cut off.
Emily stared at her phone in disbelief before throwing it to the floor. It shattered against the tiles.
Covering her face, she sobbed uncontrollably. "Wendy... I'm so sorry... This is all my fault...
"I shouldn't have let him change your face... I shouldn't have allowed him to erase you... and I never should have given you Claudia's name."
She gripped my hand tightly, as if holding on could somehow lessen the damage. Her voice shook as she began to confess everything.
It turned out Claudia never died.
Seven years ago, after accepting the money, Claudia proposed faking her death to disappear overseas. She promised she'd never return. Emily agreed, thinking it was over. But Claudia had been lying in wait all along, biding her time for Jake to seize control of the Lawrence Group before crawling back into his life.
"I didn't know she'd come back," Emily whispered. "I thought... if you loved Jake enough, he'd let go of the past. I really thought..."
I stared at her, my eyes hollow, the edges of my vision blurring. Even though she'd treated me like a daughter for seven years, every word she spoke now felt like another knife carving through my already-broken heart.
With trembling fingers, Emily reached into her bag and pulled out a sleek, black card. Without hesitation, she forced it into my hand.
