Chapter 29 This Girl Looks Familiar
Finished
Andres felt a jolt in his chest. He calmly wiped the tears from her face. “What are you talking about? Alice was released from prison a long time ago, who knows where she’s gone off to now. Just forget about her. And don’t forget–whose fault was it that you had to have a kidney removed?”
Natalia grabbed his arm, desperate. “No, Alice saved me. She never meant to kill me! That man framed her; she really did save me, Andres! She only confessed because she felt guilty toward me. I’ve been telling you this for years–please believe me! Help me find her!”
Andres let out a helpless sigh and held her hand. “Natalia, Alice admitted to everything back then. She was determined to assassinate you, and the evidence was solid. Your kindness has its limits. Even if she’s your sister, she never truly saw you as one: do you understand?”
The hopeful light in Natalia’s eyes dimmed, inch by inch. She lowered her head, disappointed, and let go of his hand.
Andres stood. “I’ll get you some water.”
Natalia didn’t respond. Then suddenly, she asked, “I remember… you and Alice had a child. That baby… did she make it?”
Andres froze in place. His brow furrowed, “I gave her money to terminate the pregnancy. There’s no way she had the baby.”
He sounded like he was doing everything he could to erase a stain. His tone grew irritable. “Don’t bring it up again.”
Natalia stared blankly at his back. She said nothing more, just picked up her phone and made a call.
“The number you have dialed is no longer in service. Please check the number and try again.”
She frowned and opened WhatsApp, typing out a message to Alice
“Alice, are you still in prison? Or have you been released? You once said you didn’t want to terminate the baby… where are you two now? What kind of life are you living? I want to see you. Don’t worry–I don’t mean anything else by this. If you’re struggling, you can come to me. Or if you don’t want to talk, just send your account number and I’ll send you money to help. Being a single mom must be so hard, right? I’m worried about you”
None of the messages delivered. There wasn’t a single reply.
Natalia’s head throbbed. She closed her eyes. Her migraines were getting worse and worse.
Ever since Alice went to prison.
Even now, when she closed her eyes, she could still remember the image of Alice–short hair, prison uniform–sitting across the glass from her.
“Natalia, they’ve already given me a life sentence in their hearts. So what’s the point of being innocent or not?”
Alice’s social media background photo was still one of her holding a championship cup in equestrian, standing beside her
The first post on her page was of her back, walking into a wedding ceremony in a white dress.
You could just make out Andres on the stage in the background.
The caption read: “My sister’s getting married–to the guy I’ve loved for over ten years. I feel like crying… not because of the guy, but because my sister’s getting married. He better treat her right!”
Natalia’s nose burned; the pain in her head was so intense it felt like her skull might split. She backed out of the app and tried to distract herself with something else.
But the number one trending topic caught her attention.
She clicked in–and the moment she saw Chloe crying on camera, she froze. That child, why did she look so much like!
Natalia searthed through the comment section for clues and found the name of the orphanage. She immediately called.
The line picked up “Hello”
12:28 AM
Chapter 29 This Girl Looks Familiar
Timshed
Her heart pounded in her chest. She tested the waters. “Hi, I saw your orphanage featured on Twitter. There was a little girl named Chloe up for adoption. Is she still there?”
“That child was picked up by a family member today. But if you’re interested in adoption, we have many other kids here
Natalia blinked, surprised. “Can Lask who picked her up?”
“Her father. Is there a problem?”
Natalia furrowed her brow and ended the call, disappointed. “No, that’s all. Sorry to bother you.”
She set the phone down and absentmindedly opened Chloe’s video again.
The more she looked, the more alike they seemed.
But if the girl had already been taken by her biological father, then that meant she wasn’t Andres and Alice’s child.
Just another kid who happened to look like them. I must be losing it. If Alice really had the baby, she wouldn’t have ended up in an orphanage Ineed to stop overthinking
Early the next morning, Chloe was still fast asleep when Kelly burst into her room and flung open the curtains, all chipper and energized.
“Let’s go, my little money maker! Time to hustle!”
Chloe blinked drowsily, rubbing her eyes as she sat up with her teddy bear in hand. “Chloe’s going to earn money today?”
That soft baby voice made Kelly’s heart melt a little. She held up two outfits she’d picked out and compared them in front of Chloe. “Yep! We’ve got an audition today. If the big–time director likes you, you’ll hit it big–tons of money, sweetie!”
The director they were meeting today–Jonas–had an impeccable track record, He’d won countless awards; even the Best Actor under his direction was a grand slam winner.
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