Page 78 of Don’t Open Your Eyes

He gave her a strange look. “Isn’t she here? I figured she went to get a coffee or something.”

“I woke up, and she was gone.”

“I’m sure she’ll be right back. She hasn’t left your side since you’ve been here. You don’t know who the man was?”

She swallowed. “I think he knows Mom.”

“What do you mean?”

“I heard his voice here talking to Mom. I don’t know why he was here, but it was him.”

“That seems impossible. Are you sure?”

Scarlett nodded. “I can’t remember his name, but I recognized his voice. It was definitely him.”

Her eyes started to close and her body felt heavy again. “Tired.”

“Okay, sweetheart. You rest. Olivia and I are going to go up to the cafeteria to see if your mom is there.”

Annabelle

Chase put a hand on her arm, but she swatted it away. “I don’t know what kind of sick game you’re playing. My son died the night he was born!”

“Annabelle, please listen. My son, Lucas. I found out he’s not mine. I think our babies were switched at birth.”

Her knees felt weak, and dizziness overcame her. Chase closed the distance between them and caught her before she fell. “How is that possible?”

“Come with me. I need to show you.”

Still numb, Annabelle got into Chase’s car, and he drove out of the parking lot. Her mind exploded with memories from that night. Holding her son right after delivering him, feeling his heartbeat next to hers. And then the cold reality the next day brought. James telling her he had died. Could it be true? Her son, alive? “Where are we going?”

“My house. I have all the proof there.”

“What proof?”

“My son, Lucas, gave blood at a blood drive over the summer. A few weeks later, he mentioned that his blood was type A.”

“What does this have to do—”

“Hear me out. My wife and I are both O. I thought she had cheated on me. I told you…our marriage was not great. So I tested him with 23andMe, but I put it under a fake name. I elected to be contacted if there were any blood relatives and gave a Gmail account under the fake name. It came back with a maternal match to a sibling. I realized that Tara couldn’t be his mother. That’s when Scarlett emailed me.”

“How? Scarlett didn’t do the DNA test. James didn’t let her.”

“Well, she must have taken it anyway. The results show that she’s a maternal sibling match to Lucas. I emailed her back pretending to be him and told her that I needed to talk to my parents before going any further. I was trying to buy some time to figure things out.”

“I don’t understand. How could Scarlett be your son’s sister? That makes no sense.”

“The baby that you lost. His birthday was September third. Right?”

A chill ran through her. “How did you know?”

“That’s the same day my wife delivered. You were both at the hospital the same night. I can show you the report.”

“Why didn’t you just bring it—” Her phone rang and she glanced at the screen. It was the detective.

“Hello?”

“Mrs. Reynolds. We’re at the house where the Instagram account originated. We’ve located the phone that was texting your daughter. It belongs to a man named Chase Sommers.”