Chapter 6 - The Woman Wearing My Face
I stared at the photograph until my vision blurred.
The woman looked like me.
Not vaguely.
Not like someone who happened to have similar features.
She looked like my reflection.
The same dark brown hair.
The same green eyes.
The same small beauty mark near the left side of her mouth.
Dominic examined the image.
"Who is she?"
Marcus shook his head.
"We're trying to identify her."
I sank onto a chair.
"That's impossible."
Dominic crouched beside me, careful not to touch me without permission.
"Lily, look at me."
I raised my eyes.
"Whatever this is, we'll find out."
My voice trembled.
"What if Adrian was telling the truth?"
"Then the truth won't change who you are."
I stared at him.
He continued.
"You're still the woman who helped a bleeding stranger without thinking about what he could do to her."
I almost smiled.
"That was incredibly stupid."
"It was incredibly kind."
For the first time since entering the diner, Dominic smiled openly.
It changed his entire face.
I realized how handsome he was when he wasn't trying to frighten the world.
Then I remembered the photograph.
"Whoever she is, she knows about my mother."
Dominic stood.
"Marcus, contact the hospital security department. Preserve every camera recording."
Within hours, the mystery deepened.
The woman had used a driver's license bearing my name and date of birth.
But the photograph belonged to her.
She had entered the hospital records department, requested Eleanor Carter's files, and left fifteen minutes later.
A security guard remembered something unusual.
The woman had been crying.
She'd asked whether Eleanor Carter's daughter was still alive.
That evening, Dominic offered to arrange a secure room at one of his hotels while the identity issue was investigated.
I hesitated.
"I can't afford that."
"Nobody said you had to."
"I don't want to owe you anything."
Dominic's expression softened.
"Then consider it temporary protection while we figure out why someone is impersonating you. You can say no."
I studied him.
"You're not used to people telling you no, are you?"
He almost laughed.
"No."
"Then this must be educational."
For a moment, his eyes warmed.
I agreed to stay for one night.
But when Marcus escorted me to the hotel, a woman was waiting near the elevators.
She wore a simple gray coat.
Her eyes were red from crying.
And she looked exactly like me.
"Lily?" she whispered.
I stopped breathing.
"Who are you?"
The woman began crying harder.
"My name is Rose."
May you like
She stepped closer.
"And I think I'm your twin sister."
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