Chapter 2 - The Page Rachel Tried to Take
“Give me my report.”
Rachel held the DNA page against her chest.
“You come in here, hit Mom, and now you want to act like you’re in charge?”
“I am in charge of anything involving my daughter.”
Sophie pressed herself against my back.
I could feel her fingers gripping the fabric of my beige office shirt.
Margaret recovered from the slap.
Her hand lowered from her cheek.
“That report doesn’t prove anything.”
“It says there is a 99.7 percent probability that Sophie is your biological granddaughter.”
“It could be fake.”
“It came from an accredited laboratory.”
Rachel laughed too quickly.
“Anyone can print something that looks official.”
I looked at her.
“You didn’t even finish reading it.”
That silenced her.
Chloe’s eyes moved from Rachel to me.
Madison wiped tears from her cheeks.
I stepped forward.
“Rachel. Hand it over.”
She didn’t.
I reached out and pulled the sheet from her grip.
Rachel tried to hold on, tearing the corner.
The paper ripped directly through the case-number line.
I stared at the torn edge.
“So that’s what scared you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Why did you cover the number?”
“I didn’t.”
“You folded your thumb over it.”
Margaret stepped between us.
“This is my house. You do not interrogate your sister here.”
I almost laughed.
“You chained my child to your staircase.”
“I gave her consequences.”
“You locked metal around her ankle.”
Margaret’s jaw tightened.
“She was going through things that didn’t belong to her.”
Sophie spoke behind me.
“I wasn’t.”
Rachel’s eyes snapped toward her.
“Stay out of adult conversations.”
I turned sharply.
“Don’t speak to her.”
Sophie tugged my shirt.
“Mom.”
I knelt.
“What?”
She glanced toward Chloe.
Then toward Margaret.
“I was looking for my tablet.”
Margaret’s nostrils flared.
“In my study.”
“Because Rachel said Chloe had put it there.”
Every face in the room changed.
I looked at Chloe.
“Did you?”
Chloe slowly shook her head.
Rachel immediately stepped in front of her daughter.
“She’s confused.”
“I’m not,” Chloe said.
Rachel turned.
“Chloe.”
The warning in her voice was unmistakable.
Chloe lowered her eyes.
I looked at Margaret.
“So Sophie was chained because she went into your study looking for something Rachel told her was there?”
Margaret’s face hardened again.
“She had no permission to enter.”
That wasn’t an answer.
I picked up the remaining DNA pages.
A torn strip remained beneath Rachel’s shoe.
I bent to retrieve it.
She moved her foot over it.
I looked up.
“Move.”
Rachel didn’t.
Then Madison whispered, “Mom had another paper.”
Rachel spun toward her youngest daughter.
“What did you say?”
Madison froze.
Chloe grabbed her hand.
I stood slowly.
“What other paper, Madison?”
Rachel’s voice sharpened.
“Enough.”
But Madison was looking at Sophie’s ankle.
At the red mark left by the chain.
And something in that sight gave her courage.
“This morning,” she said. “Mom showed Grandma a paper. Grandma got really mad after she read it.”
Rachel’s face drained.
Margaret said nothing.
I looked between them.
“What paper?”
Madison swallowed.
“It said Aunt Emily wasn’t really Grandma’s daughter.”
The room went completely still.
I looked at my mother.
“You believed that?”
Margaret lifted her chin.
“It had evidence.”
“What evidence?”
Rachel answered for her.
“Old hospital records.”
I stared at her.
My DNA report suddenly felt heavier in my hand.
If Sophie was genetically related to Margaret, then Rachel’s paper claiming I was not Margaret’s biological daughter could not both be true.
Not unless one of the documents had been manipulated.
I held up the torn laboratory sheet.
“Where is your report?”
Rachel’s eyes shifted toward the hallway.
Just once.
Toward Margaret’s study.
That was enough.
I started walking.
Margaret grabbed my arm.
“You are not going in there.”
“Then bring me the report.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Margaret’s grip tightened.
And Rachel answered with a sentence that made every nerve in my body tense.
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“Because it isn’t about Sophie anymore.”
📖 Read what Rachel and Margaret were hiding inside the study—and why a document questioning Emily’s identity suddenly mattered in CHAPTER 3. 👇
