hed the frantic beat of her heart. She opened her eyes to the sterile white ceiling of a

oice gentle but professional. "Your son... he's in

son.

s eyes wide with a terror so profound it seemed to swallow the light in the room.

nd afraid of the dark! His

r five years, had begged him. She remembered clawing a

xtreme fright can be fatal. If you n

s, the woman he claimed was the real Ava Miller, the woman who needed a kidney. The woman he had convin

hospital room, the volume low. A news a

on a private island today. Sources say this is a makeup ceremony for th

king at the woman beside him, the imposter Chloe Davis, with an expression of such adoration it

n, it h

built with hypnosis and lies, shattered. It wasn't a trickle; i

of a road leading to the airport. Her mother wa

bout this? Running awa

ants to marry me for my k

inding glare of headlights.

and concerned, leaning over her. His voi

ed was your father's mistress. A terrible woman. You feel so

gs and the hypnosis making her pl

f a woman with a sickly

dney. But you feel so guilty, you want to give y

Ava Miller. And he had turned her, the real Chloe Davis, into the "illegitimate" Ava Mille

uth tearing through her. She was Chloe Davis. The woman on that island,

e

rgot." The time Leo got into a fight defending himself from bullies who taunted him for not having a father present, and Jake, embarrassed by the call from th

ce message Leo had managed to send from inside th

come my fear... w

to do with the hospital room's temperature. She dialed the only number she could think

in-law. Jak

ar, older voice answered. "Ava? What

hot and silent. The agony was a ph

cracking. "I remember everythi

line. Then, silence. Before Jake's

bead of blood that welled up. She stumbled out of the room, her

, Eleanor Hayes, was already there, arriving with a speed that spoke of

re wide open, staring at the ceiling, fixed in the same expression of p

ing with sobs. "Oh, Leo... my poor grandson... c

avy stone in her chest. She looked at the woman who had, for fi

ice flat, devoid of all e

bered the phone call, the cryptic words. "Chloe... you... you reme

It was as if his last moment of sheer, unadulterated fear had been frozen in time. As she struggled, the hypnoti

to Leo's ear, her own tears fina

ing. "Mommy will take you away from here. We'll go

s eyes, those terrified, open ey

allway was looking at her phone, sigh

e Hayes still looks at his wife like they're newlyweds! Who celebrates a birthday by prom

only they knew. If only they knew that Jake's real wife and son, lying dead in a hospi