Chapter 10 - The Other EmmaThe second child appeared to be around four years old.
Her face was thinner, but her hair, clothing, and bandage had been arranged to resemble Emma. An oxygen mask concealed the lower half of her face.
Rebecca demanded that Lorraine remove it.
The camera moved closer.
A crescent-shaped birthmark showed near the child’s ear.
Emma had the same mark.
Rachel gripped the hospital table.
“That’s my daughter.”
Everyone turned.
Rachel had given birth five years earlier while living under a protected identity. Northgate staff told her the baby died after delivery.
She never saw the body.
The child in the van was Lily Monroe, Emma’s biological cousin.
Harold and Lorraine had preserved her as a second potential granddaughter.
If Rebecca resisted, they could present Lily as Emma under forged records.
If Rachel resisted, they could threaten Lily.
The two children were not identical, but at four years old, with altered hair, medical bandages, and manipulated photographs, uncertainty could delay any court long enough for the money to move.
“Where are you taking her?” Rachel asked.
“Northgate,” Lorraine said. “Bring the footprint card.”
The call ended.
Federal agents surrounded Northgate, but the facility’s underground garage connected to several rural roads.
Lorraine could enter without appearing on exterior cameras.
Rebecca wanted to leave Emma and join the operation.
Dr. Ward refused.
“You are still her medical decision-maker. If another transfer order appears, you must be here to challenge it.”
The statement felt like a chain.
Rebecca stayed.
Marcus left with Rachel, Detective Grant, and police.
Charlotte and Josh remained under protection at the hospital.
The real Emma began waking more fully.
Her eyes opened.
Rebecca leaned close.
“Mommy’s here.”
Emma stared through the oxygen mask.
“Other me.”
Rebecca froze.
“Who is the other you?”
“The girl Grandma made me practice with.”
Emma remembered Northgate.
Lorraine brought her there twice under the pretense of swimming lessons. Lily sat behind a glass wall while staff taught both girls the same responses.
Name.
Birthday.
Parents.
Favorite toy.
Emma refused to call Lorraine “Mom.”
Lily obeyed because she believed cooperation would let her see Rachel.
The children had met.
They knew they were being trained to replace each other.
“Where did they take Lily?” Rebecca asked.
Emma lifted one weak finger toward her mother’s purse.
Inside the purse was a crayon drawing Rebecca had never seen.
Two girls stood beside a large building. Beneath the building was a blue room with no windows.
Emma whispered, “Under the babies.”
The pediatric ICU had once been part of the hospital maternity wing.
Original plans showed an abandoned neonatal archive beneath it.
Northgate may not be Lorraine’s destination.
The grandparents could be bringing Lily back to the hospital through the underground tunnel.
Rebecca pressed the call button.
Nora entered.
Security searched the basement.
They found an operating suite prepared with two pediatric beds, biometric scanners, and identity documents for both children.
A physician stood beside the equipment.
Dr. Stephen Cole.
The man who signed Emma’s disability statement before the fall.
He raised a syringe when officers entered.
Behind him, the tunnel door opened.
Lorraine arrived carrying Lily.
Harold followed.
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The false Marcus came last.
👉 Lily was not being taken away from the hospital—the grandparents intended to switch the children beneath the ICU itself.
