I Played Shy to Dodge Her Traps Then the Impostor Snapped Chapter 08

I Played Shy to Dodge Her Traps Then the Impostor Snapped Chapter 08

“Mom, do you remember your old friend Clara?”

“She was your best friend. But right after I was born, she said she was moving abroad and cut you out of her life completely.”

“She’s Hazel’s biological mother. She’s the one who switched us at birth. She put her daughter in my spot so Hazel could grow up with everything that was supposed to be mine.”

“What…” My mom’s face went blank. “How… how could she do that?”

“Because she was jealous. You married into money. Her husband was broke and violent.”

“So she switched us. And she left me outside in the snow in the middle of winter.”

“If my adoptive mom hadn’t found me, I would’ve frozen to death.”

“And Hazel and Clara found each other again when Hazel was ten. Mother and daughter. They’ve known the truth for years.”

“Clara never actually left the country. Hazel’s been funneling Ashford money to her this whole time.”

“All that jewelry you gave Hazel? She probably handed it straight to her real mother.”

My mom grabbed Hazel by the shoulders and shook her. “Is it true? Is what she’s saying true?”

She didn’t wait for an answer. The pieces were already falling into place. “We were pregnant at the same time.”

“I paid for her to give birth at the same hospital. Out of my own pocket. Just because I wanted to help her.”

“If her son hadn’t been two years older than Lucas, would she have tried to switch him too?”

I shook my head. “No. To Clara, a daughter was disposable. Just a pawn. A free ticket to a massive payout.”

“But her precious boy? She’d never give him up.”

“That’s not true!” Hazel snapped, and then froze, realizing what she’d just admitted.

I brushed past it. “Anyway. Silas has all their messages on his phone. The call records can be pulled too.”

“It’s all evidence. And he’s already told us everything.”

As for how we got him to talk, well, my adoptive mom had her ways.

Hazel stood there, gutted. Her voice came out thin and shaky. “Mom, I… I didn’t mean for it to go this far.”

“Just let me explain. There’s a reason for all of it.”

My mom’s voice was raw. “What reason? You were trying to leave me brain-damaged. What possible reason could there be?”

“I raised you like my own flesh and blood. I gave you everything! And you repay me by trying to destroy my mind?!”

Hazel grabbed for Lucas’s arm. “Lucas, you’re my brother, please… say something for me. You always said you loved me the most.”

Lucas pulled away. His face was stone. “I’m not your brother. Your brother’s right over there.”

Hazel crumpled to the ground.

When the police led them away, she and Silas were still screaming at each other, each blaming the other.

Not that it mattered. Neither of them was getting out of this.

And Clara Burke, the woman who’d switched us and left me to die in the snow, was already waiting for them at the police station.

With the show finally over, I straightened my jacket. First priority: food.

Lucas’s voice stopped me from behind, low and distant. “Hold on.”