(From Ashes to Hope) Chapter 25
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I suppressed the surge of resentment that had just surfaced. After a long
silence, I replied softly, “Let’s not talk about the past anymore.”
He opened his mouth slightly, as if wanting to say something, but in the end,
he just sighed and remained silent.
We stood outside the courtroom for a while, then turned and walked away.
In that moment of turning, the past pain and memories seemed to be left
behind, gradually buried by the dust of time.
Not long after, Officer Lee called me, asking me to come to the police station.
He said they had some information and needed to speak to me in person.
With a sense of unease, I went to the police station, wondering if they had
caught the hit–and–run driver.
Officer Lee led me into an interrogation room, poured me a glass of water,
and said, “Ms. Evans, we have successfully apprehended the hit–and–run
driver based on the fingerprints lifted from the fuel tank cap of the abandoned
motorcycle.”
I stood up abruptly, my voice filled with disbelief.“Really?”
“Yes, Ms. Evans, it’s true. He has confessed to his crime,” Officer Lee said,
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trying to calm me down.
I forced myself to sit down, eager to hear more.
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“He admitted that he intentionally hit the girl, he was hired to do it, and the
photo was given to him by the person who hired him. We traced the person and
found out he was an assistant of Felix Payne. This led us to a bold hypothesis.”
I frowned, a bad feeling rising in my chest. I knew what he was about to say
must be related to Lily.
“Ms. Evans, your daughter was not biologically yours, but Ms. Lincoln’s,”
Officer Lee said. “We compared the blood samples from the accident scene with
the Lincoln family’s DNA and confirmed that the child who died in the accident
was Ms. Lincoln’s.”
My head spun, I felt dizzy.
“I don’t understand,” I said urgently. “How can my daughter not be mine?
How could she be someone else’s child? I saw her die in front of me, I personally
took her to be cremated, how could she not be my daughter?”
Seeing my distress, Officer Lee gently patted my shoulder.“Ms. Evans, please
calm down. Think about it, if the child who died wasn’t yours, this might be a
turning point. It means your biological daughter might still be alive.”
I gripped the edge of my clothes, my body trembling slightly, I closed my
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eyes, took a few deep breaths, and tried to calm my surging emotions.
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When I seemed calmer, Officer Lee continued, “We asked you to come here
today because we need a DNA sample from you. We’ll use it to cross–reference
missing and trafficked children’s records, those with ages matching your
daughter’s, to see if we can find your biological daughter.”
I nodded slightly, a glimmer of hope in my eyes. “No problem. But I really can‘
t understand how my daughter could have been switched. I watched her being
born, I remember every detail clearly…”
As I spoke, the scene of Lily’s birth flashed through my mind.
I was weak after giving birth, and John hurriedly took Lily to show Raina.
The realization hit me like a bolt of lightning.
Could Lily have been switched at that moment?
The thought made my heart feel heavy, as if a giant stone was pressing down
on my chest, suffocating me.
My head spun, my vision blurred, everything going dark.
My legs gave way, unable to support my weight. I slumped to the floor like a
lifeless puppet.
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Officer Lee noticed my sudden collapse and called out to his colleagues.
They helped me up and rushed me to the hospital in a police car.
When I woke up in the hospital, I saw someone I didn’t want to see: John.
He sat by my bedside, his hands clasped, his head bowed, his face filled with
remorse and pain.
He flinched when I opened my eyes, tears glistening in his eyes.
“I know now, it’s all my fault, I was blinded by obsession,” he stammered,
taking a deep breath as if gathering immense courage.“When I took Lily to show
Raina, I never thought she would be so daring as to switch the babies. It’s my fault,
all my fault.”
His voice choked with emotion, tears streaming down his face.
I looked at him silently, feeling anger, sadness, but most of all, an endless
bitterness.
“I’m going to find Raina and get to the bottom of this, I’ll force her to tell me
where our daughter is,” John said through gritted teeth.
“She’s been sentenced to death,” I said quickly.“Do you really think she’ll tell
you the truth in this situation? She must be full of resentment, she might even
mislead us deliberately.”
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John paced back and forth, his voice anxious.“We can’t just give up, this is
our only lead. Even if there’s only a sliver of hope, I have to try.”
I remained silent for a long time, memories of the past surging through my
mind like a tidal wave.
“I can already guess what she’ll say if you ask her,” I said softly.“She’ll
probably say my daughter is dead, to make me give up all hope, to stop searching.”
John shook his head, a stubborn glint in his eyes. “She wouldn’t dare, I
believe our daughter is still alive.”
I looked at him coldly. If Raina could even kill her own father, what wouldn‘
t she do? She could have very well killed my daughter.
“Then
m right.”
go
ask her yourself,” I said with a hint of sarcasm.“You’ll find out if I‘
John didn’t seem to detect the sarcasm in my voice.“Okay, I’m going now,” he
said eagerly.“You rest here and recover, I promise you, I will find our daughter.”
With that, he hurried out.
<<<From Ashes to Hope…
