PART 3 — THE MAN FROM MY PAST
For several seconds, nobody moved.
I stared at the photograph in the stranger's hand.
Then I looked at Thomas.
He had lost all color in his face.
“Who are you?” I whispered.
The stranger didn't answer me immediately.
Instead, he looked at Lieke.
His eyes filled with tears.
“I've waited five years to see you.”
Lieke pressed herself against my side.
“Mommy…”
I wrapped my arm around her.
“It's okay, sweetheart. Stay with me.”
The stranger slowly lowered the photograph.
“My name is Daniel.”
My heart stopped.
That name.
I had heard it once before.
Five years ago.
The same night my newborn daughter disappeared from the hospital nursery for almost three hours.
I had been told it was a security mistake.
A nurse had apologized.
The hospital had investigated.
And eventually, everyone told me to forget about it.
But I had never forgotten.
I looked at Thomas.
“What does Daniel have to do with my daughter?”
Thomas stepped forward.
“Nothing.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Still lying.”
Thomas's jaw tightened.
“Leave.”
Daniel ignored him.
He looked at me.
“I am Lieke's biological father.”
My entire body went numb.
I wanted to reject his words.
To scream.
To demand proof.
But something about his face frightened me.
Not because he looked dangerous.
Because he looked heartbroken.
I swallowed.
“If you're her father, why did you disappear?”
Daniel's expression changed.
“I didn't disappear.”
He glanced at Thomas.
“He made me disappear.”
The church erupted into whispers.
Thomas shook his head.
“Don't listen to him.”
Daniel pulled another photograph from his coat.
Then another.
And another.
He placed them on the nearest table.
Pictures of me.
Pictures of Lieke as a baby.
Pictures of Thomas standing outside my apartment.
My stomach turned.
“How did you get these?”
Daniel looked at me.
“I didn't.”
He pointed at Thomas.
“He took them.”
I slowly turned toward my fiancé.
“Why?”
Thomas remained silent.
Daniel continued.
“Five years ago, I was supposed to marry you.”
I felt the floor disappear beneath me.
“What?”
“You were pregnant with Lieke.”
I remembered.
The young man I had loved.
The man who had promised to stay.
The man who disappeared suddenly after telling me he needed to travel for work.
I had spent months believing he had abandoned us.
But Daniel's voice cracked.
“I never left you.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out an old phone.
“I was kidnapped.”
My breath caught.
“What?”
“Three days before Lieke was born.”
He looked at Thomas.
“He had me taken.”
Thomas suddenly shouted:
“That's enough!”
Several guests stepped backward.
A few phones were already recording.
I looked at Thomas.
“You kidnapped him?”
“No.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“You told them I was a drug addict.”
Thomas's face hardened.
“You were unreliable.”
“I was your business partner.”
Daniel's voice trembled.
“And you stole everything.”
Silence.
I looked between them.
“What business?”
Daniel answered.
“Thomas and I owned a company together.”
Thomas interrupted.
“That company failed.”
“No.”
Daniel shook his head.
“You made sure it failed for me.”
He turned toward me.
“Thomas had access to my accounts. He transferred money, forged documents, and made it look like I had disappeared voluntarily.”
I felt sick.
“Why would he do that?”
Daniel looked at Lieke.
“Because of her.”
My heart sank.
“What does my daughter have to do with your business?”
Daniel hesitated.
Then he said:
“She inherited something.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“Shares.”
I stared at him.
“My father owned a large investment company. Before he died, he left part of it to my future child.”
I looked at Lieke.
Daniel nodded.
“When she was born, she became the legal beneficiary.”
Thomas's face went blank.
“And you knew about it,” Daniel said.
I looked at Thomas.
“Did you?”
He didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
My hands began shaking.
“You didn't come into my life because you loved me.”
Thomas finally looked at me.
“That's not true.”
“Then why?”
He stepped toward me.
“I loved you.”
I laughed through my tears.
“No.”
I held up the recording device.
“You threatened my daughter.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
He looked at Daniel.
“From him.”
Daniel's expression hardened.
“You're still using the same excuse.”
Thomas suddenly turned toward the guests.
“You don't understand what Daniel did.”
Daniel shouted:
“Tell her!”
Thomas froze.
“Tell her what happened the night Lieke was born.”
My heart pounded.
“What happened?”
Neither man spoke.
I looked at Daniel.
“What happened?”
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
“They told me you had died.”
I couldn't breathe.
“What?”
“They showed me a photograph of a woman in a hospital bed. They said you and the baby were gone.”
My knees weakened.
“I was alive.”
“I know.”
He looked at Thomas.
“I found out two years later.”
I turned toward Thomas.
“You knew Daniel was alive?”
Thomas said nothing.
“Answer me!”
“Yes.”
The single word shattered me.
I stepped backward.
“How long?”
Thomas lowered his eyes.
“Five years.”
Five years.
He had known.
For five years, he had watched me raise Lieke.
He had watched her grow.
He had watched me believe her father had abandoned us.
And all this time…
He knew the truth.
I felt something inside me go completely cold.
“Why did you wait?”
Thomas looked at Lieke.
“Because I needed time.”
“For what?”
He didn't answer.
Daniel suddenly looked toward Bunny.
“Did she find the key?”
I frowned.
“What key?”
Daniel's expression changed.
“Then you haven't opened the second compartment.”
My blood ran cold.
“What second compartment?”
He pointed at Bunny.
“There are two.”
I stared at the stuffed rabbit.
The tiny tear I had discovered was only one opening.
I quickly turned Bunny over.
My fingers searched through the fabric.
Nothing.
Then I felt a small metal zipper hidden underneath the rabbit's left ear.
I pulled it open.
Inside was a tiny envelope.
My hands trembled as I opened it.
There was a USB drive inside.
And a handwritten note.
Only six words.
“If Thomas is marrying you, watch this.”
I looked at Thomas.
He took one step backward.
For the first time since I had met him, I saw him truly terrified.
I plugged the USB into my phone using an adapter.
A video appeared.
The screen showed a hospital room.
A woman was lying in a bed.
She was unconscious.
I recognized her immediately.
It was me.
The date on the recording was five years ago.
The night Lieke was born.
Then the camera moved.
A man walked into the room.
Thomas.
But he wasn't alone.
Beside him stood another person.
I leaned closer to the screen.
My breath caught.
Because the second person was someone I had trusted more than anyone else.
Someone who had been standing in this church only minutes earlier.
My mother.
I slowly looked toward the front row.
She was gone.
The church doors were open.
And outside, her car was already disappearing down the street.
Then the video played a voice recording.
My mother's voice.
Cold.
Calm.
“Once the baby is registered under the new name, Daniel will never find them.”
I dropped the phone.
Lieke screamed.
And Thomas whispered:
“Your mother was supposed to keep that secret forever.”
I looked at him in horror.
“What did you do to my daughter?”
He stared at me.
Then said something that made my blood run cold.
“We didn't steal your daughter.”
He paused.
“We stole her identity.”
