PART 4 — THE IDENTITY THEY STOLE
For several seconds, I couldn't move.
Thomas's words echoed through the church.
“We didn't steal your daughter. We stole her identity.”
I stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
He didn't answer.
Daniel stepped toward me.
“Ask him where Lieke's original birth certificate is.”
My stomach tightened.
I turned to Thomas.
“Where is it?”
Silence.
“Thomas, where is my daughter's birth certificate?”
He finally looked at me.
“You don't understand what happened.”
“Then explain it.”
His eyes moved toward the church doors.
But they were already locked.
Two guests had closed them after my mother disappeared.
Thomas realized there was nowhere to go.
I stepped closer.
“Tell me the truth.”
He lowered his voice.
“Your mother came to me five years ago.”
My heart stopped.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She knew about Daniel.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“She knew everything.”
Thomas looked at him.
“She knew your father had left an inheritance.”
Daniel's expression hardened.
“And she knew Lieke was the beneficiary.”
I shook my head.
“This makes no sense.”
Thomas continued.
“Your mother was drowning in debt.”
I felt my chest tighten.
“My mother?”
“She owed money to several people.”
Daniel interrupted.
“And Thomas offered to solve her problems.”
I looked at Thomas.
“How?”
He hesitated.
“By changing the records.”
My mouth went dry.
“What records?”
“Lieke's.”
The church fell silent again.
Thomas continued.
“Your daughter was registered under another identity.”
I stared at him.
“You changed my daughter's name?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then what?”
Daniel answered.
“They changed her father's name.”
I looked at Lieke.
My little girl was standing beside me, holding Bunny against her chest.
She looked confused.
She had no idea that the adults around her had spent years hiding the truth.
I knelt beside her.
“Sweetheart, go sit with Aunt Emma for a moment.”
One of my closest friends immediately came forward and took her hand.
Lieke looked at me.
“Are you okay, Mommy?”
I forced a smile.
“Yes.”
But I wasn't.
Not even close.
When Lieke walked away, I turned back to Thomas.
“Why would my mother agree to this?”
Thomas looked down.
“Because she believed she was protecting you.”
I almost laughed.
“Protecting me?”
“Yes.”
“By erasing my daughter's father?”
Thomas said nothing.
Daniel stepped forward.
“She wasn't protecting you.”
He looked directly at me.
“She was protecting herself.”
Then he pulled a folder from his coat.
“I brought these because I knew you wouldn't believe me without proof.”
He handed it to me.
Inside were copies of documents.
Bank transfers.
Legal forms.
Hospital records.
And photographs.
My hands shook as I turned each page.
Then I saw one document that made my heart stop.
A birth registration form.
The mother's name was mine.
But the father's name was different.
It wasn't Daniel.
It wasn't Thomas.
It was a name I had never seen before.
I looked up.
“Who is this?”
Daniel's face became serious.
“That is the name they used to hide Daniel.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“They created a false identity for him.”
I looked at Thomas.
“So you didn't just erase Daniel.”
“No,” Daniel said.
“They made it look like someone else was Lieke's father.”
I felt dizzy.
“But why?”
Daniel pointed at the final document.
“Because the inheritance couldn't legally go to a child whose father was considered missing.”
I stared at the papers.
“So they created a fake father?”
Thomas finally spoke.
“Only temporarily.”
I turned toward him.
“Temporarily?”
His expression hardened.
“The plan was simple.”
I waited.
“Lieke would grow up believing her father was dead. When she turned eighteen, the inheritance would be transferred.”
I felt sick.
“And who would control it?”
Thomas didn't answer.
Daniel did.
“Thomas.”
I looked at my fiancé.
The man I had almost married.
The man who had kissed my forehead every morning.
The man who had promised to protect my daughter.
He had never wanted to become my husband.
He wanted control of my daughter's future.
But then I remembered something.
“Wait.”
I looked at Daniel.
“If this was about money, why did Thomas spend five years with us?”
Daniel's face darkened.
“Because he needed you to trust him.”
My heart shattered.
Thomas looked at me.
“I did care about you.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“You cared about what I could give you.”
He stepped closer.
“You don't know everything.”
“Then tell me!”
His voice suddenly broke.
“I was supposed to leave years ago.”
I froze.
“What stopped you?”
He looked at Lieke.
“She changed everything.”
For a second, I saw something that looked like genuine regret in his eyes.
But I couldn't trust him anymore.
“Then why did you threaten her?”
Thomas looked away.
“I never wanted to hurt her.”
“She said you became cruel when I left the room.”
“I was trying to make her forget.”
“Forget what?”
He didn't answer.
Daniel suddenly looked toward the church balcony.
“Wait.”
Everyone turned.
A small red light was blinking above us.
A camera.
Daniel's expression changed.
“We're being recorded.”
My blood ran cold.
Thomas looked up.
Then smiled.
It was the first time he had smiled since the wedding began.
“You finally noticed.”
My stomach dropped.
“What did you do?”
Thomas pulled a phone from his pocket.
“Everything that happened here has been recorded.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew you would eventually find out.”
I stepped backward.
“What are you talking about?”
He looked at me.
“I needed evidence.”
“Evidence of what?”
“That you are unstable.”
My blood ran cold.
Thomas continued.
“You walked out of your wedding.”
“You screamed at me.”
“You accused me in front of two hundred people.”
He smiled.
“By tomorrow morning, everyone will believe you're mentally unstable.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“You planned this?”
Thomas nodded.
“The wedding was never about marriage.”
I stared at him.
“Then what was it about?”
Thomas looked directly at me.
“Custody.”
The word hit me like a bullet.
He had planned everything.
The wedding.
The witnesses.
The recording.
The accusations.
He wanted to make me look unstable so he could take Lieke from me.
I suddenly remembered the contract.
The guardianship clause.
My blood ran cold.
“You wanted custody of my daughter.”
Thomas didn't deny it.
“Yes.”
“And if I refused?”
His expression became empty.
“Then the next part of the plan would begin.”
I felt Daniel grab my arm.
“Don't listen to him.”
But Thomas was already speaking.
“Your mother has the original documents.”
I froze.
“What documents?”
“The ones proving who Lieke really is.”
I looked toward the church doors.
My mother had disappeared.
And suddenly I understood why.
She hadn't run away because she was afraid.
She had run because she was carrying something Thomas desperately needed.
The original birth certificate.
Daniel stepped beside me.
“We need to find her.”
I nodded.
But before we could move, my phone rang.
The number was unknown.
I answered.
No one spoke.
Then I heard my mother's voice.
She was crying.
“Please…”
I froze.
“Mom?”
Her voice trembled.
“Don't trust Daniel.”
I looked at him.
He went pale.
My mother continued:
“He isn't the only one who lied to you.”
A loud crash sounded through the phone.
Then silence.
“Mom?”
Nothing.
“Mom!”
The call ended.
I looked at Daniel.
“What did she mean?”
He didn't answer.
Instead, he looked toward Thomas.
Thomas was smiling again.
And then he said:
“Now you're finally asking the right question.”
I stared at him.
“What question?”
He leaned closer.
“Who was really in that hospital room the night Lieke was born?”
My heart stopped.
Because suddenly I remembered something.
The woman in the hospital bed on the recording looked exactly like me.
But there was one detail I had never noticed.
She wasn't wearing my wedding ring.
And I had never owned that ring.
