Chapter 2 Whispers that don't lie

Anna Hartley had never been the kind of girl who sat still in a hospital bed, but today, her body gave her no choice. Her muscles ached with every breath. Her arm was bandaged, her side bruised. But it wasn't the pain keeping her awake-it was the name.

The woman.

The crash.

The moment before she blacked out.

> "Anna... you look like someone I once loved."

She turned to the window, watching raindrops crawl down the glass. Something in her gut told her this wasn't just a random accident.

Something was off.

---

Downstairs, in the ICU, the woman was still unconscious. Hooked to machines, pale and silent, she lay like a ghost-one with too many buried stories.

Anna wanted to see her. She didn't know why, but something about that woman's voice was living in her head now. A sound not of fear, but recognition.

She pushed off the covers and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Every step toward the hallway was heavy, but the need for answers outweighed the pain.

She passed a nurse, smiled weakly, and followed the signs to the ICU.

---

A man in a black coat stepped out of the elevator. Anna didn't know him, but he looked important. Corporate. Cold. His eyes swept the hall like he didn't want to be seen.

He walked straight into the ICU ward.

Anna followed.

Through the half-open glass door, she caught a glimpse of the mystery woman. Still unconscious. Still pale.

The man stood at her bedside, gripping the rail tightly.

Anna ducked behind the wall and listened.

> "You stupid woman," he muttered. "You had to show your face again, didn't you? After all these years."

Her breath caught.

> "And you went and found her."

Anna's chest tightened.

> "If you wake up... if you say anything to anyone..."

He didn't finish.

The man turned and walked away.

---

Anna stood frozen, heart pounding.

Who was he? What did he mean by "her"?

Suddenly, everything felt personal. Too personal.

---

Meanwhile...

At the Blackwell estate, Ethan tossed his phone across the leather couch. The screen cracked. He didn't care.

"She's still in the hospital," Jake said calmly, sitting across from him. "The girl. Anna."

"I didn't ask," Ethan muttered.

Jake rolled his eyes. "Your aunt's unconscious. Your father's acting like he saw a ghost. And you're pretending like nothing's happening?"

Ethan rubbed his jaw. "I don't like puzzles. And she feels like one."

Jake smirked. "You used to like puzzles when they had long legs and fake lashes."

"Shut up."

A knock at the study door.

Mr. Richard Blackwell entered. His eyes were hard, jaw tighter than usual.

"I need to speak to you. Alone."

Jake raised his hands in mock surrender. "I'll just... vanish."

Ethan folded his arms. "What now?"

Mr. Blackwell didn't sit. He stood across from Ethan like a man holding in too much.

"Stay away from that girl," he said quietly.

"What girl?"

"Don't play dumb. Anna Hartley."

Ethan stood. "You know her, don't you?"

Silence.

"You've seen her before."

More silence.

Ethan stepped closer. "Who is she to you?"

"She's dangerous," his father said.

Ethan scoffed. "She looks like a girl with a busted wrist and a coffee apron."

"She could ruin everything," Richard whispered.

> "Then maybe everything isn't real to begin with," Ethan snapped.

---

Back at the hospital...

Anna sat by the window in the family waiting area, trying to process what she'd just heard. Her mind swirled with too many questions and zero answers.

Then her phone buzzed.

A message from her best friend, Mia:

> "Where the hell are you???"

Anna smiled weakly and replied, "Surviving. I think."

Seconds later, Kade called-her night-shift bestie who always knew when to show up, even if he hadn't been at the café that day.

> "Tell me you didn't die," he said dramatically.

"Hey, Kade," she said softly.

> "Oh, thank God. I had already picked a funeral outfit. You'd have loved it-black lace, totally gothic."

She laughed, for the first time that day.

"You okay?" he asked gently.

"I don't know," she said honestly. "Something's weird."

Kade paused. "What do you mean?"

"There's a woman here. She was in the car accident. She said she loved someone who looked like me. And then this man came in... threatened her."

"What?"

"Yeah," Anna whispered. "I think this has something to do with my past. Something my mom hasn't told me."

"Then ask her."

"I did. She shut down."

Kade's voice softened. "Then start digging."

---

Flashback: 20 Years Ago

Madam Eniola sat alone in her dressing room, holding a photo in her trembling hands.

A baby girl with wide, curious eyes.

Her.

Her child.

But not her own to raise.

Outside, Richard Blackwell's voice echoed down the hall.

"You made your decision," he said coldly. "She's gone. You will not speak of her again."

"I loved her," Eniola whispered.

"No, you hated what she represented."

Eniola looked in the mirror at her reflection. "She looked like me."

---

Back in the present...

Anna returned to her room and found her mother sitting by the window.

"You lied to me."

Margaret looked up sharply.

"I heard a man talking about me like I'm part of something I don't understand."

Margaret's mouth twitched. "You weren't supposed to know."

"Why?" Anna demanded. "What are you hiding from me?"

Silence.

Then Margaret sighed. Deep. Defeated.

> "You weren't born to me," she said. "I raised you. I loved you. But I didn't birth you."

The room spun.

"What?"

"I was a maid. In a rich house. And they gave you to me one night and told me to disappear."

Anna stared at her, blood draining from her face.

"Whose house?" she asked.

Margaret didn't answer.

"Whose house, Mom?"

And then...

"The Blackwells."

---

Anna felt like the floor disappeared.

The name. The car. The woman. The man in black.

Suddenly, everything made sense.

And yet... nothing did.