Chapter 1850
She gulped and shook her head, saying, “No, I don’t know her.”
Yet her anxious demeanor had already given her away.
Lucas let out a sharp, mocking laugh, his eyes narrowing with intensity.
“Willow, do you really think I’d confront you without proof? Are you going to keep denying it?”
Willow’s face drained of color at his words. Her voice faltered as she stammered, “I-I remember now! Holley had her baby at the community clinic. I was there during the delivery.”
Lucas said with a sneer, “Interesting how you suddenly recall something from two decades ago.”
Willow froze, letting out a nervous, forced laugh.
“Well, I’ve always had a sharp memory…”
Lucas pressed harder.
“You were a regular employee at the clinic then. Why did you abruptly quit after Holley’s delivery?”
As he spoke, he tilted his head, fixing her with a piercing stare. His gaze was so intense that it seemed to steal her breath for a moment.
His lips then parted as he spoke in a low, gritty tone, his voice calm but laced with warning.
“Think carefully before you answer that.”
Willow was on the verge of crumbling.
The weight of Lucas’ presence was suffocating.
After a prolonged silence, she drew a shaky breath and decided to confess.
Her voice tight, she said, “I-I found something by accident at that time. The baby in the incubator, marked with the same bed number as Holley’s, wasn’t the same child we delivered for her. At first, I thought I’d made an error. But later, I quietly checked the baby’s lower back, and there was no birthmark.”
Fearing Lucas might miss her meaning, she hurried to clarify, “Holley had a C-section. After the birth, the doctor flipped the baby over and patted her back. I saw it clearly—a distinct red birthmark on her lower right back. But when I checked the baby in the incubator later, there was no mark at all. That’s when I knew the baby had been swapped!”
Willow bit her lip, her breathing uneven.
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“I realized I’d uncovered something I wasn’t meant to know. I was terrified to speak up. I feared for my own safety and my family’s safety. So, I fabricated a family crisis and handed in my resignation.”
Lucas narrowed his eyes.
Now, he believed there was no longer any doubt—Baker and Holley were not Belinda’s biological parents.
He said in a frigid tone, “Did your sudden resignation raise any suspicions?”
Willow gave a nod.
“Soon after that, a man I’d never seen before came to my house to see me. He wouldn’t stop interrogating me about my resignation. I tried to lie, to throw him off with a fabricated story, but he didn’t buy it. In the end, he used the most terrifying leverage imaginable—he threatened me with my child’s life. Left with no choice, I told him what I’d found out.”
After a pause, she continued, “Back then, I was sure I wouldn’t live to see the next day. But instead of killing me, he handed me half a million and told me to keep quiet. He made it crystal clear that the truth had to stay buried. If it ever surfaced, I’d be the one to suffer the consequences. Not just me—my husband and child would be in danger, too. I… I promised him then and there that I’d never speak of it to anyone.”
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