Chapter 1889:
Galen’s voice cut through the air like a blade. “Baker, do you really have nothing to say?”
His hard, piercing gaze locked onto Baker.
Kylee spun toward him, desperation spilling over. “Dad!”
Her voice cracked. “What’s going on? Why does the test say I’m not Mom’s child? If she isn’t my mother, then who is?”
There was no longer any room for denial.
Baker drew in a long breath, as though bearing a weight too heavy to carry. “It was me,” he admitted at last, his voice a hoarse whisper. “I switched the babies back then.”
The confession struck the room like a thunderclap. Although the Happer family members had already suspected it, hearing Baker admit it still ignited their fury.
Carola shot to her feet, fury blazing in her eyes. Her palm cracked across Baker’s cheek with a force that echoed through the room.
Baker’s head snapped to the side, a shrill ringing filling his ear and leaving him dazed.
Carola seized his collar in both fists and dragged him closer, her voice trembling with rage. “Where is my child? What did you do with her?”
Baker swayed under the force of her grip yet remained silent, refusing to speak.
Carola pressed on, her voice shaking. “Is it Belinda? Is Belinda my daughter?”
For an instant, something flickered in Baker’s eyes. His pupils constricted, betraying the truth.
For Carola, his reaction was confirmation enough. Her knees nearly buckled.
Belinda was her daughter.
All these years, she had cherished the wrong child, pouring every ounce of love into someone else’s child. But what about her own daughter?
Carola had never truly paid much attention to Belinda before.
Ⱡ𝗮𝗍𝙚𝕤𝖙 ς𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝗲𝖗𝗌 ɢ𝗮𝗅𝗇𝗈ν𝖊𝗅𝘀․𝚌𝗈𝗆
Though she hadn’t been outright cruel to Belinda, she certainly hadn’t been kind either. Her daughter had been right in front of her all this time, yet she hadn’t known it. She had foolishly cherished another woman’s child. What had she done?
How could she have failed so completely as a mother?
At the thought, Carola’s eyes slowly reddened with unshed tears.
Just then, Kylee rose from her seat and walked over to Carola. She gently placed a hand on her shoulder and said softly, “Mom, don’t be sad.”
But Carola, suddenly consumed by irritation, shoved Kylee away. “Don’t touch me. I’m not your mother.”
Kylee stumbled back several steps. When she finally regained her balance, she looked at Carola with wounded eyes.
She hadn’t expected Carola to be so harsh.
“Carola!” Baker finally broke his silence. “I was the one who swapped the babies. I was wrong. But Kylee is innocent. She knows nothing about this matter. You can’t take your anger out on her. If you need to vent your frustration, direct it all at me.”
Seeing Carola treat Kylee so cruelly filled him with distress.
“Innocent?” Carola suddenly let out a cold, mocking laugh. “You all know very well whether she’s innocent. She, an illegitimate child, lived the life meant for my daughter for years, while my own child suffered and was belittled all that time. And now you claim she’s innocent? How utterly absurd.”
