The Perfect Daughter's Secret

The Perfect Daughter's Secret

Katie Oettgen

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My mother, a medical examiner, sees death every day. Yet, for ten years, she never truly saw me, not after my father' s tragic death, which she relentlessly blamed on me. Instead, all her love was lavished upon Chloe, the perfect daughter, my shining replacement. On my 21st birthday, Chloe sent men to abduct me. With a phone pressed to my ear, a hiss on the other end commanded me to beg my mother for a birthday meeting. Liv' s response was a chilling dismissal, a final accusation regarding my father' s death, and then echoing silence. Soon after, I became a Jane Doe, dismembered and stuffed into a duffel bag, delivered directly to my mother' s morgue. I watched, an unseen ghost, as her meticulous, gloved hands pieced together my violated body. She didn't flinch, my own mother, just saw a case, a victim, nothing more. Anguish, a useless emotion for a ghost, consumed me. As Liv worked, I relived Chloe' s whispered taunts: "He always liked you best, Sarah. Even dead, he liked you best." Chloe, the one who orchestrated my father's boating 'accident' and then meticulously murdered me, went home to my mother' s continued praise and love. Meanwhile, I lay in pieces on a cold steel table, under my mother' s unseeing eyes. But a small, silver dolphin pendant, my father' s last gift, sent back to my mother with a severed hand and a lock of shocking pink hair, ultimately ripped through her carefully constructed blindness. It was a macabre gift, a final, undeniable piece of a monstrous truth linking her perfect daughter, my father' s death, and my own brutal end. The story wasn' t over; it was just beginning.

Introduction

My mother, a medical examiner, sees death every day.

Yet, for ten years, she never truly saw me, not after my father' s tragic death, which she relentlessly blamed on me.

Instead, all her love was lavished upon Chloe, the perfect daughter, my shining replacement.

On my 21st birthday, Chloe sent men to abduct me.

With a phone pressed to my ear, a hiss on the other end commanded me to beg my mother for a birthday meeting.

Liv' s response was a chilling dismissal, a final accusation regarding my father' s death, and then echoing silence.

Soon after, I became a Jane Doe, dismembered and stuffed into a duffel bag, delivered directly to my mother' s morgue.

I watched, an unseen ghost, as her meticulous, gloved hands pieced together my violated body.

She didn't flinch, my own mother, just saw a case, a victim, nothing more.

Anguish, a useless emotion for a ghost, consumed me.

As Liv worked, I relived Chloe' s whispered taunts: "He always liked you best, Sarah. Even dead, he liked you best."

Chloe, the one who orchestrated my father's boating 'accident' and then meticulously murdered me, went home to my mother' s continued praise and love.

Meanwhile, I lay in pieces on a cold steel table, under my mother' s unseeing eyes.

But a small, silver dolphin pendant, my father' s last gift, sent back to my mother with a severed hand and a lock of shocking pink hair, ultimately ripped through her carefully constructed blindness.

It was a macabre gift, a final, undeniable piece of a monstrous truth linking her perfect daughter, my father' s death, and my own brutal end.

The story wasn' t over; it was just beginning.

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Second Chance, Second Curse

Second Chance, Second Curse

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The white ceiling was unbearably familiar. I was supposed to be dead, incinerated in a lab accident ten years ago, but instead, I was back, staring at the ceiling of the hotel suite where my marriage to Sophia Hayes began. My second chance. Instead of a fresh start, I walked into the same hollow wedding, only to be ambushed by Director Thompson. He dropped a bombshell: my marriage was a cover, Sophia was an intelligence agent, and my cutting-edge Manticore Project was the target of her operation. Forced to play the loving husband, every affectionate gesture felt like a lie. The bitterest pill was seeing Sophia, my wife, constantly meeting with Liam Carter, my rival from a past life. I watched them in the park, saw her laugh and hold his hand, the warmth she never showed me, fueling a rage that culminated in me shattering our wedding photo. Why was she so readily giving him what I craved? The official explanation – it was all part of the mission – felt hollow. It was a hell I' d already lived, but this time, the betrayal was sanctioned, and I was just a patriotic fool. Then, I followed them to a clandestine meeting, only to overhear Liam demand my Manticore data. Before I could process Sophia seemingly agreeing to hand over my life' s work, I was caught in a federal sting. Liam escaped, and I was arrested for espionage, with Sophia, my own wife, claiming full responsibility and confirming I was her co-conspirator. Her complete and utter betrayal, putting me in jail, all to protect him, shattered my soul. I had traded one prison for another, a cage of unrequited love for one of national conspiracy. My second chance was quickly becoming a second curse.

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