Chapter 144
Chapter 144:
Jace leaned back again.
Ashton’s hand hit the table, harder this time.
“All right!” Jace snapped, sitting up. “Look, it was years ago. Mum married my dad, had me. Life moved on. But something must’ve started gnawing at her, because she got… weird. Depressed. Obsessive. She’d mutter things now and then, but I didn’t pay much attention. It didn’t have anything to do with me, right?” He scratched his jaw. “I didn’t know she’d reached out to Cathy p>
“When was this?” I asked.
He frowned. “Five, maybe six years ago p>
“How did she even find Catherine p>
“No idea. Probably hired a PI. Someone must’ve looked into the hospital records. From what I gathered—from her and later Cathy—it went like this: after Mum left the baby, the staff tried to contact her, but she’d already left the country. Around the same time, another woman gave birth at the hospital. Something went wrong, her baby was stillborn. A nurse or doctor, I don’t know which, maybe both, decided to fix the situation p>
“They swapped the babies,” I said quietly.
“Pretty much. Gave the grieving woman a living, breathing, healthy baby. She went home happy. Everyone else washed their hands of it p>
“That woman was Caroline Vance p>
“Yeah p>
I felt a chill creep up my spine.
“Anyway,” Jace continued, “somehow Mum tracked Cathy down. Told her everything. Got her to come to Stonewick. They did a DNA test that confirmed Mum’s story. That’s when I first met Cathy. My half-sister p>
“And then p>
Full story on
Jace snorted. “You already know what happened next. Cathy left Skyline and came to live with us p>
I was dumbstruck. The pieces finally locked into place.
I’d never understood why Catherine had left so abruptly when she and Rhys were practically joined at the hip. He had been utterly besotted, and she—well, she wasn’t indifferent.
That nonsense excuse about stepping aside so I could have Rhys? Franklin and Caroline might have bought it, but I never did. Catherine was many things, but self-sacrificing wasn’t one of them. She didn’t leave for me; she left for her birth mother.
But that only answered one question and raised a hundred more.
“Do Franklin and Caroline know?” I asked.
Jace shrugged. “Beats me. But from what I figured, no. They don’t know Cathy’s not theirs. And after she found out, she sure as hell didn’t tell them p>
“Why not p>