Chapter 186

Clara's POV

As I watched Maeve being wheeled out of the emergency room, a memory hit me with the force of a physical blow. Twenty years ago, when I was pregnant, my housekeeper Maya had been pregnant too. She'd given birth at the Harrington estate, then suddenly announced she was taking her daughter back to her hometown. She'd left our employment immediately after...

NO! IT COULDN'T BE! The blood in my veins turned to ice as my face drained of color. I refused to believe something so outrageous could have happened to me. The very thought that Eleanor, the daughter I'd lovingly raised for over two decades, might not be my biological child was ridiculous.

But Eleanor's blood type... I forced myself to stay calm, though my voice trembled as I rushed forward to ask the doctor, "What's her blood type?"

"Type A," the doctor replied. The answer struck my heart like a hammer blow.

I stared at Maeve, noting the unmistakable resemblance to Eleanor - they could have been sisters. My mind refused to process what I was seeing. My whole body shook as I kept my eyes fixed on Maeve, the world blurring at the edges.

When I saw Maya trying to wheel Maeve away, I stepped forward to block their path. "Don't move," I commanded.

"Mrs. Harrington, my daughter needs to get to her room..." Maya's voice was panicked.

I locked eyes with her, enunciating each word deliberately: "Are you sure she's your daughter?"

Watching Maya stammer and avoid my gaze, I felt the last shred of hope crumble inside me. I turned to look at my husband, Grant, who stood frozen in place.

Rage, despair, and betrayal coursed through my body. I couldn't help but scream at him, "Grant Yates, what's going on here? Tell me! What's your relationship with Maya? Who is Eleanor's real mother?"

My hysterical shouts echoed through the hallway. Just then, a group of people rushed in. I saw Lucas hurrying toward us, asking urgently, "We've got ten people here, that should be enough. How's Eleanor?"

Seeing Lucas, I finally lost all control of my emotions. Tears streamed down my face uncontrollably.

"Aunt Clara." Lucas's voice changed when he saw my state.

The emergency room doors opened again, and a nurse hurried out. "Eleanor Yates's family? Are the Type AB donors here? The patient's condition is critical."

"Stop! Nobody helps Eleanor until we get answers!" As Lucas moved to organize the blood donors, I suddenly blocked their path.

"Grant!" I turned back to my silently standing husband, my face contorted with fury and pain.

Grant slumped in his chair, head bowed in silence. As time crept by, Maya couldn't stand it any longer. She rushed forward, crying out, "Yes! Eleanor isn't your daughter - Maeve is! I switched them when they were born!"

The truth hit me like a physical blow, shattering every foundation of my world. The room began to spin, and I felt myself starting to collapse.

"Aunt." Lucas caught me just before I fell.

I stared at Grant, still standing there like a statue, and felt my entire world crumbling around me. Twenty years of memories, of love, of trust - all built on a lie.

Around me, the hospital corridor had become crowded with Harrington Group employees, their faces showing a mix of concern and confusion at the tense scene before them.

"Aunt." Lucas stepped forward, his voice gentle but firm. "Let's save her first. We can sort everything else out later."

I felt the weight of every eye in that hallway on me, but all I could see was the lifetime of lies stretching out behind me. My voice came out as cold as ice: "No one moves. No one helps her."

"Aunt Clara, please-" Lucas started again, but I cut him off with a sharp gesture.

"Not until I know the truth. All of it." My hands were trembling, but my voice remained steady.

Maya collapsed to her knees in front of me, her face streaked with tears. "Please, I'm begging you - save Eleanor! This is all my fault. She's innocent in all this..."

I watched her grovel at my feet, her tears meaningless puddles on floor. Every sob, every plea for Eleanor's life only stokes the inferno of my rage.

"Innocent?!" The word tears from my throat as I kick her aside. My voice rises, trembling with barely contained fury. "What about my daughter's innocence? You forced my flesh and blood to be someone's stand-in! If anything happens to her now - after I've finally found her - are you saying this reunion should become our final goodbye?!"

Heat floods my face as I tower over her crumpled form. Every cell in my body screams for vengeance, demanding retribution for her audacity. The sheer nerve of this woman, playing puppet master with my daughter's life!

"I'm sorry," Maya sobbed, her hands clasped in front of her. "I'm so sorry. I was desperate... I thought I was doing what was best..."

"Best?" My laugh sounded hysterical even to my own ears. "You stole my child. You let me raise yours while my own daughter..." The words choked in my throat.

When Maya crawls to Grant, whimpering that Eleanor is his daughter too, a laugh rips from my chest - harsh, brittle, cruel.

"You're begging him?" Pure contempt drips from every syllable. "What exactly do you think he is in this house? He's nothing but a kept man. Every thread on his back, every morsel on his plate, every breath he takes - it all comes from me, Clara Harrington! Without me, he's less than nothing. Just a worthless dog!"

Through all of this, Grant had remained silent, a statue in an expensive suit. But now he finally spoke, his voice barely above a whisper. "That night... I was drunk, angry after our fight..."

I turned to face him. He couldn't meet my eyes.

"I made a terrible mistake," he continued, each word seeming to pain him. "Maya... it was just one night. I tried to pay her off the next day, but she said she needed the job, promised she wouldn't cause trouble. She seemed honest, and I was afraid if I pushed too hard..."

"And then I got pregnant," I finished for him, the pieces falling into horrible place. "And so did she."

Grant nodded miserably. "I tried to convince her to leave, but she kept insisting the baby wasn't mine, said she had a husband back home..."

"The babies looked so similar," Maya broke in, her voice small. "They both had his features. I... I thought I was giving my daughter a better life. A chance at everything I could never provide."

"While my daughter grew up without her real family?" The words tasted like ashes in my mouth. Twenty years of memories flashed through my mind - birthdays, holidays, school plays - all with the wrong child.

The nurse stepped forward again, her voice urgent. "Mrs. Harrington, we really need to-"

I turned to Grant, who flinched at my gaze. "Everything you have - everything you are - came from me, from the Harrington name! You're a parasite!"

The corridor fell silent except for Maya's quiet sobs. I looked at the assembled group of blood donors, these people who'd rushed here in the middle of the night to help a girl they barely knew. A mistress's girl.

"Aunt Clara," Lucas said softly, placing a steady hand on my shoulder. "Whatever happens next, right now there's a life at stake. Eleanor may not be who we thought she was, but she's still the girl you raised. Can you live with letting her die?"

I closed my eyes, feeling tears slip down my cheeks.

"She must die."