My husband drugged me every night "so I could study better,"

The scarred woman on the monitor burst into tears.

"Lucy!" she cried. "Lucy, don't let them drug you again!"

Marcus spun around so quickly the chair behind him crashed to the floor.

"How did she get access to this line?" he shouted.

The woman ignored him.

Her eyes never left mine.

"My name is Rachel Archer," she said through sobs. "I'm your mother."

The room seemed to collapse around me.

"No..." I whispered.

Marcus lunged toward the monitor and disconnected the call.

The screen went black.

For one second, nobody moved.

Then I grabbed the metal tray beside the gurney and slammed it into Marcus's face.

He stumbled backward with a cry of pain.

"Lucy!" Eleanor screamed.

The name struck me again.

Lucy.

Not Valerie.

Lucy.

Fragments exploded inside my head.

A yellow bicycle.

A blue house.

A woman laughing in a garden.

A little girl named Lucy Archer.

Me.

My knees buckled as memories flooded back.

Marcus recovered and rushed toward me.

Before he could reach me, I grabbed the red folder and ran.

The hidden hallway blurred around me.

Behind me, I heard Marcus shouting.

"Stop her!"

I burst into the bedroom and slammed the secret door shut.

For two years I had believed I was Valerie Reed.

But now I knew the truth.

Valerie never existed.

She had been created.

Manufactured.

Drugged into existence.

And somewhere out there, my real mother was alive.

For the first time in years, Marcus looked afraid.

Because his patient had finally woken up.