Elena woke to crying.
Her eyes opened slowly. The room was dim. Machines beeped beside her bed.
The crying continued. High pitched and insistent.
A woman in pale blue scrubs stood near the window holding a small bundle.
"Mrs. Castellano. You're awake." The woman approached with a professional smile. "I'm Adelaide. I'll be caring for your daughter."
Daughter. The word sat wrong in Elena's ears.
"Would you like to hold her?"
Elena stared at the bundle. She could see a tiny face. Red and scrunched. The baby's mouth was open as she cried.
"What happened to me?"
Adelaide stared at her. "You had a very difficult delivery. Your heart stopped three times. The doctors brought you back."
Three times. Elena remembered the paddles. The jolt through her chest.
"How long was I out?"
"You delivered yesterday evening. It's Saturday now. About six in the evening."
A day. She'd been unconscious for almost a full day.
The baby cried louder.
"She's hungry," Adelaide said. "She needs to nurse soon."
Nurse. From this body. To feed a child she had not conceived.
"I can't." Elena shook her head. "I don't know how."
Adelaide's smile tightened. "It's natural. Your body knows what to do."
"I'm not her mother."
The words came out before Elena could stop them. Adelaide went very still.
"I'm sorry?"
"I mean—" Elena scrambled to recover. "I don't feel ready. I almost died."
"That's understandable. But the baby needs you."
The baby's cries had become desperate. Elena looked at the small face and felt nothing but panic. This was someone else's child. Not hers.
But Victoria was not here. And the baby was crying.
"Okay," Elena whispered. "I'll try."
Adelaide placed the baby in Elena's arms. The weight was surprisingly solid. The baby felt real and warm and alive.
Elena looked down at the small face. The baby had stopped crying and was searching for food. Her tiny mouth opened and closed.
"What's her name?" Elena asked.
Adelaide's expression flickered with pity. "You haven't chosen one yet."
"Lily," Elena said before she could think about it. "Her name is Lily."
"Lily," Adelaide repeated. She typed the name into a tablet. "That's lovely."
Adelaide helped Elena position the baby. The sensation was strange and uncomfortable when Lily latched on. The baby's small hand pressed against Elena's chest. Her eyes closed. Content.
Adelaide stepped back. "I'll give you some privacy."
She left before Elena could protest. The door clicked shut. Suddenly she was alone holding a newborn baby who depended on her completely.
Someone wanted Victoria dead. And they had almost succeeded. The only reason this body still breathed was because her consciousness had found it at exactly the right moment.
Which meant she had saved this baby's life without even knowing it.
Lily made a small sound and her hand flexed against Elena's skin. Elena felt something shift in her chest. Not love. But recognition. This baby was innocent. Whatever complicated mess Elena had woken up in, Lily deserved someone to protect her.
Even if that someone was a stranger wearing her mother's face.
The door opened without warning. Elena looked up expecting Adelaide or a nurse.
Instead a man walked in. Tall and broad shouldered in an expensive suit. Dark hair and steel gray eyes. A face Elena recognized even though it had been ten years.
Adrian Castellano.
The man she had loved when they were both young and broke. The man whose proposal she had rejected because she was afraid. The man who had built a billion dollar empire after she left him.
The man who was now married to the body she inhabited.
Adrian stopped just inside the door. His eyes moved from Elena to the baby. His expression was completely neutral. No warmth. No joy.
"You're awake," he said. His voice was flat. Professional.
Elena could not speak. She stared at him as every memory from ten years ago crashed over her. Adrian at twenty five with longer hair and cheaper clothes. Adrian laughing in his tiny apartment. Adrian proposing with a ring he could barely afford. Adrian's face when she said no.
This Adrian was different. Older. Harder. The softness she had loved was gone.
"The doctors said you'll recover," Adrian continued when Elena did not respond. He stayed near the door. Did not approach the bed. "You'll be discharged in a few days."
"Adrian—" Elena started.
"Mrs. Chen has prepared your room at the house. Adelaide will accompany you home with the baby. I've arranged for a full time nanny staff."
He was talking about logistics. Like this was a business transaction instead of the birth of his child.
"Don't you want to hold her?" Elena's voice came out stronger than she felt.
Adrian's eyes flicked to Lily for a fraction of a second then away. "I'm sure you're managing fine."
Something in his tone made Elena's chest tighten. This was not how a father should react to seeing his newborn daughter.
Unless this marriage was as much of a lie as everything else.
"Have you chosen a name?" Adrian asked.
"Lily."
He nodded once. "Fine."
Fine. Like it did not matter to him.
Adrian pulled his phone from his pocket and glanced at the screen. "I have meetings tomorrow. I'll check in next week."
"Next week?" Elena stared at him. "You're leaving?"
"You're stable. The baby is healthy. There's nothing more for me to do here."
He turned toward the door.
"Adrian wait—"
He paused but did not turn around.
Elena did not know what she wanted to say. That she was not Victoria. That something impossible had happened. That she was Elena Martinez somehow trapped in his wife's body. That she had never stopped thinking about him.
But the words stuck in her throat. Adrian would probably add a psychiatrist to her list of existing doctors.
"Never mind," she whispered.
Adrian walked out without looking back. The door closed with a quiet click.
Elena sat in the hospital bed holding Lily and staring at the door. Adrian had not even looked at his daughter properly. Had not asked about her health. Had treated the entire visit like an obligation he needed to check off.
The famous marriage between Adrian Castellano and Victoria Ashford was. A. Sham.
There was nothing. Just ice and distance and two people trapped in a contract they could not escape.
Elena looked down at Lily who had finished feeding and was sleeping peacefully. Her tiny face was relaxed. Unaware of how broken everything around her was.
"Your father is an idiot," Elena murmured. "Your mother is gone. And I have no idea what I'm doing."
Lily slept on. Too young to understand that her entire world was built on lies and impossibilities.
She pressed the call button. Adelaide returned within minutes.
"I need my phone," Elena said. "And my things. Where are they?"
Adelaide looked uncertain. "Your personal effects are in the closet. But you should rest. You've been through—"
"I need them now."
Something in Elena's tone made Adelaide move to the closet. She retrieved a designer handbag and placed it on the bedside table.
Elena waited until Adelaide left again before opening the bag. Inside was a phone. An expensive model with a rose gold case. Elena turned it on. The lock screen showed a photo of Adrian and Victoria on their wedding day. Both smiling for the camera. Both looking like strangers forced to stand too close.
Elena tried Victoria's birthday as the password. It worked.
She opened the messages first. Texts from people she did not know. Society friends. Family members. Nothing personal. Nothing real.
Then she found the hidden folder. Files marked private. Documents Victoria had clearly tried to keep secret.
Elena began to read.
And with each file, each message, each piece of Victoria's hidden life, Elena understood.
This was not just an arranged marriage.
This was a trap.