Jasper's POV
"Daddy, wake up!"
Millie's tiny hands shook my shoulders as my phone screamed with an emergency warning. I shot up from the couch where I'd fallen asleep waiting for news about Belle.
The message made my blood freeze: "AMBER Alert: 4-year-old Millie Vale. Last seen at Sunshine Daycare, 3:00 PM."
But Millie was right here. She was safe in my arms.
Wasn't she?
I looked down at the little girl shaking me awake. Same blonde hair, same bright blue eyes, same gap-toothed smile.
But something was wrong.
"Millie?" I said slowly. "How did you get here? You were supposed to be at daycare."
She tilted her head like she didn't understand. "Silly Daddy. I've been here all day. We played hide and seek, remember?"
No. We hadn't played hide and seek. I'd been at the Whitmore house all evening, planning Belle's rescue. I'd left Millie with her babysitter, Mrs. Rodriguez.
"Where's Mrs. Rodriguez?" I asked, my heart starting to race.
"Who?" Millie looked truly confused.
I grabbed my phone and called the daycare center.
"Sunshine Daycare, this is Janet."
"Janet, it's Jasper Vale. Is Millie still there?"
There was a pause. "Mr. Vale, Millie never came to daycare today. We called you several times, but you didn't answer."
The phone slipped from my hands.
If Millie was at daycare, then who was this child in my living room?
I looked at the little girl again. Everything about her was exactly like Millie. But now that I really studied her face, something felt off. Like looking at a picture that was almost perfect, but not quite.
"Sweetie," I said slowly, "what's your favorite color?"
"Purple!" she said happily.
Wrong. Millie's favorite color was yellow. She'd told me a hundred times.
"And what's your favorite food?"
"Pizza!"
Wrong again. Millie hated pizza. She only ate chicken bites and mac and cheese.
This wasn't my kid.
"Who are you?" I whispered.
The fake Millie smiled, but it wasn't innocent anymore. It was cold and calculating.
"I'm whoever you need me to be, Mr. Vale."
Her voice had changed too. Still a child's voice, but with an adult's knowledge behind it.
I jumped up from the couch, my mind racing. If this wasn't Millie, then where was my real daughter? And who would use a child to spy on me?
My phone rang. Unknown number.
"Hello?" I answered, not taking my eyes off the fake Millie.
"Mr. Vale? This is Detective Martinez. We found your babysitter."
"Mrs. Rodriguez? Is she okay?"
"She's living, but she's in the hospital. Someone broke into your house this afternoon and attacked her. She's been asleep for hours."
My legs almost gave out. "And Millie?"
"That's why I'm calling. Mrs. Rodriguez woke up a few minutes ago. She said a man took Millie, but he left another child behind. A child who looks exactly like your daughter."
I stared at the fake Millie, who was now playing with toys like nothing was wrong.
"Detective, I have that child here with me now."
"Don't let her out of your sight. We're on our way."
I hung up and knelt down in front of the fake Millie. "Where is the real Millie?"
She looked up at me with those too-familiar blue eyes. "She's safe. For now."
"Who sent you?"
"People who want to help you make the right choice."
"What choice?"
She stood up and walked to the window, moving like she knew the house perfectly. "The choice about whether to marry Belle Whitmore tomorrow."
My blood turned to ice. "What do you know about that?"
"I know that Belle is being kept somewhere very dark and scary. I know that she's confused and scared and calling for help."
She turned back to me, and for a moment, I could see something that wasn't childish in her eyes. Something trained and dangerous.
"I also know that if you go through with the wedding, both Belle and the real Millie will be returned to you safely."
"And if I don't?"
"Then you'll never see either of them again."
I wanted to grab this fake child and shake the truth out of her. But she was still just a little girl, even if she wasn't mine.
"Who are you working for?" I asked.
"People who understand that sometimes you have to break a few hearts to save a family business."
The Blackwoods. They'd taken my daughter and replaced her with some kind of trained kid spy. The whole thing was so twisted I could barely believe it was happening.
"There's something else you should know," fake Millie continued in her strangely calm voice. "Belle doesn't remember you the way you remember her."
"What do you mean?"
"You think she ran away from home because she was scared of your feelings. But that's not the whole truth."
My chest tightened. "What are you talking about?"
"Belle didn't run away because you told her you loved her. She ran away because of what her parents told her after you left that night."
"What did they tell her?"
Fake Millie smiled, but it was cruel now. "They told her that you were only pretending to love her. That you were working with them to trap her into marriage. That your whole friendship had been a lie."
The words hit me like a punch to the stomach. "That's not true."
"Isn't it? You've been working with her father for four years. You agreed to the planned marriage. You've been raising her daughter without telling her. How is any of that different from what her parents said?"
I opened my mouth to argue, but no words came. Because she was right. From Belle's viewpoint, I was exactly what her parents had told her I was: someone who'd betrayed her trust.
"When Belle sees you tomorrow," fake Millie added, "she's not going to see her childhood friend who loved her. She's going to see the man who helped destroy her life."
My phone buzzed with a text. A movie message.
I opened it with shaking hands.
It showed Belle tied to a chair in a dark room, looking scared and confused. But that wasn't the worst part.
The worst part was that she was talking to someone off-camera, and I could hear what she was saying.
"Please, I'll do anything you want. Just don't hurt Jasper. He doesn't deserve this because of me."
Even after everything, she was still trying to protect me.
"You see?" fake Millie said softly. "She still loves you. Even though she thinks you betrayed her. Even though she doesn't know about real Millie. Even though her whole world is falling apart."
Tears were running down my face now. "What do you want me to do?"
"Marry her tomorrow. Sign the papers they give you. Transfer her fortune to the board. And everyone goes home safe."
"And if I refuse?"
Fake Millie walked to the door. "Then you'll spend the rest of your life wondering what happened to the two people you love most in the world."
She opened the door and stepped outside. "Oh, and Mr. Vale? Don't bother trying to follow me. I'm very good at disappearing."
I ran to the door, but she was already gone. Vanished like she'd never been there at all.
I stood in my empty house, looking at the toys scattered on the floor. Toys that my real daughter had been playing with just this morning.
My phone rang again. Robert Whitmore.
"Jasper, we have a problem. They want us to meet them tomorrow morning. Before the wedding."
"What kind of meeting?"
"The kind where they describe exactly what they've done to Belle. And what they'll do to her if we don't cooperate."
I closed my eyes and saw Belle's face in that movie. Terrified but still trying to protect me.
"Robert," I said quietly, "I don't think we have a choice."
"There's always a choice, son."
"Not when they have our children."
There was silence on the other end. Then: "What do you mean our children?"
I looked at the AMBER Alert still showing on my phone.
"They took Millie too. And Robert... I don't think we're getting anyone back alive."