Parents Who Let the Fake Daughter Burn Me Regret Deeply

Day twenty-four working part-time as an NPC at the escape room, and the Delgado daughter, who'd booked out the whole place, shoved me off the second floor.

Ten minutes later a husband and wife rushed into the venue, but the first thing they did was rip out the surveillance hard drive.

Nanette Delgado tucked an emergency blanket around me, her voice shaking.

"Desiree Delgado isn't a bad girl. She just wants so badly to help us find our daughter."

Daryl Delgado left a hundred and eighty thousand behind and told the manager to write it up as a mechanical malfunction.

From that day on, Desiree came and booked me every single week.

She'd locked me in the morgue cabinet, dismantled the escape ladder, and forced me to admit on a live stream that I'd lost my footing.

And that couple always came running to clean up her mess.

The seventh time, she strung me up in an abandoned elevator shaft, leaving my arm badly bruised and three fingers on my right hand broken.

I was about to call the police when Nanette burst in and dropped to one knee by the window, begging me not to pursue it.

"Desiree's system and my lost daughter are bound together, one can't exist without the other."

"If anything happens to her, we'll never see my child again as long as we live."

I looked at the strand of white hair at her temple, the one I used to pluck out when I was small, and slowly lowered my phone.

She hugged Desiree in relief and never heard the old baby name I whispered under my breath.

Mom, you searched for me for twelve years. How can you not recognize me lying right here in front of you?

The fingerprint went down, and Desiree's tears turned into a smile.

The look she gave me was full of triumph.

"Mom, I knew you'd come save me."

Nanette patted her back gently.

"Don't be scared. It's over now."

My right hand was wrapped in a splint, and even if it healed, I might never be able to use it under strain for long, not for the rest of my life.

But with the settlement agreement in front of me pressed and signed, she really was in the clear.

Due to hypoglycemia, I carelessly fell into the elevator shaft. No one else was involved.

Daryl had me press my print to it, then set down a nondisclosure agreement.

"Lisa Sullivan, we'll cover the medical bills."

"I know you're still in college. You need tuition, living expenses."

"Blowing this up won't do you any good at all."

I stared at the agreement and didn't move.

I just looked at Nanette, holding Desiree tight, and my eyes went red.

"You searched for her for twelve years, didn't you?"

Nanette's head shot up.

"How do you know that?"

"I'm the one who the manager told me."

I lied.

That rainy night twelve years ago, when someone took me away from the amusement park, she'd chased after the car, calling my name over and over.

Suzy.

Later I was put into a shelter, passed along until I ended up with the family I have now.

After my adoptive parents died, I was left with a debt, and it was while sorting through their things that I found the clipping of the old missing-person notice.

It took me a long time to be sure I was their daughter.

I'd thought about just telling her.

But the first time Desiree pushed me down the stairs, she paid Desiree's way out.

The second time Desiree triggered a trap, she pulled the surveillance for Desiree.

Now my fingers were broken, and she still only cared about keeping Desiree safe in her arms.

My right hand was still in a splint. I didn't even have the ability to protect myself.

I couldn't take the gamble.

So I swallowed that word, "Mom."

At least until I knew I was safe, I couldn't let Desiree find out who I was.

Desiree suddenly pressed a hand to her temple.

Nanette held her tighter at once.

"Did you hear something again?"

"It's not hearing."

Desiree frowned, straining to make it out.

"A new lead just appeared in my head."

The ward went silent in an instant.

Daryl leaned in close.

"What is it?"

"After my sister was abducted, she spent half a year at the Sunrise Shelter in Southport."

Nanette's eyes lit up instantly, her voice trembling.

"Yes we looked into that before. There really is a lost-record file there from the right year, we just weren't sure"

Desiree threw her arms around her.

"Mom, that's her, that's my sister!"

"I know. Thank you, Desiree, thank you"

Nanette kissed her hair, crying.

I lowered my head, my left hand gripping the sheet tight.

That was where I'd stayed before I turned twelve, a private shelter running illegally for profit.

There's almost no record of it online, and the staff from back then had all scattered.

Yet Desiree could know it.

Just like the very first time she pushed me down the stairs, she'd known that I'd been abducted all those years ago, not simply lost.

I believed she really did have a system.

I let go of my cuff and pulled the nondisclosure agreement in front of me.

Daryl's expression softened a little.

"Is there anything else you want?"

"I want next semester's living expenses."

Nanette visibly let out a breath and patted my hand.

"That's fine. The manager will settle it with you."

That touch, like a small jolt of current, stirred up a hope in me I shouldn't have had again.

Once I made something of myself in college, I could proudly claim them as my parents.

But the next second, the hand Nanette had just released clenched around mine again.

"Lisa, as long as you cooperate, it won't be long before we find our real daughter."

"When that happens, I'll be sure to have Desiree bring her to thank you and apologize in person."

"Even if she hurts me again?"

No one answered.

Daryl took the signed agreement back.

"Desiree didn't hurt you on purpose. We'll give you compensation enough."

I looked at my swollen fingers in the splint and suddenly gave a small laugh.

"Mr. Delgado, the first six times, did you say that too?"

"A hundred and eighty thousand. Are you giving me three thousand this time?"

The day I was discharged after my first injury, the manager handed me only three thousand.

"The venue already covered your medical bills. Consider the rest your base pay for the month."

I didn't take it.

"Mr. Delgado left a hundred and eighty thousand."

The manager's face shifted.

"Who fed you that nonsense?"

"I saw it myself."

That day, when I reached the ER, I hadn't fully lost consciousness yet.

When Daryl Delgado handed the manager the check, what he said was, You handle it.

At the time, I thought the rest was for my treatment and compensation.

Only later did I learn the hundred and eighty thousand was hush money for the manager.

They'd decided I was poor enough to just take it.

But this time I wasn't going to swallow it.

The manager rushed in, and when he heard me, the smile froze on his face.

Nanette Delgado turned to him at once.

"Didn't I tell you to give her all the money?"

"Mrs. Delgado, the venue already covered her hospital costs."

The manager dropped his voice.

"And she couldn't work while she recovered, so the venue had to find someone to cover her shifts."

"If we pay out everything she's asking, every employee will learn to make a scene like her. How is anyone supposed to run a business?"

I let out a bitter laugh.

"So? I fell and got hurt, I got slapped, I got left hanging in an elevator shaft, and that was all a scheme to shake you down for money?"

The manager frowned.

"Lisa, you pressed your own thumbprint on that settlement agreement. It says right there, plain as day, that you got dizzy from low blood sugar and fell by accident, that you couldn't keep hold of the cable."

A sharp stab of pain shot through my right hand.

Desiree Delgado stayed curled against Nanette, her eyes flickering.

She said nothing.

I looked down at the splint.

"If I fell on my own, then why did you make me sign a confidentiality pledge?"

The room went quiet.

"That's enough, drop it!"

Daryl's face was dark.

"Lisa, we've already agreed to cover your tuition. Ending it here is better for everyone..."

"I don't agree,"

I cut him off and lifted my head.

"A hundred and eighty thousand means I don't have to work part-time. I can finish my studies with a clear mind."

"It's what was supposed to be mine. Why shouldn't I get it?"

The manager rushed to explain.

"That was Mr. Delgado's compensation to the venue for the shutdown. It wasn't for you personally."

I looked at Daryl.

He kept his head down and didn't argue.

"This time, the money doesn't go through the manager."

With my left hand I pushed the confidentiality pledge back at them.

"Tuition goes straight to the school. Living expenses go into my account. The amounts, the dates, all of it written into the agreement."

The manager's expression darkened.

"You've really got the nerve to ask."

"It's hers by right."

Nanette cut him off.

She looked at me, guilt in her eyes.

"Lisa, don't worry. This time no one will take a cent of your money."

Her voice was too gentle.

Like twelve years ago, when she stood in the rain calling my name over and over, Sweet-pea, Sweet-pea.

My nose stung, but I still asked.

"And the conditions?"

Her lips moved, but no words came.

Daryl answered for her.

"No police, no media. Once you've healed, you come back to work at the venue and cooperate with Desiree."

Of course.

My mother was willing to pay my tuition.

But first she wanted me to bring the person who hurt me back to my side.

"And if she sets off another trap on me?"

Nanette held Desiree tighter.

"Desiree just wants so badly to find her sister. She wouldn't really hurt you."

"But I'm already lying here."

Desiree's eyes suddenly went red.

"Sis, I didn't mean to."

She lifted her head from Nanette's arms, and in the blink of an eye the resentment in her stare turned to hurt.

"I only wanted a clue about my sister. I was just too anxious."

"I don't know why either. Every time I lose control and hurt someone, all I get is a blurry image."

"And it just happened to be you I hurt, and the clue I got was the most important one of all."

"I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to."

Nanette wiped her tears at once.

"Lisa, you heard her. Everything Desiree does is to save someone."

To save me, she hurt me again and again.

It was beyond absurd.

But I really did need the money.

I needed to make something of myself, enough that I could live well without needing anyone at all.

I swallowed the taste of blood in my throat and held out my left hand.

"The agreement. Hand it over."

Three days later, my right hand was still swollen.

This time the manager hadn't gotten his payoff, and he didn't give me any time off either.

He just stuck me in the darkest of the abandoned classrooms and put me on line-reading duty.

The first session hadn't even started when the iron door was shoved open from the outside.

Desiree walked in with a few thuggish-looking boys.

In her hand was the spare key that should have been in the manager's.

"Desiree, what do you want?"

She didn't answer. She only glanced at my injured right hand.

"Hold her down."

The boys closed in at once.

I spun toward the door, but the iron door slammed shut in my face.

Someone behind me grabbed a fistful of my hair and dragged me back.

Before I could steady myself, the loose NPC jacket was ripped open from behind.

"Let go of me!"

I fought as hard as I could, but the pain in my right fingers left me weak all over.

Two of the others held up their phones, cameras aimed at the state I was in.

"Don't move. Get it clear."

Desiree came closer, slowly.

Her eyes weren't on my face. They were fixed on my left shoulder.

My collar was yanked down hard.

That faint red crescent scar lay fully exposed under the lights.

The summer I was five, Mom stood on a stool to hang up the star lamp for me.

The nail suddenly gave way, and the whole glass frame slid down toward her face.

I lunged in terror to push her out of the way, and the frame struck my left shoulder, the shards cutting a curved moon into my flesh.

She carried me and rushed downstairs, and while the doctor stitched me up she cried and said she wished it had been her instead.

After that, she never let me touch anything up high again.

She said the scar was proof of what she owed me.

Now it had become the scythe coming for my life.

I knew Desiree had recognized who I was.

Her breath caught, something vicious flashed in her eyes, and she pulled a utility knife out of her pocket.

"Pin her down tight."

A cold went through me.

"What are you doing?"

"It's just an ugly scar. Why keep it around."

She crouched in front of me and set the blade against the crescent.

"Slice it up and no one will ever recognize you."

Pain be damned, I wrenched my splinted right hand free, tore loose, and kicked out at her.

The blade grazed my shoulder, and blood ran down my collarbone.

Humiliated and furious, Desiree raised the utility knife again.

The instant the blade came down, I threw myself at the sprinkler button in the corner.

Click. Mist burst out, and the lights flashed wildly.

Everyone let go on reflex.

I seized the chance to smash the medicine cabinet on the west wall and shove open the abandoned maintenance passage behind it.

I was the only one who knew there was another way out back there.

"Grab her!"

I squeezed through the narrow door. Someone caught the hem of my clothes.

I twisted out of the jacket and clawed my way into the dark.

At the end of the passage was the abandoned storeroom on the second basement level.

The door behind me couldn't be opened from this side, and the storeroom's iron door had long since been locked.

I still had nowhere to run.

At least there was a single bar of signal near the vent.

I curled into the corner and, with my trembling left hand, dialed 911.

"Someone's attacking me with a knife. The escape room venue at 17 Longview Road, second basement level."

The walkie-talkie at my waist crackled, and Desiree's voice came through.

"Where is she?"

Then a crash, the medicine cabinet being kicked open, ripped through the speaker.

The manager scrambled to answer.

"The maintenance corridor's empty. She must have made it down to the underground storeroom. But that place has been sealed off for ages, packed floor to ceiling with old props. Even the fire inspectors wouldn't set foot in there."

"I've never even been down there. Whatever you do, don't go in!"

His voice was tight.

Desiree let out a cold laugh.

"That's perfect, then."

The footsteps came fast.

I held my breath and braced my body against the iron door.

The handle turned suddenly from the outside.

I gripped it with everything I had and didn't dare make a sound.

A moment later, I heard the lock slide home.

"Lisa, I know you're in there."

Her voice carried through the iron, cold enough to make my skin crawl.

"Why do you insist on staying alive and getting in my way?"

"The cops are already coming."

I clenched my teeth.

"Desiree, you won't get away with this."

For a beat, everything went quiet outside.

Then she laughed, softly.

"Then let them come and investigate an ordinary fire."

I threw myself against the door.

"Desiree! One fire in here and the whole floor burns!"

"Accidental fire. What's that got to do with me?"

Chains rattled. The iron door was locked shut.

Then a lighter clicked open.

A moment later flames slipped in under the door and caught the old backdrops stacked against the wall, and black smoke poured through the whole storeroom.

"Help!"

Coughing, I dropped flat to the floor and pressed the hem of my shirt over my nose and mouth.

Hurried footsteps sounded outside fast.

"Desiree!"

It was Nanette's voice.

"How are you down here? Why is there a fire inside?"

Desiree started to cry.

"Lisa ran off, and the second I found this place it caught fire. I was so scared."

Daryl arrived too.

"Get out first. The smoke in there is toxic."

But the manager blocked them, panicking.

"Mr. Delgado, there may be someone in the storeroom!"

"Then why aren't you putting the fire out?"

At that moment Desiree shrieked, then choked out through her tears,

"Dad, Mom... just now, in my head, I think I saw her. Sis is in Larkport right now, out west."

Outside, everything went silent.

Nanette's voice shook.

"Larkport? Where exactly?"

"I couldn't see clearly. It looked like a station. Mom, let's go find her, now."

Nanette's breathing went ragged, and the panic in her voice flipped to sheer joy in an instant.

"Leave this mess to him. Take Desiree and go! We can't lose the trail again. To the airport. We're leaving for Larkport right now!"

"But..."

"Desiree can't be dragged into this. Call the police after we're gone. I'll cover the cost."

Before the manager could finish, Daryl cut him off.

"You hold up my search for my daughter, you'll never be able to pay for it."

The footsteps faded away.

A shelf, warped by the fire, came crashing down on top of me.

Everything went black, and I didn't have the strength left even to cry for help.

At last, far off, I heard sirens.

"How are they here so fast?"

The people outside sounded rattled. Daryl spoke first.

"Manager, you just say it was old wiring. Whatever comes of it, I'll carry it. I'll compensate you another five hundred thousand on top."

"We can't afford any delay on our itinerary. Let's go."

Somewhere in the haze of my fading mind, the sound of breaking came fast.

The iron door split under a fire axe, and a blinding searchlight tore through the dark.

"There's someone in here!"

"Stretcher! Now!"

They dragged me out from under the collapsed shelf and lifted me onto a gurney.

Outside, a light rain was falling.

Police tape ringed the venue. Daryl had already opened the car door for Desiree, and Nanette was urging the driver to head straight for the airport.

They were about to leave.

A medic pressed down on my bleeding shoulder, and my body curled in on itself on instinct.

Tears slid down mixed with the rain, and half-conscious, I cried out the name no one had said in twelve years.

"Susu... it hurts so much..."

The sound was almost too faint to hear, yet it carried through the rain.

The crowd was suddenly shoved aside.

Nanette jerked to a stop, then stumbled to the gurney, her face gone white.

"Susu?"

In the last second before my eyes closed, she seized my left hand and held on.

"How could you know that name? How?"