Love beyond the mask (Whitney)



Her eyes, damp with emotion, flashed with a furious light. "You never believe me, always choosing to side with Elaine. Don't you see she's been plotting against our kids from the start? I didn't tell you our other son was still alive because you don't deserve to know! That's why when the kidnapping happened, I didn't mention Sammy. It gave Elaine the perfect cover to clear her name and stay entwined with you in your sordid love affair."NôvelDrama.Org owns this.

Whitney's voice was tinged with bitterness, and she clutched her chest as her breathing became rapid.

Ludwik, on hearing her rapid-fire accusations, froze. His emotions were a whirlwind of joy and pain, the latter as if Whitney's grip was physically squeezing his heart, seeding doubts.

He shook his head, his voice hoarse and low. "Impossible... The police found a body in the sea six months later. I pulled it from the water, prepared it for the funeral, and named him Jacky. Jacky and Danny, my awaited twins... You cruelly took one from me, and I've resented you for three years, Whitney. Whitney..." His voice trembled slightly, cold yet hopeful as he looked at her, gripping her shoulders. "If you're lying to me, playing me, I swear..."

"I have no reason to lie. Sammy is alive!" Whitney saw the deep sorrow in his eyes. For a moment, he seemed so vulnerable. Her heart felt briefly seized, softened for a second. She unlocked her phone, pulling up a photo album, and drawing Danny closer, she explained, “Look for yourself. Photos of Sammy and me, from his childhood to now, abroad. He and Danny could be twins. It wasn't just you who got fooled at first."

Remembering the past, Whitney smiled sadly. She pointed at a picture of Sammy's clothing. "Sammy's the gentle soul, loves his comfortable tracksuits. Danny, on the other hand, you've always dressed him sharply, in little suits. That's their biggest difference. But when they pretended to be each other, no one could tell them apart. They switched places at the charity gala, and we were none the wiser."

Heaven... Could it be true?

Ludwik scrutinized Danny's current attire, the little suit, and recalled the recent shifts in his behavior-lively one moment, reserved the next. It had seemed odd, and he had his suspicions. But the boys were identical, both innocently charming, making it difficult to distinguish one from the other.

"So you figured it out, and you all conspired to fool me?" Ludwik thought back to his recent visits to the apartment. The last time, it must have been Sammy who greeted him.

Whitney, slightly embarrassed, didn't deny it. She deserved to turn the tables on him. She put away her phone, her tone trembling slightly with emotion. “After everything I've told you... revealing the existence of our other son wasn't something I wanted. But now you know. Ludwik, you must see, Sammy was impersonating Danny today, trying to use his phone to video call and help diagnose your mother's illness. I was the one who gave him the phone. But he encountered Elaine in the room before connecting with me. They must have struggled, explaining the overturned cart. Sammy, though trained in some martial arts, couldn't have overpowered Elaine. When I entered the room, I noticed the security footage only showed your mother leaving alone, Elaine and Sammy's whereabouts unrecorded. That's because..."

Whitney's voice trailed off as she dashed into the room, her gaze sharp on the window that opened both ways. "Ludwik, come here!"

He followed, frowning, into the room.

"I suspect Elaine escaped with Sammy through this window. She must have threatened your mother with Sammy's life, forcing Natalie to leave through the door. Because jumping would have meant certain death for Natalie with her condition, and Elaine couldn't risk that happening inside the hospital; it would have been too incriminating!"

Whitney finished in one breath, waiting for Ludwik's mind to catch up. Ludwik looked down from the second-story window, considering the danger of such a fall for a child. His heart clenched at the thought. His gaze then fell on the bloodstains on the hospital bed...

He suddenly remembered his conversation with his mother that morning. She had gestured "two," wanting to see her grandsons. He had thoughtlessly replied she only had one, which confused her.

Ludwik's eyes widened in shock. Perhaps his mother had regained her hearing earlier than he thought. If Whitney was right about the boys switching places, then Sammy must have also visited his grandmother, explaining her happiness that morning. He had been the fool, kept in the dark while even his mother knew of his sons' well-being.

Ludwik's eyes, now moist, looked at Whitney anew, her theory gaining credibility. His mother, to protect Sammy, had no choice but to flee under threat, willingly getting kidnapped.

Seeing Ludwik speechless, his emotions turbulent, Whitney sighed. "Ludwik, do you still doubt Elaine is behind the kidnapping of your mother and Sammy?"

"Daddy, Sammy is real. Please don't doubt Mommy anymore! Sammy and I have been sneaking around behind your back, talking every day. He's a really cute boy, smarter and slicker than me, and he takes good care of people. These three years, living with Mommy and him, I've been really happy. He's Mommy's little sunshine. We can't lose him; he's my brother..." Danny, tears streaming down his face, clutched Ludwik's hand, his usual stoic demeanor breaking down.

His other son was alive and kicking, a hundred percent! He had been living with Whitney for three years, and she had given him two bouncing baby boys. In that moment, the man felt his heart twist in pain, entangled and throbbing. His lips were tightly pursed.

Whitney, too, had tears in her eyes as she let out a sigh and pressed Felix again for the surveillance footage from TriMed Hospital, her gaze sharp and cold. "You didn't give me a chance earlier. This is the surveillance from Elaine's ward. She was wearing a red dress, wandering around the ward under surveillance in the morning. She hadn't come out since one in the afternoon. Don't you think she's a suspect? No, the surveillance only caught her legs appearing at the door of the ward. So, could the masked nurse at two-thirty be her in disguise, and the person in the red dress inside the ward actually someone else?"

Ludwik's gaze turned icy.

Whitney pointed towards Natalie's ward, squinting. "For Elaine to have gotten into this ward, she must have disguised herself as a nurse to change the medication. Ludwik, there's a twenty-minute gap in the surveillance at three o'clock. If we could see it, we would definitely spot a suspicious nurse walking in. She must have planned to come in and poison Natalie, but didn't expect Sammy to walk in on her. After being exposed, she had no choice but to abduct them both!"

Ludwik was silent, emanating a terrifying aura that was deafening.

Whitney nudged him. "If you're suspicious, don't waste time. Hurry up and intercept Elaine at TriMed Hospital! Let's quickly check all the hospital's exit surveillance to find traces of Sammy and your mother being abducted!"

Jolted by her nudge, Ludwik's voice burst forth coldly, "Felix, send someone to TriMed Hospital to look for Elaine. If found, detain her."

Felix had already left people at TriMed Hospital when he pulled up the surveillance. A phone call was made.

About five minutes later, Felix received a return call. "Mr. Lippert, it's not good. Elaine has already left the hospital...”

Ludwik's chill seemed to spread.

Whitney closed her eyes, her voice laced with sarcasm. "I knew it would come to this. By the time I convinced you to believe my suspicion about Elaine, she had already gone to deal with Sammy and... Ludwik, if anything happens to Sammy, I will never forgive you!"

Her voice was filled with bitter resentment.