asked, her voice smooth, but her expression s

n here? Defne again-that name, coming from the mouth of the woman

close to Defne and so familiar wi

to make strangers pause-but their faces differed slightly,

sed state, her voice barely above a whisper as she tried

he made herself comfortable in a chair nearby, crossing her legs with calculated poise and folding her arms tightly across her chest. Her husband, Mr

she dreaming? Had she misunderstood? She blinked repeatedly, trying to clear her mind and make sense of what was happening. She looked intensely at the

e confidence with which everyone called her that name-Defne-baffled her to the core. It wasn't a fluke. It w

and to touch Ayla, but Ayla instinctively pulled away, recoiling from her like she was fire. The gesture left Mrs. Do

fought back tears. She felt like a spectator in a play she didn't audition for-one with a terrifying script and no escape route. Her

fne,

more, her eyes caught on something-a clear, stainless container resting on the table beside her bed. It glinted under

t cold like it had been sculpted from the ice of Polaris. Alien. Detached. Wrong. Her fingertips grazed over unfam

s offered his phone to her. Its front camera wa

ran mad at what her eyes beheld. The person on the screen-no, in the camera-was not her. It was Defne. She knew it. Y

Panic surged through he

h, my Lord! What's happening to me?" she cried out again and again, as t

id firmly, his voice flat and decisive, before snatching his phon

cried, her voice rising with every word. "There must be a

remained unmoved. Co

Mrs. Dogans. "The person you are with is Ayla. Not your daughter Defne. You ar

feel it-to see her for who she really was. But instead of warmth, all she got was the chilling reaction of a wom

"You are Defne. I know you must still be traumatized from the acciden

ve wave of her hands. Her facial expression conveyed her s

who I am-call the doctor for a test. A DNA test. I think a DNA test will res

out warning, she grabbed Ayla by the hair, yanking her head back and forc

she sa