- 2 days ago
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Dad! Daddy! Let's leave her on the highway! Make her walk back home by herself!
00:06I had only been joking with my son, but the next second, my husband actually threw me out onto a
00:12deserted roadside, just as I was about to apologize.
00:15I saw my husband smiling brightly as he sent a message to a woman saved in his phone as sweetheart,
00:21and my son was calling that woman mom.
00:24With no other choice, I dialed the number I hadn't contacted in years.
00:28Later, my once arrogant ex-husband and my son cried and begged me not to leave.
00:33But standing in front of a magnificent, golden estate, I pushed their hands away without the slightest hesitation.
00:39Over the Thanksgiving weekend, the interstate was completely jammed with traffic.
00:44I glanced at my son Noah in the back seat. He was poking at his iPad and kicking the back
00:49of my seat.
00:50I thought I needed to do something to cheer him up.
00:53Hey Noah, did you know something? Actually, I'm not your real mom.
00:57Mom, I'm your stepmom.
00:59Just kidding. Mommy was lying to you.
01:02Really?
01:03Dad! Daddy! Let's leave her on the highway! Make her walk back home by herself!
01:09I thought I must have misheard him.
01:11But the next second, Julian Ashford turned on the right signal and smoothly pulled the car onto the emergency shoulder.
01:17Get out!
01:17His voice was terrifyingly calm. I turned to look at him, unable to believe my ears.
01:23What did you say?
01:24I said, get out.
01:26You make jokes like that with a five-year-old child, and you think it's funny?
01:32I was just...
01:33Get out! Don't make me say it a third time!
01:43Daddy, are we going to find Mommy Vivian now?
01:46The car emerged back into the traffic, and its red tail lights disappeared into the endless sea of vehicles.
01:52Vivian? What Vivian, Mommy?
02:04Hey, stepmom! I'm going to find my real Mommy now. You can walk back by yourself!
02:10I stared at the phone screen, my fingers trembling. What did he mean by going to find my real Mommy?
02:17Wasn't I his mother? Cars roared past me. The wind whipped my hair against my face, stinging like a slap.
02:24I dialed Julian's number. After three rings, he answered.
02:30Julian, what exactly are you doing? Let no one talk to me! I want to speak with him!
02:35You have no right to talk to him right now. He's only five years old, and you made that kind
02:39of joke with him?
02:40Did you ever think about his mental health?
02:43I was... I was only joking!
02:45Do you know Noah cried the entire way here? He thought you really weren't his biological mother.
02:50So you threw me onto the roadside?!
02:52He was the one who wanted you to get out. I was just respecting his feelings.
02:56If you don't want to be his mother, no one is forcing you.
02:59Think hurtfully. I'll wait for you at the next rest stop.
03:02I had raised him for five years. From the seven-pound three-ounce newborn I fed and changed diapers for,
03:08to teaching him how to ride a balance bike and recognize the alphabet.
03:12For five years, I wanted to laugh, but I couldn't.
03:16I took a deep breath and stood on the shoulder, raising my hand to flag down the car.
03:20One vehicle after another rushed past me, dragging wind behind them. No one slowed down.
03:26Fifteen minutes. Twenty minutes. My legs went numb. My toes turned purple from the cold.
03:32Not a single car stopped. I took out my phone and dialed 911.
03:37911, what is your emergency?
03:39My husband left me on the highway shoulder. I need help.
03:42Ma'am, are you saying you were intentionally abandoned?
03:44Yes. Interstate 62, eastbound, near exit 81.
03:47Alright. Please stay where you are. Do not attempt to cross the highway. We're sending someone to you now.
03:51Twenty minutes later, a Black Highway Patrol SUV with flashing lights pulled over beside me.
03:57The officer stepped out and saw me standing barefoot in the wind.
04:00His expression clearly said, are you serious?
04:03Your husband left you here? Why?
04:07I joked with my child that I was his stepmother. My son told his father to throw me out of
04:12the car.
04:15Get in. I'll take you to the rest area.
04:18When I arrived at the rest area, I cleaned myself up. Then I immediately called Julian. No answer.
04:25I called again. This time, it went straight to voicemail. I called Noah, but the call was rejected.
04:31I stood in the lobby of the rest area, gripping my phone tightly as I stared through the glass windows
04:37at the endless stream of people and headlights outside.
04:40Everyone had somewhere to go. Everyone except me. I didn't even know where I was supposed to go next.
04:46My phone vibrated. A message from the family group checked.
04:50My sister-in-law Cynthia had sent a series of live photos.
04:53Nobu Premium Steakhouse. In the photo, my mother-in-law has a relaxed, beaming smile, while Julian sits next to
05:01an unfamiliar woman.
05:02Right now, she's using a damp towel to wipe Noah's fingers.
05:05I swear I've seen that woman's face somewhere before Julian had her picture saved on his phone.
05:10When I was eight months pregnant, I had gotten up in the middle of the night to drink some water
05:15and saw his phone screen light up.
05:17The name displayed was, Vivian. He said they were university classmates, and I didn't think much of it at the
05:24time.
05:24The caption was written by Cynthia. The best Thanksgiving ever.
05:29Then what about me? Did I count as part of your family? I called Cynthia, sister-in-law.
05:34Sister-in-law?
05:35Why aren't you here yet? We're almost finished eating.
05:38I'm at the rest area. Where's your brother?
05:40My brother has been waiting for you at the rest area the whole time. What exactly are you trying to
05:44pull?
05:44I stood in the rest area, clutching my phone so tightly that my knuckles turned white.
05:50I decided to find him first and deal with everything else later.
05:54The rest area wasn't that big.
05:56I walked around once.
05:58The coffee shop nothing.
06:00The snack area nothing.
06:01The parking lot nothing.
06:03I even went to the entrance of the men's restroom and called out twice, making a crowd of people turn
06:08and stare.
06:09No one. There was absolutely no one.
06:12I reopened the photos in the family group chat and enlarged them one by one.
06:17I finally saw the restaurant's logo in the background.
06:20It was no blue.
06:21It was at least a 20-minute drive away from this rest area.
06:25I exited the photos and opened Julian's chat window.
06:29The last message he sent was 20 minutes ago.
06:32Have you figured it out yet?
06:34If you have, take a taxi here yourself.
06:36Don't waste time.
06:38I didn't reply.
06:39He sent another message.
06:40Noah is upset right now.
06:43When you get here, comfort him properly.
06:45Don't start arguing the moment you arrive.
06:48I stared at those words on the screen.
06:50I was the one who got abandoned on the highway.
06:53And I was still supposed to comfort him.
06:55My stomach suddenly growled.
06:57After all that chaos for three hours, I hadn't eaten a single thing.
07:01Never mind.
07:02I'll get a cup of coffee first.
07:04I walked up to the counter at Starbucks and pulled out my black card.
07:08Your card has been frozen.
07:10The current available balance is zero.
07:13Impossible.
07:14I spent $40,000 on this unlimited card last month.
07:18When I checked the banking app, I found the primary card holder had cut my supplementary card's monthly limit to
07:23one cent.
07:24My chest tightened sharply.
07:25Right then, an unknown number called.
07:28Hello?
07:28Big sister, are you avoiding coming to see me?
07:31If you don't come, this steak won't taste as good.
07:33After all, Julian had someone fly it in especially for me.
07:36Who are you?
07:37My name is Vivian Laurent, Julian's college classmate.
07:40Oh, by the way, your son calls me mommy.
07:44Give the phone to Julian.
07:45Julian isn't convenient to talk right now.
07:48He's cutting steak for Noah.
07:50Sister, are you really not coming?
07:52This beef is really expensive.
07:54Julian said he prepared it especially for me and Noah.
07:57I was allergic to beef.
08:00Severely allergic.
08:01The kind of allergy that could cause my throat to swell shut.
08:05I had been married to Julian for six years.
08:08Had he forgotten?
08:09I'm allergic to beef.
08:10Uh-huh, really?
08:12That's such a shame.
08:13Standing outside Starbucks, I dialed Julian's number again.
08:17This time, he picked up.
08:18Where exactly are you?
08:19The rest area.
08:20Didn't I tell you?
08:21I've been waiting for you here.
08:22Where are you?
08:23I'm at the rest area, right in front of Starbucks.
08:26That's impossible.
08:27I've been in the parking lot the whole time.
08:29I never saw you.
08:31Julian, do you really think I'm stupid?
08:34You're clearly sitting in Noby with that woman named Viviana, eating dinner with my son,
08:39and you're telling me you're waiting for me at the rest area?
08:41What are you talking about?
08:42I've been...
08:43Stop pretending.
08:44Julian Ashford, it wasn't our son who wanted me out of the car.
08:47It was you!
08:49You were afraid my existence would ruin your date with Viviana.
08:53You wanted me to die on the highway, didn't you?
08:55Didn't you?
08:56Baby, how much longer are we waiting?
08:58I don't want our son to keep calling that bitch Mommy.
09:02Julian, what did she just say?
09:04Nothing.
09:04You heard wrong.
09:05Come here first.
09:06We'll talk when you get here.
09:07The call ended.
09:09Five years ago, I gave birth to Noah.
09:12Three years ago, I resigned from my position as a partner at a law firm in San Francisco
09:17and came home to raise him.
09:19I thought I had a happy family, a husband who loved me, a sweet son.
09:24Now, everything I thought I had was cracking apart piece by piece, falling to the ground
09:29and shattering.
09:30Our son was Noah and not my son.
09:33Countless memories flashed through my mind.
09:36Noah's features, his eyes looked like Julian's, his hair looked like Julian's, but his face,
09:43his face really didn't resemble mine.
09:45I had never cared before.
09:47I thought it was normal for boys to take after their fathers, but that little face.
09:52The more I thought about it, the more it looked like Vivian Moran.
09:56I opened my contacts and scrolled down to a number I hadn't touched in five years.
10:01My finger hovered above the green call button.
10:04Hello?
10:05Dad?
10:06Elena, you finally called.
10:08Do you know your mother asks me every single day?
10:14Dad, I need your help.
10:16Where are you?
10:17Interstate 62, exit 81 rest area.
10:20Wait there.
10:21The call cut off.
10:2320 minutes later, dozens of black helicopters roared over the rest area, circling overhead
10:29like iron birds.
10:30Panic spread people screamed, filmed or hit under tables.
10:33I stepped outside as the crafts landed.
10:36Wind whipping my hair.
10:38White haired Sebastian Whitmore, my father, exited the first chopper with rows of black
10:43clad guards.
10:43He approached, scanning me from head to toe.
10:46You've lost weight.
10:48Enough.
10:50Who hurt my daughter?
10:52When the helicopter landed on the rooftop helipad of the Whitmore family estate, the sky was already
10:58completely dark.
10:59I followed my father into the study I had left five years ago.
11:03On the oak desk sat a cup of hot cocoa.
11:06Beside there were a female doctor in a white coat and three lawyers dressed in tailored suits.
11:11Sit.
11:16I told them everything from beginning to end.
11:19I didn't cry.
11:21After listening to everything, my father's expression didn't change at all.
11:25What do you want to do?
11:28Come back home with me and live here or make them pay.
11:32The second one.
11:34Are you sure?
11:37I'm sure.
11:39Thomas.
11:40Investigate two people.
11:42Julian Ashford and Vivian Laurent.
11:44I want every account under their names, their properties, call records and hotel records.
11:48Put everything on my desk before tomorrow morning.
11:57What are you planning to do?
12:00I need to confirm one thing first.
12:03What?
12:05Whether Noah is really my child.
12:11What if he isn't?
12:13Then find him.
12:16The child I gave birth to.
12:20Find out where he is.
12:26Add one more thing.
12:28Investigate everything from the hospital where Elena gave birth five years ago.
12:32Operating room surveillance footage.
12:34Duty schedules.
12:35Nurse lists.
12:36Everything.
12:38Mrs. Whitfield.
12:39Noah Ashfield has no biological relationship with you.
12:43There's something else.
12:44When you gave birth five years ago, the records from C.D.L. Sano show that you delivered a baby
12:48girl.
12:48She was born alive and weighed six pounds, two ounces.
12:51Where is that baby girl?
12:54The registered record says stillborn.
13:11I don't even know what she looked like.
13:14I didn't even have time to give her a name.
13:20He still smelled the same.
13:22Like pine wood and cigars.
13:25Exactly the same as five years ago.
13:28I didn't stop investigating the hospital records from that day and I found a problem.
13:31At three o'clock in the afternoon on the day you gave birth, the Cedars-Senech maternity ward duty records
13:36were altered manually.
13:38The nurse who delivered your baby resigned the very next day.
13:40We currently have no way to locate her.
13:42On the same day, at the same hospital, at 11 in the morning, Mrs. Vivian Lawrence gave birth to a
13:47baby boy.
13:48The same day?
13:49Yes.
13:50The two births happened less than four hours apart.
13:52Did she have anyone accompanying her during delivery?
13:54No.
13:55Her hospital expenses totaled $48,000.
13:58Paid using a credit card belonged to someone named Julian Ashford.
14:02So from beginning to end, this had all been planned.
14:06Five years ago, my daughter was registered as stillborn.
14:10Vivian's child was handed to me.
14:13Then what about Vivian?
14:15Where had she been these five years?
14:18Investigate Viviana Lawrence.
14:20Find out where she was these five years, who she was with, whether she had a permanent residence.
14:25I want everything.
14:28We're already looking into it.
14:30You'll have the results before sunrise.
14:32I sat on the sofa, staring at the crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
14:37My mind kept replaying the past five years.
14:40I had been a full-time mother for five years.
14:42When my child had his first fever, I stayed by his bedside all night without sleeping.
14:48On his first day of kindergarten, when he cried, I stood outside the classroom crying with him.
14:54As dawn approached, Thomas brought back all of Vivian's records from the past five years.
15:00Vivian Laurent, 28 years old, Julian's college classmate.
15:05She had dated Julian during college.
15:08After graduation, they broke up, and she went to Europe for three years.
15:12When she returned, she was pregnant.
15:15But she quickly rekindled her relationship with Julian.
15:18As her pregnancy became noticeable, she found Julian and told him the child was his.
15:23At that time, Julian had just become engaged to me.
15:27He didn't dare acknowledge the child, so he asked her to give birth and then give the baby to me.
15:33For the past five years, Vivian had been living in a house in Pasadena purchased by Julian.
15:38Every month, Julian transferred $3,000 from the company account to her as child support.
15:45Every other weekend, Noah would go to his godmother's house to play.
15:49Four or five years, I had been like a fool.
15:54Have you decided?
15:57No regrets?
15:59No regrets.
16:03You're even more ruthless than your mother.
16:06If mom were still alive, she would support me.
16:09She would.
16:11Then I figured out how I'm going to die.
16:15How?
16:16A car accident.
16:18It needs to be tragic.
16:20My face must be unrecognizable.
16:22It needs to make the news.
16:25Good.
16:26I'll arrange it.
16:28Thank you, Dad.
16:31Thank me for what?
16:33You're my daughter.
16:34If I don't help you, who will?
16:38I stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.
16:41Outside, the eastern horizon was slowly changing from deep blue, to gray, to white, to pink.
16:48I took out my phone and opened Julian's chat window.
16:51He had sent more than ten messages last night.
16:54I exited the chat window.
16:56No reply.
16:57I turned off my phone and threw it onto the sofa.
17:00Dad, hmm?
17:02Let's begin.
17:05The next afternoon, on Interstate 62, eastbound, the black sedan was rear-ended by an out-of-control
17:12truck and burst into flames on the spot.
17:14The fire was so intense that by the time the fire trucks arrived, the vehicle had already
17:19been burned down into a twisted metal frame.
17:22The person inside had been burned beyond recognition.
17:25Through dental records and mitochondrial DNA comparison, the police confirmed that the
17:30deceased was Elena Whitmore, 29 years old.
17:35What?
17:41Who did you say?
17:43Your wife, Elena Whitmonds.
17:46She was killed in a car accident on Highway 62.
17:49She died at the scene.
17:52Julian, don't-
17:53Let go of me!
17:58When he drove to the medical examiner's office, I was sitting across the street inside a black
18:03GMC with privacy-tinted windows.
18:06No, no, no!
18:17No!
18:19No!
18:19No!
18:20Oh, God!
18:24I watched his back through the car window.
18:27For some reason, I suddenly wanted to laugh.
18:30Fine yesterday?
18:33Yesterday, you left me on the side of the highway.
18:36Did you forget?
18:38Drive.
18:40Three days later was the funeral.
18:43The Whitmore family had always held funerals that were low-key yet luxurious.
18:47At a private church in Santa Barbara, my father's assistant delivered the eulogy.
18:52My father himself sat in the front row and never stood up from beginning to end.
18:56Julian sat in the family section.
18:58She held Noah on her lap.
19:00The five-year-old boy was dressed in a black suit.
19:03At my funeral, my husband was holding his mistress.
19:07His mistress was holding my son.
19:09My mother-in-law and my sister-in-law sat in the third row, whispering to each other with
19:14smiles on their faces.
19:15My father never looked at them once.
19:18The day after the funeral, Julian was overwhelmed with chaos.
19:22First, the Whitmore family's holding fund announced.
19:25Due to the unexpected death of the heir, all external investment risks will be reassessed.
19:31All funding agreements with Ashford Technologies were terminated immediately.
19:35Then, his three largest corporate clients sent termination notices on the same day.
19:42Overnight, Julian Ashford went from being a rising star in Silicon Valley to having nothing
19:47left but the clothes on his back.
19:49He made countless phone calls, sent countless emails, and even flew to New York to meet with
19:54three investment firms.
19:56Everyone either refused to answer his calls or simply told him,
20:00Sorry, we can't help you.
20:02Because every answer he received came from the exact same source.
20:07Have all the clients been handled?
20:09All of them.
20:10Three companies have signed non-compete agreements.
20:13The compensation clauses have already been triggered.
20:16Ashford won't receive a single penny.
20:18What about the suppliers?
20:20They will collectively stop supplying this afternoon.
20:24The banks?
20:26They've already been notified to recall his loans.
20:29Good.
20:30His personal accounts were frozen early this morning.
20:33I put down my phone and leaned back against the chair, looking out at the ocean through
20:37the window.
20:38Back when Julian wanted to start his own company, I asked my father to invest his first round
20:43of funding through a shell company.
20:45I also used the Whitmore family's supply chain resources to help him establish his first downstream
20:51distribution channels.
20:52He thought his success came from his own talent and sharp business instincts.
20:56Now that I was gone, of course, all of those people who were going to be able to be able
20:59to
20:59make sure that those things had to be taken back.
21:01Things were no better for Vivian.
21:04Noah was expelled from the private preschool in Pasadena.
21:07The reason given was...
21:09There are inconsistencies between the submitted birth certificate and guardian documentations.
21:14Vivian went to Julian and asked him to fix it.
21:17Julian didn't even answer her call.
21:30Vivian stood outside the Pasadena house that no longer belonged to her, holding Noah in
21:35her arms.
21:36The landlord had already given her a final warning.
21:39Julian's car could no longer cover the rent.
21:42She went looking for Julian.
21:44Julian stood at the entrance of his apartment.
21:48Vivian, tell me the truth.
21:50Is no one really mine?
21:54Of course he is!
21:58Is he?
22:01Yesterday, I checked your travel records from five years ago when you were in Europe.
22:05After we broke up, you slept with three different men one after another.
22:09Don't you know that yourself?
22:15How did you find that out?
22:17Elena is dead.
22:20Her father's lawyers sent it over.
22:28Read it yourself.
22:34Inside was an anonymous paternity test report.
22:37Noah Ashford and Julian Ashford have no biological relationship.
22:41I am going to sue you.
22:43I will sue you for fraud.
22:48The money I transferred to you over these five years.
22:53You are going to pay it all back.
22:56What about Noah?
22:58That is your problem.
23:00He is the child you had with another man.
23:03You raise him yourself.
23:11I am the doctor who was responsible for examining Noah's biological father, Marco Reyes, last time.
23:16There was an issue with his blood sample.
23:18We need you to come in as soon as possible for blood testing.
23:20What issue?
23:22Marco Reyes has been diagnosed with HIV.
23:25At the moment, we do not have records of his other contacts.
23:29As the child's biological mother, we recommend that you come in immediately for screening.
23:43Mommy, what is wrong with you?
23:47One month later, Vivian Loran was confirmed to be HIV positive.
23:52Thomas personally delivered the report to my desk.
23:57What was her reaction?
23:59She cried for three days.
24:02She called Julian 47 times.
24:05He rejected every single call.
24:09She also contacted Noah's preschool trying to get the child accepted back.
24:13They refused, saying, for health and safety reasons.
24:18It was the information my father's legal team had spent three weeks digging up.
24:23Noah's biological father was a Mexican man named Marco Reyes.
24:28Five years ago, at a nightclub in Ibiza, he had a brief vacation romance with Vivian.
24:33A few months later, Marco was arrested by the FBI for international drug trafficking.
24:38Four months ago, a routine prison medical examination revealed that he was HIV positive.
24:44Which meant, Noah had been exposed to the risk of infection from the moment he was born.
24:49For five years, Vivian had never taken him for a single medical checkup.
24:54I closed the report and handed it to Thomas.
25:09While Julian begged for funds over the phone, the documents arrived.
25:14He tore open the envelope and pulled out the paternity test report and the public health department's related report.
25:20The moment he looked at them.
25:22HIV?
25:27He remembered three months ago, when Vivian had come to his apartment and they had slept together.
25:33That same afternoon, he went to a clinic for a blood test.
25:37The results would take 72 hours.
25:39During those 72 hours, Julian Ashford lived like a fish thrown onto a chopping board.
25:44He couldn't sleep.
25:46Every time he closed his eyes, he dreamed that purple spots were beginning to appear all over his body.
25:52During the day, sitting in the shared office, if someone nearby coughed once,
25:56his entire body would tense up.
25:58He started researching post-exposure prophylaxis medication.
26:02But the window period had already passed.
26:05At 9 a.m. on the 72nd hour, the doctor called him.
26:10Julian, Julian, your results are negative.
26:13You are not infected.
26:18Thank God.
26:24Before he could even wipe his tears away, his phone rang again.
26:28It was Vivian.
26:30Julian, I'm pregnant.
26:33Three months ago, the time they had been together in his apartment.
26:39That child?
26:40It's yours.
26:42This time, I haven't been with anyone else.
26:45I swear.
26:46I know I was wrong.
26:48Please come back, okay?
26:49We can bring Noah back together.
26:51You know that child was at risk of exposure and you still don't know?
26:56I checked.
26:57Noah's test results were negative.
26:59He doesn't have-
27:01I'm- I'm talking about you!
27:03You're fucking HIV positive and you didn't even know it?
27:08I didn't know.
27:10I really didn't know.
27:12You didn't know?
27:14You didn't know and you couldn't even use protection?
27:18I thought it was you.
27:21We had been together for so many years.
27:24I just wanted our family back.
27:28Our family?
27:33You ruined my wife's life.
27:36Made my son someone else's child.
27:40And now you're talking to me about our family?
27:45Let me tell you, Vivian.
27:47Go get that child aborted.
27:50And disappear from my life completely.
27:54Otherwise, I'll have my lawyers make sure you end up in prison.
28:00I won't!
28:01This is your child!
28:03I'm going to have it!
28:05I want you to owe me!
28:08For the rest of your life!
28:10AHHHHH!
28:17Two weeks later, Vivian was admitted to the infectious disease ward of a medical center.
28:22Noah was temporarily placed in a county government temporary guardianship center.
28:27Julian never went to see her.
28:29He didn't even ask about her.
28:31But someone did go see her.
28:33Me!
28:44Surprise!
28:46You're not dead!
28:48How could you not be dead?
28:51My father has money.
28:53Was it really that difficult to find a replacement?
28:57Viviana, you don't have much time left.
28:59The child in your womb probably won't survive either.
29:03If you want to hear what I have to say, blink once.
29:06If you don't, I'll leave.
29:07And you can die here alone.
29:13You received Noah's paternity test results, didn't you?
29:17Marco Reyes.
29:18Federal prison.
29:2018-year sentence.
29:22HIH positive.
29:24You knew five years ago, didn't you?
29:28Viviana, you handed me a baby with exposure risks and let me raise him for five years.
29:34But my daughter wasn't actually registered as stillborn.
29:37Is she still alive?
29:40Your daughter?
29:42Yes.
29:42My daughter.
29:46I'll ask you one last time.
29:48Where is my daughter now?
29:54She didn't die.
29:57She was born healthy.
29:59Six pounds, two ounces.
30:01When the nurse held her up to show her to us, she cried so loudly.
30:05Julian was the one who told the nurse to alter the records.
30:10He didn't want the child I gave birth to to stay with him.
30:15But I also didn't want to raise a mixed race child because I thought Noah was his.
30:19So you threw my daughter away?
30:21We didn't throw her away.
30:25She, she, she was taken away by a nurse.
30:29That nurse said she would find someone to adopt her.
30:32I truly don't know where she went.
30:35I had just given birth.
30:37I couldn't think clearly.
30:41Viviana, you will die here.
30:43No one will come to see you in your final moments.
30:47Remember this.
30:50This was the choice you made.
30:52Elena.
30:54I'm sorry.
30:59The nurse was found by Thomas' people the very next day.
31:03She had retired and was living in the countryside.
31:06The moment she saw the Whitmore family lawyer's business card, she confessed everything.
31:11Back then, Julian had paid her $20,000 in cash and asked her to take the baby girl out
31:17of the hospital and find any family willing to adopt her.
31:20The nurse said she remembered handing the child over to a couple who couldn't have children.
31:25Their last name was Garcia.
31:27That very night, my father sent people to bring the child back.
31:3124 hours later, Thomas called me on a video call.
31:34On the screen appeared a 5-year-old little girl with brown hair, wearing a floral dress
31:39and sitting on a swing, laughing happily.
31:41When she smiled, there was a tiny dimple on the left side of her cheek, just like mine.
31:47Bring her back.
31:48It's already being arranged.
31:50Her adoptive parents.
31:51They have no objections.
31:53They always knew the child wasn't biologically theirs.
31:55They completed the legal adoption process back then.
31:58The Whitwield family's lawyers have already negotiated the terms in compensation with them.
32:03What if she doesn't want to come back?
32:04She will.
32:06That child is like you.
32:07I can tell.
32:08I turned off the screen.
32:10Then I walked outside and stood on the second floor balcony.
32:14I lowered my head and glanced at my phone.
32:16The top news notification read,
32:19Former tech prodigy Julian Ashford dies suddenly in rental apartment.
32:23On his bedside table, investigators found a silver hair clip.
32:27The forensic examiner said it appeared that the object had been tightly held for a long time.
32:32That hair clip was the one I lost five years ago.
32:35Last week, I had someone place it under his pillow.
32:39Preliminary cause of death determined to be heart failure.
32:42Noah's DNA test results also came back.
32:45Negative.
32:46He was not infected.
32:49I had Thomas take him out of the county guardianship center and enroll him in a private boarding school.
32:55He didn't recognize me.
32:56To him, I was just the auntie from daddy's company.
32:59He asked once,
33:01Where is daddy?
33:02I told him daddy had gone somewhere very far away.
33:05I stood in the hallway of the estate.
33:07Sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows,
33:10Falling diagonally onto the carpet and breaking into pieces of golden light.
33:17Is it over?
33:20Yes.
33:22What are you going to do next?
33:23Go to Dallas to bring her home,
33:25then figure out how to be a mother.
33:27You have always been a good mother.
33:29This time,
33:30I was the one who got to choose.
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