chapter1223

She looked at Mikey and Mona, a knowing smile playing at her lips. "Not bad. You two could win an award." Mikey and Mona were so mortified, it felt like they could disappear right then and there.

Mona took a deep breath, trying to pull herself together. She turned to Lydia and Mikey, her voice urgent. "You believe me now, right? I swear, I wasn't making anything up."

The whole situation had started when Mikey opened the guest room door and found Lydia already sitting inside. That explained why he'd dragged Mona into the room so quickly. Mona had been just as shocked to see Lydia, and after a second, things started to make sense. Maybe Mikey had noticed something weird going on with her family, too.

Mona went over the whole story again about Mrs. Brown being a clone. Lydia, of course, didn't buy it right away. Mona insisted she could prove it, adding that Mrs. Brown kept pushing her to marry Mikey for some unknown reason. She still had no idea what the real goal was.

A few minutes later, Lydia saw Mrs. Brown heading up to the second floor on the security cameras. Mona, panicked, grabbed Mikey and jumped into their little act.

Lydia listened, eyes narrowed as she watched Mona. So tell me. How did you figure out she was a clone?"

Mona's face turned serious. Because they tried to replace me, too. My clone saved me."

That left both Mikey and Lydia stunned.

"Wait... Your clone saved you?" Lydia asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Mona nodded slowly. "Yeah. That's exactly what happened."

She took a shaky breath and began to explain, not leaving anything out. "That day, my mom took me to a

beauty clinic for some annet

injections. They brought us

glasses of water. I don't like blake

tea, so I only took a sip. My mom, though, she loves it, so she finished hers. Then she went in for her appointment, and I just kind of dozed off on the couch didn't even realize I'd fallen asleep. The next thing I know, I hear someone whispering in my ear. When I opened my eyes, I saw someone standing in front of me... and she looked exactly like me."

Thinking about it made Mona's hands tremble. She paused, struggling to get the words out as ase the memory took over. "I just froze. My mind went blank except for one thought I had to get away. So I ran, They chased me. I got into the elevator, but the other me made it in just before the doors closed.

Suddenly, the power cut out, and we were trapped. Both of our arms got caught in the doors and got hurt."

Mona's voice shook a little, but she kept going. "That's when she told me she was a clone, and her job was to take my place. She said my mom had already been switched out by another clone. But she didn't want to go through with it. She literally took a chip out of her own arm and pushed it under my skin."

Her face had gone pale. Slowly, she pulled up her sleeve and showed them her left arm. There was a scar on her wrist-not super obvious, but you'd see it if you looked closely. She could easily cover it with a watch or a bracelet.

"When the elevator finally started working again, those people caught up to us. Because my clone and I had swapped clothes, they thought I was the clone: They did another procedure to properly implant the chip into my arm. They injected the clone with something, and she passed out. They carried her off like she was nothing."

The memories made Mona shiver. She hugged herself, trying to get warm.

Lydia was quiet for a long time, just looking at her. Finally, she asked, "Does anyone

else know about this?"