The Replacement Daughter

Chapter 3 - The Boss's Plan

His home? What was I doing at his home? I started to get worried again.

"What's your name?" Marcus asked.

I swallowed hard and replied, "Lily."

"What's your surname?" he asked.

"Leong. Lily Leong."

Marcus nodded his head. "It's nice to meet you, Lily." He took a step forward towards me and again, I automatically took a step back, bumping into the side table. He smiled assuringly and said softly, "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to talk."

He sat down on the bed and patted the spot beside him as he looked up at me expectantly. I glanced at Shan and she nodded her head. Tentatively, I sat down on the bed, keeping a small distance between me and Marcus.

Marcus took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. Then he put the glasses on again. He looked at me and said, "There's something I want to show you." He reached into his breast pocket and took out a photo. He smiled and handed the photo to me.

I took it from him and looked. It was a photo of me, but I don't remember taking this photo. A deep frown formed on my face and I looked at Marcus questioningly.

"That's a picture of my daughter, Marissa," he said.

My eyes widened and I looked closer at the photo. This girl looked exactly like me. "I don't understand," I said in confusion.

Shan came to stand closer to us. "Your eyes are slightly larger and your mouth is different too. But everything else looks the same."

Marcus glanced at Shan, then back at me. "Shan raised Marissa since she was a baby. She knows everything about her, better than I do," he explained. Then he exhaled deeply and his eyes turned sorrowful. "My daughter has been missing for a month."

I gasped and covered my mouth. "What happened?"

"We don't know," Shan replied and glanced at Marcus.

Marcus looked at me and said, "We have looked for her, and we are still looking for her, all over the world. We have managed to keep this quiet for now, but it won't be long before people start asking questions."

"What people?" I asked and Shan scoffed before turning away.

Marcus sighed and said, "People who are important. I'm a businessman. If news of my daughter's disappearance shall get out, it would ruin me."

"Ruin you how?" I asked.

"That's not important for you to know!" Shan said in a loud voice and I bowed my head. She can be scary.

"Lily?" Marcus called me and I looked up at him. "I need your help."

"I'm not sure how I could help," I said to him, shrugging.

Marcus exhaled deeply before saying, "I need you to impersonate my daughter."

Upon hearing that, I sprung up from the bed and started pacing around the room with my hand covering my mouth. Impersonate Marissa? Are they crazy? "No, I can't do that," I said shakily.

Marcus stood up from the bed and tucked his hands into his pockets. Shan was standing at the side with her arms crossed and shaking her head.

"Lily, why were you at the factory?" Marcus asked me.

I stopped pacing and looked at him. "I'm working off my father's debt," I said quietly.

Marcus and Shan exchanged looks. Marcus looked at me and said, "If you do this, pretend to be my daughter, then I will clear all of your father's debt, scot-free."