The Other Child

Math genius Emma Payne gave birth to fraternal twins during an exam. The boy, Andy Winston, was stolen by Joyce and sold to the Winston family to avert a family disaster. Six years later, Emma joined Winston Group as a cleaner. Her daughter, Cathy Payne, had extraordinary mathematical talent, which caught Fred Winston's attention, earning her a qualification for an international competition. During the contest, Dona Shawn conspired with Joyce to frame Cathy for cheating,...

The Other Child

Math genius Emma Payne gave birth to fraternal twins during an exam. The boy, Andy Winston, was stolen by Joyce and sold to the Winston family to avert a family disaster. Six years later, Emma joined Winston Group as a cleaner. Her daughter, Cathy Payne, had extraordinary mathematical talent, which caught Fred Winston's attention, earning her a qualification for an international competition. During the contest, Dona Shawn conspired with Joyce to frame Cathy for cheating,...

The monitor flickers with Cathy’s face—her small hands gripping the exam table, eyes wide not with guilt, but confusion.\n\n‘She solved Problem X-9,’ the announcer says, ‘a cipher developed in secret by our panel. No child should know this.’\n\nMy breath freezes. That problem… I worked on it the night I went into labor. With both of them.\n\nSecurity swarms the stage. Dona Shawn whispers to Fred Winston, pointing at me in the audience. I’m just a cleaner. I shouldn’t even be here.\n\nCathy screams my name as they drag her away.\n\nMy phone buzzes: UNKNOWN SENDER.\n\n‘They took the wrong twin.’\n\nI have three minutes before the building locks down. Do I run to Cathy? Hack the internal feed to broadcast the truth? Or find the hidden file labeled ‘Project Gemini’ before they erase it forever?