ELIZABETH'S POV

 “Wait, what did you just say? I was what?” I asked, hoping the words I just heard would somehow change if I questioned them again. My voice trembled with disbelief, my heart pounding loud enough to drown out everything else.

  “I know it’s hard to take in. Anyone in your shoes would be just as shocked, but that’s the truth, Elizabeth — you were adopted. You’re not our biological daughter,” my dad added, his voice steady, as if he had rehearsed this line a thousand times.

  I let out a shaky laugh that sounded nothing like amusement. “Haha, very funny. You can stop with the silly jokes now...