Chapter 11 - The Twin Who Walked Out of the DarkNobody moved.
The woman stepped into the light.
My heart stopped.
She looked like me.
But unlike the woman in the photograph, this one was alive.
Her eyes were tired.
Her face thinner.
There was a scar above her eyebrow.
Dante whispered one word.
“Isabella.”
The woman looked at him.
“I knew you would find me.”
Gabriel reached for her.
She smiled.
Then she looked at me.
“You're safe.”
I couldn't speak.
She came closer.
We stood face to face.
Twin sisters.
Separated for twenty-four years.
I searched her features.
My own face reflected back at me.
“Why did you let me believe you were dead?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Because it was the only way to keep you alive.”
“Who was buried in your grave?”
“A woman who worked for Carlo.”
“So the accident…”
“Was staged.”
“Why?”
“Because Carlo had discovered we were both alive.”
Dante stepped forward.
“You knew Gabriel needed her.”
Isabella looked at him.
“Yes.”
“Then why did you leave me?”
Her face broke.
“I didn't.”
Silence.
“I was taken.”
“By whom?”
“Your father.”
Dante's expression hardened.
“Carlo.”
Isabella nodded.
“He kept me for months.”
“What did he want?”
“The location of the archive.”
Dante frowned.
“I never knew about that.”
“I know.”
She looked at me.
“They believed you were the key.”
I stepped closer.
“Why me?”
“Because of what our father gave us.”
“Our father?”
Isabella nodded.
“He wasn't Gabriel Valdez.”
I felt the floor tilt.
“Then who?”
She looked at Dante.
“Carlo Moretti.”
Silence.
Dante's face turned white.
“No.”
Isabella whispered:
“Our mother had an affair with Carlo.”
I stared.
“That's impossible.”
“It isn't.”
Dante stepped backward.
“My father was…”
“Our biological father.”
My blood ran cold.
That meant Dante and I were...
Isabella continued quickly.
“Not related by blood through Carlo.”
She pointed at Dante.
“Because Carlo was Dante's adoptive father.”
Dante exhaled.
“My mother was married to Carlo, but I wasn't his biological son.”
Everything shifted.
Our connection wasn't what I feared.
Isabella looked at me.
“You and I are Valdez sisters.”
She looked at Dante.
“And Gabriel is Moretti by blood through Carlo.”
My head spun.
“Then why was Carlo involved?”
“Because he believed Gabriel could inherit everything.”
Dante stared.
“My son?”
“Yes.”
“The empire?”
“Yes.”
“And you?”
“I was the mother who refused to surrender him.”
Isabella's voice hardened.
“That is why Carlo tried to kill me.”
I looked at Gabriel.
“Then why did he want me?”
“Because you were the backup.”
“For what?”
“Gabriel's survival.”
I remembered the medical file.
Twin compatibility.
Isabella nodded.
“Your blood can save him.”
I looked at her.
“You always knew?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't you contact me?”
“I tried.”
She reached into her coat.
A stack of letters.
All addressed to me.
None had been delivered.
I opened one.
The date was six years ago.
Another four years ago.
Another two years ago.
My hands shook.
“How?”
“Someone intercepted them.”
“Who?”
Isabella looked at Dante.
“Victor.”
The room went silent.
“Victor worked for Carlo.”
Dante's jaw tightened.
“And now he works for me.”
“He never stopped working for Carlo.”
The implication was devastating.
Dante had trusted Victor for years.
Isabella continued.
“He was the one who arranged the fake accident.”
“Then who died?”
“A woman named Marta.”
“The woman from the morgue?”
“Yes.”
I stared.
The dead woman had been a decoy.
Everything had been built around a lie.
Then Isabella looked at Gabriel.
“There's something else.”
She took a small USB drive from her pocket.
“It contains Carlo's final accounts.”
Dante took it.
“What's on it?”
“Names.”
“Which names?”
Isabella looked at me.
“People who are still alive.”
Her voice dropped.
“People who are hunting you.”
Dante inserted the drive into his laptop.
A list appeared.
Politicians.
Police.
Bankers.
Judges.
Then one name.
Victor Rinaldi.
Dante stared.
But beneath Victor's name was another.
Dante Moretti.
He went still.
I looked at him.
“Why is your name there?”
Isabella's face changed.
“Because the list wasn't created by Carlo.”
“Then who created it?”
She looked toward the windows.
“Your father.”
My heart stopped.
May you like
Gabriel started crying.
Then every alarm in the house went off.
Related Stories
