Chapter 13 - The woman on the screen was not my mother.But she looked exactly like her.
Same face.
Same voice.
Same mannerisms.
A double.
A replacement.
My mind rejected it.
Dominic didn't.
He immediately began searching the database.
“There were two Carter identities.”
Daniel appeared behind us.
He saw the screen.
His face collapsed.
“She's alive.”
“Who?”
“The woman who started The Crown.”
I stared.
“You know her.”
“Yes.”
“Who is she?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Your mother's twin.”
Silence.
“My mother had a twin?”
“She wasn't supposed to exist.”
That sentence made no sense.
Daniel continued.
“She was raised in a different family.”
“Why hide her?”
“Because she was recruited young.”
“By The Crown?”
“She founded it.”
I looked back at the screen.
The woman smiled.
“I've been waiting for you, Avery.”
Her voice filled the basement.
“You've spent your life believing your father's enemy was the world around him.”
The screen showed photographs.
My childhood.
My tournaments.
My father.
Dominic.
Vanessa.
“All of them were pieces.”
Then a final photograph appeared.
My father holding me as a baby.
Beside him stood the woman from the screen.
“Your father's greatest mistake was believing he could destroy me.”
Daniel looked away.
I stared.
“Who is she?”
“My sister.”
I felt sick.
“My aunt.”
“Yes.”
“Then my mother…”
“Her identical twin.”
The pieces aligned.
My mother had never been the target.
She had been the cover.
The Crown had hidden its founder inside the same family.
And my father had spent decades trying to destroy her.
Then Dominic noticed something.
“She's not in the hospital.”
I turned.
“What?”
“The hospital footage.”
He zoomed in.
The woman standing beside the bed wasn't my mother.
She was the twin.
The real hospital room was empty.
My mother was already gone.
A message appeared on the screen.
COME TO THE LAKE.
Then:
BRING DANIEL.
The lake.
I remembered Vanessa's birthday party.
Rain.
Cake.
The humiliation.
The hidden cameras.
Everything had been leading here.
We drove through the night.
The lake was empty.
A mansion stood on the shore.
Lights glowing.
The door opened before we reached it.
My aunt stood inside.
Beside her was my mother.
Alive.
Free.
Behind them were Michael and Elias.
Dominic raised his gun.
My aunt smiled.
“Put it away.”
He did not.
She looked at me.
“You're exactly like him.”
“Like who?”
“Daniel.”
“I hope so.”
She laughed.
“That's why I chose you.”
I frowned.
“Chose me for what?”
“To replace Dominic.”
Silence.
“You don't need an empire.”
She stepped closer.
“You need control.”
“No.”
“You think you're different.”
“I am.”
“Then prove it.”
She pointed toward Michael.
He brought Vanessa forward.
Her hands were tied.
My aunt said:
“Kill him.”
Vanessa stared at me.
“Do it.”
I looked at Michael.
He smiled.
“You know you want to.”
I stepped closer.
My aunt whispered:
“Your father taught you that strength means restraint.”
She smiled.
“He was wrong.”
I stopped.
Then I noticed something.
Michael's silver ring.
A tiny engraving.
Three vertical lines.
Exactly like the symbol from my father's notebook.
But beneath it was another marking.
A snake.
My father had once told me that a snake meant one thing.
“Poison inside the house.”
I looked at Dominic.
He understood.
Elias moved.
I moved faster.
I kicked Michael's weapon away.
Dominic tackled Elias.
Vanessa ducked.
My mother ran.
The room exploded.
My aunt fled upstairs.
I followed.
She opened a hidden door.
Beyond it was an underground tunnel.
I chased her.
We emerged in a second building.
The old Carter gym.
I realized why.
The Crown had been beneath it all along.
She turned.
“You finally came home.”
I raised my fists.
“No.”
I stepped forward.
“This is not home.”
She smiled.
“Then what is it?”
I looked at her.
“The place where you lose.”
She attacked.
Fast.
Faster than I expected.
She wasn't trained like me.
But she knew exactly where to strike.
We exchanged blows.
I blocked.
Countered.
She grabbed a knife.
I disarmed her.
She laughed.
“You think you've won.”
A gunshot cracked.
I froze.
My father stood behind me.
My aunt smiled through blood.
May you like
Then she whispered:
“Ask him who your real father is.”
