Maya's POV
I ran.
Down the hallway, away from the man who was supposed to be dead, away from Mrs. Winters calling my name, away from everything.
My feet slammed against hardwood floors as I looked desperately for an exit. Any escape. But every door I tried was locked. Every window was sealed shut. The house was a maze of glass and stone with no way out. "Maya, stop!" Mrs. Winters' voice echoed behind me. "Please, you'll hurt yourself!"
I didn't stop. Couldn't stop. My heart hammered so hard I thought it might burst. I turned a corner and slammed straight into something solid.
Arms caught me before I fell. Strong arms that held me firmly but didn't hurt. "Easy," a voice said. Gentle. Warm. Nothing like the cold voice from the hallway.
I looked up into gray eyes. Ezra. The real Ezra. At least, I thought it was him. "Let me go!" I fought, but he didn't release me. "You're safe. I promise." His voice was so calm that it made me want to scream. "No one here is going to hurt you." "You've been lying! Your brother is alive! You've been pretending" I know." Ezra's grip loosened slightly. "And I'm sorry you found out this way. But please, just breathe. Let me explain." "Explain what? Did you fake your brother's death? That you've been lying to everyone for ten years?" I finally broke free and backed away from him. "Why should I believe anything you say?" "Because you're still here." He didn't move toward me. "You could have run out the front door when Vale dropped you off. But you didn't. You came inside. You wanted answers."
He was right, and I hated that he was right. "Fine," I said, my voice shaking. "Start explaining. Now."
Before Ezra could answer, the other twin appeared at the end of the passage. Elijah. They stood on opposite sides of me, similar but completely different. "You shouldn't have told her anything," Elijah said coldly. "She's a problem now." "She was always going to find out," Ezra answered. "That's why she's here." "That's why you brought her here. I never agreed to this." "You didn't have to agree. This is my house too."
The tension between them crackled like lightning. I looked from one to the other, my mind spinning. "Someone tell me what's going on," I shouted. "Right now, or I'm walking out that front door and never coming back." "You can't," Elijah said simply. "The door's locked. All the doors are locked until morning." "You locked me in?" Panic rushed through me again. "That's kidnapping! That's" Protection," Ezra stopped. "Someone is coming here tonight. Someone dangerous. We locked the house to keep them out. And to keep you safe." "Safe from what?"
The twins looked at each other. Some quiet conversation passed between them that I couldn't understand.
Finally, Ezra spoke. "Come with me. Both of you. There's something Maya needs to see."
He led us to a room I hadn't noticed before, hidden behind a cabinet that swung open like something from a movie. Inside was an office full of computers, filing cabinets, and walls covered in photographs and news articles. "This is where we work," Ezra explained. "The real work. Not the videos everyone thinks I make."
I studied the walls. Photos of crooks. Maps with places marked in red. Articles about cheating and fraud. "What is this?" "We're inspectors," Elijah said, his voice still cold but with an edge of pride. "We reveal people who hide behind money and power. People who think they're untouchable." "Ten years ago, we were about to reveal a major political scandal," Ezra continued. "But someone found out. They tried to kill us. Our car went off a bridge on Christmas Eve." "Elijah was going to die," I whispered, remembering what Dad had told me. "I almost did." Elijah rolled up his sleeve, showing me a huge scar that ran from his wrist to his elbow. "I was stuck underwater. Drowning. Ezra pulled me out, but by the time we got to the beach, everyone thought I was dead. The car had burst. Nobody to recover." "We realized we could use that," Ezra said softly. "If Elijah were officially dead, he could investigate without anyone knowing. We could work together, accomplish twice as much, and the people who tried to kill us would think they'd succeeded." "So you've been claiming to be one person," I said. "Switching places. Sharing a life." "Yes." Ezra pulled out a file and gave it to me. "But three months ago, someone started asking questions. Someone who knew the truth about the accident. Someone who's been tracking us ever since."
I opened the file. Inside were security photos, grainy images of a man with white hair and a snake tattoo on his neck. My blood ran cold. I'd seen that mark before. "That's one of Vale's men," I said. "He was at our apartment two nights ago."
Both twins went still. "Are you certain?" Elijah demanded. "Yes. He had that exact mark. He threatened Lily and me." I looked up at them. "What does Vale have to do with this?" "Everything." Ezra's voice was grim. "Marcus Vale isn't just a loan shark. He works for the same people who tried to kill us ten years ago. And he's been using your father to get to us."
The room spun. "What?" "Your father's debt isn't random, Maya." Elijah moved to one of the computers and pulled up more files. "Three months ago, someone paid Robert Chen to bet. Paid him to lose. Paid him to borrow money from Vale. It was all a setup." "Setup for what?" "To bring you here." Ezra's voice was soft. Almost sorry. "They know about you. They know what you are to us." "I don't understand. I'm nobody. I'm just" "You're our sister," Elijah interrupted. His cold face finally cracked, showing something like pain underneath. "Our half-sister. And that makes you powerful."
The words hit me like a physical blow. "You knew? This whole time, you knew?" "I found out six months ago," Ezra said. "I paid investigators to search for our mother. They found records of her second marriage. Records of a girl. You." He stepped closer. "I wanted to meet you properly. As family. But Elijah said it was too dangerous." "Because it is dangerous," Elijah snapped. "The people hunting us don't care about family ties. They'll use you against us. They'll hurt you to hurt us." "So you brought me here anyway?" I couldn't believe this. "You brought me into danger on purpose?" "We brought you here to protect you," Ezra said. "The people who paid your father to set this up want you close to us. They want to use you as bait. But if you're here, under our security, they can't touch you." "Unless they break in," I said slowly. "Unless they come here tonight."
Both twins went silent. "That's what this is really about, isn't it?" My voice rose. "You didn't hire me to sort files. You used me as bait to draw out whoever's hunting you!" "No!" Ezra grabbed my shoulders. "Maya, I swear, that's not"
An alarm screamed through the house.
All three of us froze. "They're here," Elijah said quietly. He pulled a gun from a drawer. A real gun. "Earlier than expected." "Who's here?" I demanded, but my voice came out as a whisper.
Ezra was already moving to the computer screens. They showed security camera feeds from around the house. Dark forms moved through the trees. At least six of them. All armed. "The people who've been hunting us for ten years," Ezra said. "The ones who tried to kill us. The ones who want to finish the job." He looked at me, and for the first time, I saw real fear in his eyes. "And they know you're here, Maya. They're not just coming for us anymore. They're coming for you, too."
Mrs. Winters burst into the room, out of breath. "Sir, they've cut the power to the gate. They'll be at the house in five minutes." "Get to the safe room," Elijah ordered. "Take Maya," "I'm not going anywhere until someone tells me the truth!" I shouted. "All of it! Why do these people want me? What am I to them?"
Ezra and Elijah shared another look. The alarm kept screaming. On the screens, the figures were getting closer. "There's no time," Elijah said. "Make time!" I planted my feet. "I deserve to know why I'm about to die!" "You're not going to die," Ezra said furiously. "We won't let that happen." "Then tell me why!" "Because you're not just our sister," Elijah said finally. His voice was hard, but his eyes were desperate. "You're a witness." "A witness to what?" "To our mother's murder."
The words hung in the air like a bomb. "What?" I could barely breathe. "Mom died of cancer. " That's what they wanted everyone to believe," Ezra said quickly. "But we found proof. Records. Medical files that don't fit. Your mother, our mother, didn't die of cancer, Maya. She was poisoned. Slowly, over months, so no one would suspect." "That's crazy. Who would" "The same people who are outside right now." Elijah moved to the window, gun ready. "The same people who tried to kill us. The same people who've been covering up crimes for decades." "But I don't remember anything about Mom being killed! I was there when she died! I watched her." My voice broke. "You were seven years old the first time they tried," Ezra said gently. "The night of the fire. The night she supposedly died. You were in the house, Maya. You saw something. Something they've spent twenty years trying to forget."
The room tilted. Memories I didn't know I had flashed at the edges of my mind. Fire. Smoke. A woman screaming. "I don't remember," I whispered. "Not knowingly," Elijah said. "But somewhere in your mind, you know the truth. You're the only live witness to what really happened that night." He looked at me, and for the first time, his face softened. "That's why they want you dead, Maya. And that's why we'll do anything to keep you alive."
Glass shattered somewhere in the house. "They're inside," Mrs. Winters gasped.
Ezra grabbed my hand. "We're going to the panic room. Now. No arguments."
But before we could move, the office door burst open.
A man stood there. Tall. White hair. Snake mark on his neck.
He smiled at me, showing gold teeth. "Hello, Maya Chen," he said. "Your father sends his regards."
Then he raised his gun and fired.