His words instantly cracked open a darker suspicion in my heart.
“You have an accomplice?”
“Accomplice?” Daniel Hughes let out a low laugh, as though he’d just heard the funniest joke in the world. “Emily Carter, you really think too highly of yourself. Between you and me, I’m the one who’s just the ‘accomplice.’”
He flicked the ash from his cigarette, his eyes full of disdain as they fell on me.
“I was only following orders.”
Following orders? Whose orders?
My mind went blank. A thousand chaotic thoughts flashed past, but I couldn’t hold on to a single one.
“Who?” My own voice trembled.
“You want to know?” He crushed the cigarette, leaned forward, and the face I once loved now radiated nothing but revolting malice. “That depends on your sincerity.”
He picked up a bottle of whiskey from the table and poured three brimming glasses.
“Finish them, and I’ll give you a name.”
The dark liquid shimmered ominously under the dim light.
I stared at him, and he stared right back, eyes brimming with cruel anticipation. He was certain that for my mother, I would do anything.
I lifted the first glass and downed it in one gulp, the burn searing down my throat.
Swallowing back the urge to vomit, I set the empty glass aside and grabbed the second.
Daniel’s grin widened with each swallow.
By the time I forced down the third, the room spun violently. I clutched the table, glaring at him through the haze.
“Now—can you tell me?”
“Of course.” He clapped his hands in satisfaction, then lazily spoke a name.
“Isabella Carter.”
“Who is she?” I asked. It was the first time I had ever heard the name.
Daniel doubled over laughing.
“Emily Carter, you’ve lived more than twenty years—haven’t you ever wondered why you don’t look like either of your parents?”
“My parents?”
He rose to his feet and stood over me, looking down with cruel delight.
“Isabella Carter is your twin sister.”
I stumbled backward, slamming into the cold wall. The chill jolted me with a brief moment of clarity.
“No… impossible.” I shook my head, the idea absurd. “My parents only ever had me. Where would a sister come from?”
“I’m not done.” His voice turned colder. “Your father, Richard Carter—he never died.”
“He’s alive and well, a powerful businessman now. And he’s living it up in another city with your dear sister.”
Each word hit like a hammer blow.
My father isn’t dead? How could that be?
I had attended his funeral myself. His urn still sat at home.
“You’re lying!” I screamed, my emotions breaking loose.
“Lying?” The sneer on Daniel’s face deepened. “That hundred thousand dollars? It was Isabella who had me transfer it. No—more precisely, it was Richard Carter who gave the order.”
“He told me to get close to you, to pursue you, and when your mom was most desperate for money, to strip it away. What he wanted… was to watch the two of you drown in despair.”
“As for why—you’ll have to ask him yourself.”
“And whether you’ll ever see that hundred thousand… well, that depends on whether he agrees.”
I finally understood. Every humiliation I had endured—all of it was for nothing.
“You liar, Daniel Hughes! You filthy liar! I swear, even as a ghost, I won’t forgive you!”
Daniel lit another cigarette. The mocking smile faded, replaced only by icy indifference.
“Emily Carter, we’re done. From this moment on, don’t ever come looking for me again.”
