Chapter 2 - The Shattered Illusion
I pulled the twins behind my legs, shielding them from the man who used to be my entire world.
Luca took a slow step toward us.
He did not look at the duffel bag on my shoulder.
He only looked at the two small faces peering out from behind my knees.
He asked me if they were his children.
I told him yes, but I also told him he would never touch them.
I screamed that I would rather die than let my children be raised by a man who slept with my sister.
Luca stopped moving entirely.
His brow furrowed in genuine confusion.
He swore on his own life that he had never touched Vanessa.
I laughed bitterly and told him I had heard her screaming his name in our bedroom that night.
Luca looked at me as if the entire world had just tilted on its axis.
He explained that he had left the estate an hour early to deal with a security breach at the docks.
He said the man in the bedroom with Vanessa was actually his younger brother, Marco.
My blood ran completely cold as I processed his words.
Luca revealed that Marco had been assassinated in that very room only minutes after I ran away.
He had spent the last three years thinking I was kidnapped by the same people who murdered his brother.
I realized with terrifying clarity that Vanessa had intentionally staged the betrayal to make me flee the house.
Before I could ask why my sister would do such a thing, a small red dot appeared on Luca's chest.
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It was a laser sight from a sniper rifle.
I screamed his name just as the bakery window violently shattered.
