Chapter 1
“They’re lying. They fell down the stairs.”
Edric shouted it across the emergency room like volume could turn a lie into truth.
Two police officers held him back near the glass doors.
His face was red.
His shirt was wrinkled.
His hands kept opening and closing like he still wanted control over something.
Or someone.
On two hospital beds under the cold white lights, Faye and Chloe lay side by side.
Twin sisters.
Same dark hair.
Same pale faces.
Same trembling hands.
Faye was awake, barely.
Chloe was not.
Their mother stood behind Edric with both hands pressed to her mouth.
She looked terrified.
But she said nothing.
Edric pointed at the girls again.
“They’ve always been dramatic. Ask their mother. They slipped. That’s all.”
A nurse glanced at the bruises on Faye’s arm.
Then at Chloe’s.
Then back at Edric.
Nobody believed him yet.
But nobody had said it out loud.
Faye’s eyes opened slowly.
Pain moved through her body every time she breathed, but she turned her head toward Chloe anyway.
Her sister’s face was too still.
Too quiet.
That frightened Faye more than Edric’s shouting.
Edric leaned forward, his voice sharp.
“Tell them, Faye. Tell them you fell.”
Faye’s lips parted.
For one second, the whole room waited.
Then she whispered, weak but cold.
“No…”
Edric froze.
Faye looked at Chloe’s unconscious body.
Then back at him.
“He made sure we matched.”
The emergency room went silent.
May you like
Even the monitors seemed louder.
👉 But when the doctor checked Chloe’s arm, Edric’s perfect lie began to fall apart.
