My twin betrayed me for our secret half brother

Chapter 6

Lila’s POV

“Identity not found.”

Bold and clear, bouncing off my mind once, twice and till my head spun.

The words just didn’t make sense. They couldn’t make sense.

I stared at the screen with my vision blurring slightly as if my eyes were refusing to process what I was seeing.

“This can't be,” I muttered.

“Same thing I thought,” the receptionist said softly from the other side. “But I tried it twice and can't say anything changed.”

“No,” I whispered, but it came out small and weak.

I shook my head quickly, blinking hard at the same time. “No, that’s, this is wrong. It has to be wrong.”

“Lila,” Tessa called out carefully from behind me. “Let me see,” she added as she placed a hand gently on my shoulder.

My stomach dropped. “No,” I whispered and gently stepped aside for her. “That’s not possible.”

“I can try again,” I said from behind her as Tessa shook her head.

“I'm sorry ma'am, but time is not in our favor,” the receptionist apologized.

But I wasn't letting this sink in easily. “Please.”

Tessa immediately stepped forward just as she did at the gas station. “I’ll handle it,” she said and I felt so small again.

“It’s fine,” she added firmly, giving me a look that told me not to argue.

I didn’t. Because I couldn’t.

She paid easily in five minutes as her ID went through straight. I couldn't hide my embarrassment any longer as we made our way down to the room.

Tessa tried to nudge me once or twice to straighten, but I couldn't find a reason to.

And as we stepped into the room, I plopped straight down on the bed with my face down.

I laid like that for a while till I felt a gentle hand running over my legs.

I snapped straight up immediately with my phone clutched tightly in my hand.

“This doesn’t make sense,” I muttered. “First my account? Now my ID? There’s no way—”

“Hey,” Tessa said softly, sitting on the edge of the bed. “It’s probably just a system error. Maybe your bank flagged something.”

“Everything?” I snapped before I could stop myself, and she didn’t react.

She didn’t get defensive, she just stared at me before gesturing to me to relax. “Okay,” she said calmly. “Then let’s think of another way.”

I swallowed hard, forcing myself to breathe as seconds passed.

“Okay, why not try transferring the money out,” she suggested. “Send the money to me to avoid any further issues, we can sort it out later.”

I nodded quickly. “Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense.”

At least it was something practical, something that should work.

I sat down, unlocking my phone again and it lagged just as it did earlier.

More like a glitch.

Then finally, I was able to get my banking app open.

“Okay…” I whispered, entering the details.

Name.

Account number.

Amount.

My fingers moved faster now as a small sense of relief building. At least I could get money out.

See? It was fine.

It would work.

It had to.

I hit confirm, then the screen froze.

Then refreshed on its own and a message appeared. A message that at this point meant close to death to me.

I frowned without noticing, only looking up when I heard her voice.

“What now?” Tessa asked quietly.

Then, my throat went dry as I read it again.

And again. Like maybe it would change, like maybe I was reading it wrong.

But I wasn’t.

I slowly lifted my head with my heart pounding violently against my ribs now.

“Tessa,” I muttered as my voice came out barely above a whisper. “There’s an error.”

“What kind of error?” She asked as she shifted closer.

I swallowed as my head dropped to the floor.

And the words felt heavy, impossible to read out loud.

“What error?” Tessa asked again.

“It says,” I started, then paused, looking back at the screen, at the message that made no sense.

That should never have existed.

“Identity not found,” I whispered and dropped my head down, letting the phone drop down instinctively.

“No, wait—” Tessa said from beside me. “It’s probably just… a glitch. The app is already acting weird, right? So this is just another error. As you said.”

But at this point, I had already lost hope. It didn’t feel like just an error again.

“I’ll try again,” I said slowly after Tessa kept staring at me. My fingers moved faster now. “Maybe I entered something wrong.”

Name.

Account number.

Everything was correct.

I hit confirm and the screen froze again. Just like before.

It refreshed and flashed the exact same message.

Identity not found.

A cold wave washed over me and I immediately let the phone drop to the floor.

My shoulders sagged as I thought over the money and everything I had inside there.

Tessa stood up immediately, waving a hand in front of me as she paced about. “Hey—hey, breathe.”

I kept my head low till her words touched something in me.

“I am breathing,” I snapped, but my voice cracked at the end. “This is ridiculous. How can an identity not be found? I exist!”

“I know,” she said calmly. “We’ll figure it out.”

I shook my head then reached down for the phone, quickly dialing another number.

My mom.

The call rang. Once. Twice. Three times.

But no answer.

My stomach twisted painfully. “Pick up,” I muttered under my breath.

She had to explain to me what was happening. I had a feeling she knew.

Nothing.

I ended the call and dialed my Lena.

But it went straight to voicemail.

My chest tightened further. “This isn’t funny,” I whispered, more to myself than anyone else.

I tried again. And again.

And again.

Every call either failed, went unanswered, or cut off before it could even connect.

It felt like I was being shut out, locked away. Or… erased.

“Lila.” Tessa’s voice cut through the panic rising in my chest as she stepped closer, placing a hand lightly on my arm. “Look at me.”

I didn’t want to, but I did.

“We’re not solving this tonight,” she said gently. “You’re overwhelmed. Anyone would be.”

“I’m not overwhelmed,” I said immediately. “I just need to fix it.”

“And you will,” she replied. “But not like this.”

I clenched my jaw as she refused to look away.

“First thing tomorrow morning,” she continued calmly, “we go to the bank. We talk to someone in person. Then we go to your lawyer. We do this properly.”

I nodded my head as she spoke as her words quickly made sense to me. How come I didn't think of that?

Step by step. Good plan.

Except that I wasn't sure I'd hold up to the next morning. How could this be happening to me?

But I nodded to her anyway.

“Okay,” I said, then quickly added, “what if it doesn't go as planned? What if we can't fix this?” I added.

She held my gaze for a second too long before shaking her head.

“Then we'll know exactly where to go.”