Shadows of Two lives: The Billionaire was Fooled

Please….please, I think you have made a mistake.” Jane’s voice kept on shaking as she said with a loud voice. The man at the driver’s seat did not even act as if he heard her at all. He even tried not to look at her side. He kept on driving as streetlights ran through his face in flashes, and that was when Jane was able to see his face again, but this time, very slightly. “I really do not know you,” Jane tried again, holding the cold leather seat firmly as if she were holding on to an imaginary person beside her. “You took the wrong person.” She said. It felt like there was no car moving around the area; everywhere was silent, and even the car kept on moving slowly without noise, just exactly like the man who was driving it. And it was at this point that everything felt so strange. All of a sudden, the man parked his car under the George Washington Bridge. He got down from the car and stayed right in front of her while Jane remained inside the car waiting for him to say something. “Do you not know who I am?” “I am Harry James, the founder of George and George, one of the richest oil companies in America." He said”. She stammered. “My name is…” “I don’t know who you are.” He didn’t allow her to finish her sentence when he started talking again. “You went missing for three years,” Harry continued, as he was concentrating while driving. “You changed your name, your city, and your entire life.” She widely opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Three years? “I didn’t…” “What?” “Me?” “I am not who you think I am,” she said. “I have never…” Harry opened the door as he went back inside to sit at the driver’s seat and turned to look at her, and for the first time, his eyes didn’t move. “You always were a liar.” Harry said. “I am not lying,” she said, her voice remaining low. “I swear to you, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” As he kept looking at her. Intensely. Like he was on to something buried under her skin. “Do you think I would believe you? “So now, you want me to believe you suddenly forgot everything you did?” He kept asking. “I did not forget anything!” Her voice cracked as she said, now getting more uncomfortable. “Because none of this happened to me!” Then, both of them went silent, thinking of what to say. Thunder rolled in the distance as he continued to drive. “You haven’t changed,” he murmured. “You are still playing innocent.” “This isn’t child’s play." “I’m not playing anything!” Jane said as she panicked. “I was going to work, and…” He banged his hands on the steering wheel. Jane shook. “You really do not get to rewrite the story,” he said. “Not after what you did to me.” She began to breathe faster as her mind started to race. What did he think she’d done? “I did not know your name until you told me,” she said, softer now. Careful. Measured. “How could I have done anything to you?” Another silence. “You really want to do this?” Harry asked. “But I am telling the truth,” Jane said. With a few taps, Harry turned the screen of his phone toward her. There was a woman who looked exactly like her. They had the same eyes, lips, and even the same face. But she was looking so dangerous. “That’s you,” he said. Her head shook slowly, instinctively. “No…” “It is.” “No,” she panicked as she shouted. “That’s really not me.” But even as she said it, doubt slipped in. “I’ve never seen her before,” she said, though her voice did not sound convincing enough. “Do you expect me to believe that you have a twin you do not know anything about?” “Twin?” “No,” she said. “That’s impossible.” But was it? There were gaps in her past. Her mother left several unanswered questions. “You’re lying again,” he said with an angry face. “I am telling the truth.” She said. He put the car back into gear. “Whether you can remember or not, it still doesn’t change what you did.” He said again and didn’t realise when her hands started to shake. “Okay, just tell me what I did,” she replied with her shaking voice. He snubbed her. When he finally spoke, he tried to change his voice to sound calmer than before. “You have destroyed my life.” “I don’t have anything else to hold on to." “And now, you’re going to watch me destroy your life as you destroyed mine.” Jane started crying because, for the first time, she believed and pitied him. But this time, not because she felt guilty. But because he sounded more human. “Do you know what it feels like to watch something you built from scratch to collapse in a single night?” He said, looking ashamed of himself. “Exactly three years ago, my company was worth billions.” “What does that have to do with me?” She said. "Everything," he shouted. “You had access,” he went on. “Accounts no one else could touch. Systems no one else understood. You were the only person I gave my all to.” The words landed heavier than anger. Trust. “And then, you disappeared.” “No money trail, nothing, everything just gone.” A pause. “But not before transferring enough to bury me.” Her breath stuttered. “I wasn’t the one, you have to believe me,” she said slowly. He looked at her again with an angry face. “That money is still out there.” “And you’re the only one who knows where it is,” Harry said with emotion driving in.