Falling For My Sister's Killer

Chapter 7: Twisted Fate

Salsa

The tension in the room was palpable. The silence stretched on, with no one saying a word till the other guard did.

“Don Damien, we are sor….” A blaring gunshot echoed in the room, and one of the guards dropped beside me, blood spreading like dark wine underneath him.

“Less talking, more doing. Next bullet goes into you.” The other guard dropped me down immediately. “Are you okay?” I managed to force a nod.

Caspian laughed, clapping like a maniac on parade, “How wonderful, three of us again in the same room.” My brows arched in confusion, “A reunion, just like six years ago, when I found you f*cking my girlfriend!”

My eyes blinked several times as my brain tried to make sense of what my ears just heard. “Caspian, what the f*ck are you talking about right now?”

His brows arched. “He didn’t tell you? Wow, Damien. You truly are the master of disguise.”

“Damien, what the f*ck is he talking about?” My voice cracked under the weight of my words as I turned to Damien.

“He’s the real diabolical one and obsessive too. I don't hold a candle to him at all.” Caspian sneered.

“Shut the f*ck up, Caspian!” Damien raged, his voice cold as ice, his jaw clenched so tight, I thought I might snap.

“Answer me, Damien!” My heart hammered against my ribs as my nerves gnawed at me in anticipation.

His blue eyes locked onto mine, and for a moment, something raw flickered across his face before the mask slipped back into place.

"You want to know what he means?" Damien's voice was dangerously low. "He means I could have exposed you the moment you walked down that aisle four days ago.”

My blood turned to ice. God no, this is not happening. It can't be him.

"I could have told my parents exactly who they were forcing me to marry. Could have revealed that their perfectly arranged bride was actually the wrong twin - the one who was supposed to be six feet under." His eyes never left mine. "But I didn't."

“Now, Damien, my curiosity is piqued. Why would you do that?”

"Because…" Damien's voice dropped to a whisper, and he took a step closer to me. "That night six years ago changed everything for me.”

I felt the air rush out my lungs like a punctured balloon. What! I staggered almost falling, but his hand steadied me.

So he knew who I was all this while. Not just the substitute. But the girl who begged him to take her virginity six years ago. Yet he just…pretended? Gave me the cold shoulder. Played games with me.

“Caspian, I turned to him. You knew this the entire time. Why didn't you tell me who it was when I asked uhh!” I yelled.

“Can't blame a man for trying to protect his girlfriend from men like Damien,”

The room felt like it was spinning. He can’t be the one. It’s a mistake, right? This isn’t fate. That the same man I have searched for and been fascinated with for six good years could also be the one I hate enough to kill? The father of my son?

“Damien and you knew?” I meant to shout at him but my voice came out as a whisper.

"Do you think I could forget the way you trembled in my arms that night? The way you looked at me like I was your salvation?" Something vulnerable flashed in his eyes. "I spent six years trying to find the woman who disappeared from that bathroom. Six years wondering if you were real or just some beautiful hallucination."

"Stop, please…." I struggled to breathe, as the softness in his voice overwhelmed me. I was teetering between anger, hate and something forbidden. Love?

"And then there you were, walking down the aisle in white, pretending to be someone else. But I knew." He reached out as if to touch my face, then stopped himself. "I knew it was you the second I saw those eyes. I knew from the moment our eyes met at the funeral."

What! My eyes flew wide.

Caspian's voice cut through the tension like a blade. "How romantic. But the real question is, what happens now that your little secret is out? What are you going to do with your fake wife, Damien?”

Damien's expression hardened, and all traces of the softness I saw earlier vanished as he turned towards Caspian. "That's not your concern."

"Oh, but it is." Caspian smiled coldly. "Because if you won't deal with it, I will. I will tell your parents everything, just for her to be mine again."

The threat in his voice made my stomach drop.

But as terror clawed at my chest, one thought burned brighter than all the rest. A fierce, protective instinct that rose like a tidal wave. My son. The one that Damien had unknowingly fathered that night.

No matter what feelings he claims to have, no matter the reason he married me, he can never know about him. I'll take that secret to my grave before I risk losing him in my quest for revenge.

Just as that thought solidified in my mind, my phone buzzed insistently in my purse. The sound cut through the frigid atmosphere like a gunshot, making all three of us freeze. “Grandma calling,” The phone's artificial assistant read the name aloud.

"Can’t you see we are in the middle of something important? Don't f*cking answer it," Caspian warned, his eyes narrowing.

My eyes darkened, an unholy fire burning in my eyes. “You’ve already done your worst, Caspian. Tying my fate to his,”

With trembling hands, I pulled out my phone. But when I saw the number she used to call, something in my gut told me this wasn't ordinary. My grandmother never used her private line to call me unless it was an emergency.

“Where are you Salsa?” Her voice was raw and low, like she’s been crying.

“Is everything okay?”

“No, Salz, we have an emergency, Jared collapsed. He needs blood.” The phone nearly slipped from my numb fingers as the world tilted on its axis.

“How…How. What happened? Is he okay now?” I was short of breath.

“No, he’s not, he might die if we don’t find a donor with AB-negative blood immediately.” The rarest blood type in the entire world, where do I start…. “You don’t happen to know any friend of yours willing to donate? Tell them I have money. I will pay any amount.”

Grandma Celeste has been aware of my futile efforts to find Damien.

My eyes snapped to Damien's face, taking in those piercing blue eyes that mirrored Jared's own perfectly.

"What is it?" Damien's voice seemed to come from underwater.

I stared at him, my mind racing. My son was dying. He needed his father's blood to survive. The father who was standing right in front of me, who had no idea he existed.

The same secret I'd just sworn to take to my grave might be the only thing that could save his life.

"Salsa, what's wrong?" Damien stepped closer, genuine concern replacing the earlier tension in his voice.

I looked up at him, my heart shattering into a million pieces. How could I choose between protecting my son's secret and saving his life?

“What’s your blood group Damien?” I chewed the words off my tongue.

“AB negative,” A gust of relief sailed through me. My heart was still drumming against my ribcage like that of a bird desperate for freedom. Or Blood.

I drew in a deep breath. “Your son needs your blood, Damien and he'll die if you don’t.”

“My son?”

“Things just got way too interesting.”

Even as they were both in perplexed states. One thing was certain. My secret was finally out of the bag. But be rest assured Damien, this doesn't save you, if I ever find out you hand in Samantha’s death.