Some moments don’t feel real while you’re living them, like time has shifted just slightly out of place

The silence in the study was suffocating. Victor closed the heavy oak door behind him, turning the brass lock with a slow, deliberate click that sounded like a hammer striking an anvil. He didn't rush. He walked over to the leather armchair opposite the desk, sat down, and folded his hands neatly over his lap.

"Sit down, Evan," Victor said, his voice entirely devoid of emotion.

My legs felt weak, but I didn't move. I remained pressed against the edge of the mahogany desk, my fingers gripping the cold wood behind me. "You lied to her," I said, my voice shaking with a mixture of fear and surging anger. "You lied to both of us. Liam is my brother. My twin brother."

Victor let out a soft, low sigh, tilting his head slightly as he looked at me. "I didn't lie, Evan. I managed a reality that your mother was too fragile to accept, and that you were too young to understand."

"Fragile?" I shouted, the word tearing out of my throat. "You stole a child! You gave away your own flesh and blood like he was surplus stock just to keep your precious lineage ‘pure’ or whatever twisted reason you had!"

"Keep your voice down," Victor warned, his tone hardening just enough to command authority. "And stop speaking in melodramatic platitudes. You know nothing of the world we inhabit. You think wealth, status, and power are handed out by fortune? They are built on hard choices. Sacrifices."

"Abandoning a child in the slums isn't a sacrifice, Father. It's a crime."

"It was a necessity," Victor countered, his eyes locking onto mine with chilling intensity. "Sterling Enterprises was at a critical juncture twenty-two years ago. Our board was unstable, our rivals were circling like wolves, and public perception was everything. Twins divide legacies. They dilute control. A fractured inheritance leads to corporate vulnerability, hostile takeovers, and the destruction of everything I spent my entire life building."

"So you just... got rid of him?" I whispered, horror washing over me. "You paid someone to take him away?"

"I ensured that one heir would be raised to protect the empire, and the other..." Victor paused, looking away for a fraction of a second before bringing his gaze back to me. "The other was placed with a family in the lower districts. A clean break. No loose ends."

"Except I saw him," I said bitterly. "Twenty-two years later, in an alleyway three blocks from your precious charity gala. The universe doesn't care about your corporate strategy, Father. He came back."

Victor stood up slowly. He walked over to the desk, ignoring the scattered papers, and stood just inches from me. For the first time, I realized how much taller he was, how completely his presence overshadowed mine.

"He came back because you were careless," Victor said softly. "And now, we have a complication. But complications can be managed, Evan. Just as they always have been."

"What are you going to do to him?" I demanded, stepping back until my hip hit the corner of the desk. "If you touch him—"

"If I touch him?" Victor interrupted with a faint, humorless smile. "What can you do, Evan? Run away to join him in the dirt? Live on scraps in the industrial ward? You wouldn't survive twenty-four hours in his world. You are a Sterling. Your bloodline, your education, your very existence is tied to this house."

"I won't let you hurt him," I said, my voice steadying despite the terror gripping my chest.

Victor stared at me for a long moment, studying my face as if searching for any sign of weakness. Then, he reached down, gathered the scattered photographs and documents, and placed them back inside the steel lockbox. He snapped the lid shut.

"I have no intention of hurting him," Victor said quietly, turning toward the door. "He is of no consequence to our world. As far as society is concerned, Liam does not exist. And you, Evan... you will forget you ever saw him."