Chapter 25%
“Not
my fight?” he echoed, his voice rough
I swallowed hard, forcing myself to hold his gaze.!!
“No,” I whispered. “Not anymore.“}
For a moment, neither of us moved.
Then, without another word, I turned away, walking toward the door with the little girl’s hand clasped tightly in mine And Darius_
He let me go.
That night, I checked into a hotel, starting over in a place where no one knew me, where no one could reach me.”
I ordered clothes, shoes, and food for Amara, and as she bounced excitedly on the bed, her innocent laughter filled the empty space that had once felt suffocating.
For the first time in a long, long time…”
I didn’t feel like I was drowning.
Later, as I tucked her into bed, she curled up beside me, her small fingers grasping mine as she whispered sleepily-
“I love you, Mommy
Tears blurred my vision, spilling silently down my cheeks.
I leaned down, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead, my voice breaking as I whispered back-
“I love you too, baby.*
-MIRANDA-%
Miranda leaned back in her chair, swirling
the
deep red wine in her glass, watching as the rich liquid coated the sides before settling again. The city stretched out before her, a glittering expanse of wealth, power, and secrets, all of which she had learned to manipulate with ease. A slow, satisfied smile curved her lips as she reached for the small earpiece resting on the table beside herk
23 F
The moment she placed it in her ear, a soft hum filled the silence, and then–8
“Mommy, can I have more cookies?”
A child’s voice, soft, innocent, laced with the kind of blind trust that made Miranda’s smile widen in pure amusement.
She tapped her phone screen, activating the hidden bug on her necklace she had so carefully planted, and immediately, the grainy video feed flickered to life. The image that appeared nearly made her laugh out loud.
There, inside the hotel room, sat Valeria–so utterly foolish, so heartbreakingly naive–brushing the hair of the child she had taken in, the little girl she now so desperately clung to.}
Or, as Valeria had taken to calling her–Amara.
The Irony was almost too much to bearli
Miranda traced the rim of her glass with one manicured finger, letting the amusement roll through her in slow waves of satisfaction. Valeria had no idea that the precious little girl she had just willingly taken under her wing was nothing more than a pawn in a much larger
game!
She had no idea that beneath the soft curls, beneath the sweet, trusting eyes, were barely noticeable tracking devices, expertly implanted beneath the delicate curve of the child’s skin.
Every whispered word, every foolish promise, every desperate moment of motherly affection–Miranda knew all of it.S
She exhaled a slow breath, savoring the taste of her impending victory as she took another sip of her wine.
“Good girl, Penelope,” she murmured, her voice a purr of satisfaction. “You’re doing exactly what Mommy taught you.”
And she truly was
From the moment Miranda had plucked the girl from the depths of obscurity and trained her, Penelope had been nothing short of perfection She had played her role so beautifully–the lost, abandoned child, frail and starving, desperate for love, so heartbreakingly easy to manipulate S
And Valeria, that weak, grieving idiot, had fallen for it without question. Tsk. Tsk. Miranda’s lips curled into a smirk as she swirled her wine once more. Pathetic X
She stood, slowly making her way toward the floor–to–ceiling windows, her gaze flickering to her reflection in the glass.
Long, dark hair cascaded down her back, framing a face that no longer belonged to her
The sharp cheekbones, the elegant features, the same haunting beauty that had once been Isabella’s–a face she had stolen, a life she had taken piece by piece, until nothing of her dear twin sister remained.X
And now?
She was going to destroy Valeria
But Valeria wasn’t the only fool she was toying with.
Lorenzo
Lorenzo.
Ah, Lorenzo.
The man who had once held her heart, the man she had walked away from–not because she wanted to, but because Isabella had forced her hand. The man she’s inlove with.
Her fingers tightened around the stem of her glass, the memory creeping in before she could push it away.!!
Years Ago
“You’re Isabella.”
Miranda barely suppressed a laugh as she lay against the cool surface of the wall, Lorenzo’s body pressing her into it, his breath hot against her skin as his hands moved over her, slow and possessive X
“Of course, I am,” she had murmured, tilting her head to gaze at him through hooded eyes, reveling in the way his dark stare drank her in.!! And he had believed it. He had kissed her like he loved her. Touched her like she was his world.
But it wasn’t her he had wanted–it had never been her. It had been Isabella.
Miranda should have hated herself for deceiving him, for stealing something that didn’t belong to her.“!
But she hadn’t. Because as long as he thought she was Isabella, as long as he whispered her sister’s name against her skin, she could pretend.
She could pretend that, for once, she was the one being loved. But then Isabella had found out.!!
And everything had fallen apart.
“How could you?!”
Miranda had barely dodged the glass Isabella had thrown at her, the sound of it shattering against the wall echoing through the room.!! “Oh, calm down,” she had said lazily, not even bothering to feign remorse. “It was just sex”
“You were pretending to be me!” Isabella’s voice had risen, thick with fury and betrayal, her usually composed expression twisted in rage. Miranda had only rolled her eyes. “And? It’s not like you were using him,”?
“You’re disgusting!” Isabella had spat, voice trembling. “If you ever go near Lorenzo again–I will kill myself.”
And that was the moment Miranda had known &
years, but in that single moment, staring at the broken girl before
She had won so many battles, had taken so much from Isabella
a over the ve her, she knew-
This was a fight she would lose. Because Isabella wasn’t bluffing. And as much as Miranda had craved Lorenzo, as much as she had wanted to burn her sister’s world to the ground, there was one thing she had never been able to let go of.
Isabella_
So, she had walked away. Left Lorenzo behind. Left everything behind. But not before one last night. One last time, one last lie. She had never told him the truth. Never told him that the woman he had made love to that night wasn’t the woman he thought she was, And then, she had disappeared. Pregnant}
Now.ll
