All Chapters of Billionaire’s Twin Deception : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

EDEN'S POVJanice won't answer me.Not directly, not completely and not in any way that gives me the certainty I'm looking for, but at some point her silence stopped feeling like avoidance and started feeling like an answer all on its own. The problem is that silence doesn't tell me what to do next.For weeks I've been chasing pieces of a puzzle that nobody wants me to finish.Now I'm tired.Tired of questions.Tired of half-truths.Tired of feeling like everyone knows something except me.By the time I arrive at the hotel that morning, one realization has settled firmly inside my chest.This isn't curiosity anymore, it stopped being curiosity a long time ago.Jack's age, the drawings, the notebook, the missing father and the medical file.Janice's panic every time I get too close.Her refusal to deny anything.Every road keeps leading back to the same place and pretending otherwise is becoming impossible.For the first time, I allow myself to think something I've been avoiding for w

EDEN'S POVThe second I see Janice freeze in the lobby, something tightens unexpectedly inside my chest because she recognizes Lisa immediately, and for some reason I don't like that reaction nearly as much as I should."Interesting," Lisa says as we continue toward the elevators, and the amusement in her voice tells me she's paying attention to something.I glance toward her. "What is?""The woman who looked like she wanted to either run away or throw something at me."Despite myself, I look back toward the lobby. Janice is already gone.News spreads through The Grand Sterling faster than any official announcement ever could, and by lunchtime half the building knows Lisa Brown has arrived while the other half is busy inventing reasons why.Amanda finally corners me near the executive offices while carrying a coffee and the expression of someone who has spent the entire day listening to nonsense."Half the hotel thinks you're getting married," she says without preamble, and I nearly

EDEN'S POVThe world stops the moment I hear the words.For a second I don't understand what the doctor is saying because the sentence doesn't make sense, then Janice is already moving and instinct sends me after her before my brain has a chance to catch up.The drive to the hospital passes in a blur of headlights, traffic lights and fear, and by the time we arrive Janice is already halfway through the emergency entrance while I struggle to keep pace beside her.Nobody stops us.The panic on Janice's face says everything.The next hour becomes a nightmare of waiting rooms, hurried footsteps and doctors speaking in terms that somehow manage to sound reassuring and terrifying at the same time, and every second that passes feels longer than the one before it.Eventually a cardiologist finds us. "He's stable," he says immediately, and the relief that hits Janice is so powerful her knees nearly give out beneath her.But stable isn't safe and we all know that.The doctor explains the episod

EDEN'S POVThe form remains in Janice's hands long after Dr. Brooks walks away, and something about the way she's staring at that piece of paper makes my chest tighten because it's just a medical form asking for family history, yet she looks like she's holding something capable of destroying her entire life.Neither of us says anything at first.We don't need to.The silence between us feels heavier than any conversation because the missing father isn't some distant question anymore, it's a problem sitting inside a hospital file waiting for answers.Janice eventually lowers the form and excuses herself, but I notice the way her hands tremble slightly and the way she avoids looking directly at me, and once I see the fear in her eyes, I can't stop seeing it.For weeks I've suspected something. For days I've been asking questions.Now I'm standing close enough to almost touch the truth, and somehow that makes everything worse.The rest of the afternoon passes slowly.Doctors come and go,

EDEN'S POVThe word hits harder than any accusation ever could and for several seconds I simply stare at Janice because my brain refuses to move fast enough to catch up with what she just said, while the city lights glow beyond the hospital windows and every missing piece I've been carrying for weeks suddenly begins moving toward the same terrifying answer.Janice looks away first and the movement has nothing to do with hiding anymore because she simply looks exhausted, the kind of exhausted that comes from carrying the same secret for years. "I found out after I left... not immediately, just a few weeks later."My throat suddenly feels dry and when the words finally leave my mouth they barely sound like my own. "A few weeks."She nods slowly.Neither of us speaks for a moment because there are too many questions and not enough room for all of them, while nurses continue moving through the corridor behind us and a doctor walks past carrying a chart as though the world hasn't just shif