Chapter 8 - THE SHADOW FACTORY
The crowd fell into an absolute, deathly silence.
Even the flashing cameras stopped for a brief, horrifying second.
The claim was so monstrous, so unthinkable, that time itself seemed to freeze.
Isabella staggered back, releasing her hold on her mother's arm.
"What..." Isabella breathed out, her eyes wide with terror.
"Mother... what is she saying?"
"She's lying! She's out of her mind!" Victoria screamed, her voice cracking with hysteria.
"Security! Get her away from me! Get her away!"
The legal team grabbed Victoria and began rushing her back toward her limousine.
"Ask her about the facility in Saint Jude's Valley, Isabella!" Seraphina shouted after them, her voice cutting through the rising chaos.
"Ask her why your childhood medical bills were double what they should have been!"
"Ask her why you survived your kidney failure at age seven while I spent six months in an ICU!"
Isabella stopped dead in her tracks on the courthouse steps.
A memory—a dark, suppressed memory from when she was seven years old—suddenly slammed into her mind.
She remembered waking up in a private hospital room.
She remembered her mother sitting beside her, smiling, telling her she was all better.
And she remembered hearing soft crying coming from the room right next to hers.
A room with no name on the door.
A room guarded by two heavy doors.
"No..." Isabella whispered, her hands flying to her mouth.
"No, no, no..."
The media swarmed Isabella like vultures.
"Miss Vance! Did you know about the illegal organ harvesting?"
"Were you aware your sister was being kept as a donor?"
"Isabella! Look at the camera!"
"Get away from me!" Isabella shrieked, breaking through the crowd and running blindly down the street.
Tears blinded her vision.
The world was spinning out of control.
She ran down an alleyway, trying to escape the flashing lights and screaming reporters.
Her expensive heels snapped, causing her to tumble violently onto the wet pavement.
She scraped her knees and hands badly against the rough asphalt.
She lay there in the alley, sobbing uncontrollably.
Her entire life—her wealth, her privilege, her loving mother—was a lie built on the torture of her own twin sister.
"Need a hand, sister?"
Isabella looked up through her tear-filled eyes.
Seraphina was standing at the entrance of the alley.
She walked slowly toward Isabella, her white dress spotless against the filthy environment.
"Get away from me!" Isabella sobbed, crawling backward against a brick wall.
"You're a monster!"
"I'm the monster?" Seraphina asked, kneeling down right in front of Isabella.
"I didn't steal your life, Isabella."
"Our mother built your life out of my meat and blood."
Seraphina reached out and gently took Isabella's trembling chin in her hand.
"Look at me, Isabella."
"Look at the face that was sacrificed so you could play princess."
Isabella wept bitterly, unable to turn her head away.
"I didn't know..." Isabella choked out.
"I swear to God, Seraphina... I didn't know!"
Seraphina's eyes softened for a fraction of a second.
Then they turned back into cold steel.
"Ignorance isn't an excuse anymore."
"Now you know."
"So the question is... what are you going to do about it?"
Suddenly, a dark van screeched to a halt at the mouth of the alley.
The side door slid open with a violent thud.
Three men wearing black ski masks jumped out, brandishing heavy iron pipes.
"Which one is Isabella?!" one of the masked men yelled.
"They look the exact same!" another shouted.
May you like
Seraphina grabbed Isabella's arm and pulled her up swiftly.
"Run!" Seraphina commanded.
