Sheila's POV
I slapped Agent Thompson across the face as hard as I could.
"This is impossible!" I screamed. "James Kingston is dead! I watched him die!"
But even as I said the words, I could see him standing there. Older. Thinner. With a scar across his face. But definitely living.
"Hello, Sheila," James Kingston said quietly. "We need to talk."
My mind was running. How had he survived the car crash? How long had he been alive? Most importantly, how much did he know about what I had done?
"You're supposed to be dead," I whispered.
"So are a lot of people Chairman Crain has tried to kill," James said. "But some of us are harder to kill than others."
"Mr. Kingston," Agent Thompson said, "we should take Miss Banks into custody now."
"In a moment," James said. "First, I want to hear her confession."
"I'm not confessing to anything!" I said, but my voice was shaking.
James walked closer to me. When he looked into my eyes, I saw something that made my blood turn cold.
He knew everything.
"Three years ago," James said, "you came to me crying. You said your mother was sick and needed expensive drugs. You begged me to give you money to help her."
I remembered that day. It was the beginning of my plan to destroy his family.
"I gave you five thousand dollars," James continued. "No questions asked. Because you were my daughter's best friend, and I thought you were in trouble."
"So what?" I said.
"So you used that money to hire the men who tried to kill us," James said. "You used my own kindness to fund my murder."
I could feel Jayden looking at me in shock. He was finally seeing who I really was.
"But here's what you didn't know," James said. "I've been watching you for three years. I've been gathering proof of every crime you've committed."
He pulled out a big folder from his jacket.
"I have recordings of you talking to Chairman Crain. I have pictures of you meeting with the men who sabotaged our car. I have copies of the fake documents you created to steal our business."
My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might burst.
"You have nothing," I said, trying to sound brave.
"I have your mother," James said softly.
The words hit me like a punch to the stomach.
"What did you say?"
"Your mother, Linda Banks," James said. "She's been working with me for two years."
"That's impossible," I whispered. "My mother would never betray me."
"Your mother was never sick," James said. "You lied about that too. But when she found out what you were going to do to my family, she came to me."
I felt like the ground was falling away beneath my feet.
"She told me everything," James continued. "About how you've been lying and controlling people since you were a child. About how you've always been jealous of anyone who had more than you."
"She wouldn't do that to me," I said, but my voice sounded weak.
"She did it to save you," James said. "She thought if I knew the truth, I could get you help before you hurt anyone."
"Where is she?" I asked.
"Safe," James said. "Somewhere you can't hurt her anymore."
I looked around at all the FBI men surrounding me. At Amara, who was crying tears of joy at seeing her father living. At Jayden, who was looking at me like I was a monster.
Everything was falling apart. All my careful planning. All my years of trying to be someone I wasn't. It was all falling down around me.
"This isn't over," I said to James. "Even if you're alive, Chairman Crain still has your business. He still has all your money."
"Actually," Agent Thompson said, "Chairman Crain was arrested an hour ago."
"What?" I felt dizzy.
"He's being charged with multiple counts of murder," the agent added. "Including the murders of Detective Morrison's father, the Russell family, and the attempted murders of your family."
"But the company—" I started.
"Will be returned to its rightful owner," James said, looking at Amara with love. "My daughter."
I understood that I had lost everything. My plan had failed totally. Not only was Amara getting her life back, but now she would know that her father was living and that he had been protecting her all along.
"There's something else you should know," James said to me. "Something about your real identity."
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
James pulled out a piece of paper from his folder.
"This is your birth certificate," he said. "Your real birth certificate."
He gave it to me, and I read it with shaking hands.
The paper said that my real name was Sheila Kingston.
Not Sheila Banks.
Sheila Kingston.
"That's impossible," I whispered.
"You're my daughter," James said softly. "My biological daughter."
The world started spinning around me.
"What?" Amara stared at her father in shock.
"Eighteen years ago," James stated, "I had an affair. It was the biggest mistake of my life. When the woman told me she was pregnant, I offered to help raise the child, but she vanished."
He looked at me with sad eyes.
"I've been looking for my daughter ever since. I never thought that she was living right under my nose, pretending to be Amara's best friend."
"You're lying," I said, but my voice was barely a whisper.
"Linda Banks isn't your mother," James continued. "She's the woman who adopted you when you were three years old. She loved you like her own daughter, but she could never tell you the truth because she was afraid of what you might do."
"This can't be real," I said.
"It's real," James said. "You're Amara's half-sister. You've been trying to kill your own family."
I looked at Amara, who was staring at me with fear and confusion.
"We're... sisters?" she whispered.
"Half-sisters," James amended. "Which makes what you did even more heartbreaking."
I felt like I was going to throw up. Everything I thought I knew about my life was a lie.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I screamed at James. "Why didn't you find me sooner?"
"I tried," he said. "But every time I got close, something would happen. Your new mother would move. Records would disappear. I started to think someone was deliberately keeping us apart."
"Who?" I asked.
"Chairman Crain," James said. "He knew who you really were. He's been using you to hurt me for years, and you never even knew it."
The truth hit me like a lightning bolt.
Chairman Crain had known I was James Kingston's daughter all along. He had manipulated me into ruining my own family. He had turned me into a tool against the father I had never known.
"He used me," I whispered.
"Yes," James said. "Just like he used Jayden. Just like he uses everyone."
I looked at Jayden, who was still standing there in shock.
"Did you know?" I asked him. "Did you know we were sisters?"
"No," he said quietly. "I had no idea."
"Then why did you help me?" I asked.
"Because he threatened my family too," Jayden said. "Just like he threatened yours."
Agent Thompson stepped forward.
"Sheila Kingston," he said, "you're under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping, and fraud."
As he put handcuffs on my wrists, I looked at Amara one more time.
"I'm sorry," I said, and for the first time in my life, I really meant it.
But as Agent Thompson led me toward the FBI car, I heard something that made me freeze.
My phone was ringing in my pocket.
The phone that was meant to be dead.
Agent Thompson pulled it out and looked at the screen.
"It's Chairman Crain," he said with surprise.
"That's impossible," I said. "You said he was arrested."
Agent Thompson answered the phone and put it on speaker.
"Hello, Sheila," Chairman Crain's voice came through loud and clear. "Did you really think a few FBI agents could stop me?"
"Where are you?" Agent Thompson asked.
Chairman Crain laughed.
"I'm exactly where I've always been," he said. "One step ahead of everyone else."
Then he said something that made my heart stop.
"Tell James Kingston that if he wants to see his wife again, he'll meet me alone at the old plant tonight. And tell him to bring both of his girls."
The phone went dead.
James Kingston turned white as a sheet.
"Sarah?" he whispered. "But she died in the car crash..."
"Did she?" Agent Thompson asked grimly.
"Oh my god," Amara said, her voice breaking. "Mom might be alive too?"