'Dead women don't stay dead, do they, sister?' Yumi's heels clicked across the marble floor like bullets.
Sakura's fingers trembled on her teacup. Fifteen years of careful plans, shattered by five words.
"Won't you introduce me to my son properly?" Yumi's smile was razor-sharp.
Victoria felt Akira's pulse racing where their arms touched. His face remained perfectly calm.
'He's good at masks,' Victoria thought. 'Just like his aunt... no, his fake mother.'
"I'm afraid there's been a misunderstanding," Sakura said, rising. "Akira is my—"
"Your nephew." Yumi pulled out a folder. "And I have the DNA test to prove it."
---
'Everything makes sense now.' Akira watched the two sisters, seeing the same cheekbones, the same graceful hands.
His whole life had been a lie.
"You abandoned me," he said to Yumi. The words tasted like ash.
"I was forced to." Yumi's eyes flickered to Victoria's father. "By someone in this room."
Mr. Chen's face went slack with recognition.
'Interesting,' Akira thought, studying the micro-expressions flying between the adults. 'Very interesting.'
---
Victoria's mind raced, connecting dots. Her father's shocked expression. The way he'd investigated Akira's family so thoroughly.
"Father," she said. "What did you do?"
Mr. Chen loosened his tie. "It was fifteen years ago. A different time, different circumstances—"
"Different circumstances?" Yumi's laugh was brittle. "You threatened to expose my brother's dealings unless I disappeared. Left my son. My life."
Victoria felt sick. 'My father forced them apart. And now I'm stalking her son.'
---
Sakura watched her sister's theatrical reveal with growing rage. 'You always were the dramatic one.'
"I raised him," Sakura said. "I was there for every fever, every nightmare—"
"Because you stole him!" Yumi slammed both hands on the table.
Akira stood. "Stop."
Everyone froze.
"I want to hear everything," he said. "From the beginning. No more lies."
Victoria squeezed his hand. He squeezed back.
---
'This is better than I imagined.' Victoria watched the family drama unfold, her stalker's instincts cataloging every detail.
The way Akira's jaw clenched. How Yumi's hands shook despite her confident voice. The defeat in her father's posture.
"It started with a corporate takeover," Mr. Chen began. "Your father—your real father—was going to expose my methods."
"So you destroyed his family instead," Victoria said.
Her father wouldn't meet her eyes.
---
Akira felt strangely calm. 'My whole life is a lie, and I'm holding hands with my stalker while my mothers fight.'
"I want to know one thing," he said, cutting through Yumi's angry tirade. "Why come back now?"
Yumi's face changed. Fear flickered across it.
"Because your father is out of prison," she said. "And he's coming for all of us."
The room went silent.
Victoria's phone buzzed. She looked down and went pale.
"What is it?" Akira asked.
She turned the screen. A single message from an unknown number:
"Too late. I'm already here."
The lights went out.
In the darkness, someone screamed.