Gerald's POV
"We need weapons."
I'm sitting in the back of Marcus's car with Rosa, making a list of everything that could go wrong tomorrow. The list is very long.
"I have contacts," Marcus says. "I can get us guns, but Gerald, you've never fired a weapon in your life. Neither has Rosa."
"Then we'll learn tonight," Rosa says firmly. She's been different since we found out about Julie. Stronger. Fiercer. "We have twelve hours until the wedding. That's enough time."
"It's really not," Marcus mutters, but he's already making calls.
My phone buzzes. Unknown number. My stomach drops every time that happens now.
I answer cautiously. "Hello?"
"Gerald Whitmore." The voice is female, familiar, but I can't place it. "Do you know who this is?"
My blood runs cold. "Julie."
Rosa's head snaps toward me. Marcus nearly swerves off the road.
"Smart boy," Julie says, her voice light, almost playful. "I heard you've been busy tonight. Breaking into cemeteries, talking to dead people. Find anything interesting?"
"Where are you?" I demand.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" She laughs. "Actually, I'm right behind you. Three cars back. Black Mercedes. Wave hello."
We all turn. Sure enough, a black Mercedes is following us. I can't see through the tinted windows.
"Pull over, Marcus," Julie says sweetly. "Or I'll have my people shoot out your tires. We're going to have a little family reunion."
Marcus looks at me. I nod. What choice do we have?
He pulls into an empty parking lot. The Mercedes pulls in behind us. The door opens and Julie steps out.
She's even more beautiful than I remember. Elegant suit, perfect hair, confident walk. But her eyes—her eyes are cold. Dead.
This isn't the girl I loved. This is a stranger wearing Julie's face.
Rosa and I get out of the car slowly. Marcus stays inside, hand on his gun.
"Hello, darling," Julie says to me with a cruel smile. Then she looks at Rosa. "And hello, little sister. Still wearing my hand-me-downs, I see."
Rosa's wearing casual clothes now, but the insult lands. Julie always knew exactly how to hurt her.
"You're alive," Rosa says, her voice shaking. "All this time, I mourned you. I cried for you. And you were alive."
"Did you really mourn me, Rosa?" Julie tilts her head mockingly. "Or were you secretly relieved? Finally, the perfect sister was gone. Finally, you could have a chance at being special."
"I loved you!" Rosa's voice cracks.
"No, you loved the idea of me. Just like Gerald did." Julie walks closer, circling us like a predator. "Neither of you knew the real me. The real me is much more interesting."
"You're a murderer," I say coldly. "You killed the Syndicate boss. You've been running a criminal organization for three years."
"I prefer the term CEO," Julie says with a laugh. "And yes, I killed Marcus Volkov. He was weak, outdated, sloppy. I'm much better at this than he was. Profits are up forty percent since I took over."
She's proud of it. Actually proud.
"Why are you here?" Rosa demands. "Why not just kill us?"
"Because I wanted to give you a choice," Julie says. "Tomorrow at the wedding, fifty of my enemies will die. Bombs planted in the chandeliers, triggered remotely. Everyone will think it's a terrorist attack. Very tragic."
My stomach turns. "You're going to murder fifty people at our wedding."
"Your wedding, not mine." Julie's smile widens. "But here's the interesting part. You two can walk away. I'll give you new identities, money, a fresh start. All you have to do is nothing. Don't warn anyone. Don't try to stop it. Just get married, smile for the cameras, and when the bombs go off, run."
"You want us to let innocent people die," Rosa says slowly.
"I want you to stay out of my way," Julie corrects. "These aren't innocent people, Rosa. They're criminals, just like our father. Just like Gerald's father. Just like everyone at that wedding. The only innocent people there will be you two. So save yourselves."
"And if we refuse?" I ask.
Julie's smile disappears. "Then you die with them. Simple as that."
Rosa steps forward. "You're my sister. Somewhere inside you, the real Julie has to still exist. The girl who used to braid my hair. Who taught me how to ride a bike. Who—"
"That girl died a long time ago," Julie says flatly. "When our parents sold me to the Syndicate. When your precious Gerald loved me only because I was beautiful. When everyone treated me like a trophy instead of a person. I learned the truth, Rosa: power is the only thing that matters. Love is weakness. Family is a lie."
"Then why give us this choice?" I challenge. "If you don't care about us, why not just kill us?"
Something flickers in Julie's eyes. Pain? Regret? Then it's gone.
"Because you're going to marry my little sister tomorrow, Gerald," she says quietly. "And despite everything, I do want her to be happy. Even if it's with the man who should have been mine."
The confession hangs in the air between us.
"You still love him," Rosa whispers. "After everything, you still—"
"I don't love anyone," Julie snaps. But her voice wavers. "I'm offering you both life. Take it or leave it. You have until tomorrow morning to decide."
She turns to walk away.
"We have your father's flash drive," I call after her. "The encrypted one. We know it needs your biometrics to unlock."
Julie freezes. Slowly, she turns back.
"So that's your plan," she says softly. "Capture me. Force me to unlock the evidence. Destroy everything I've built."
"You murdered people," Rosa says. "You have to pay for that."
"I murdered monsters," Julie corrects. "I'm not the villain in this story, Rosa. I'm the only one brave enough to do what needed to be done. Our father? He would have let the Syndicate own us forever. Gerald's father? Same thing. I took control. I made us powerful."
"You made yourself a killer," I say.
Julie's face hardens. "Then I guess we're enemies after all. Pity. I really did want to give you both an out."
She pulls out her phone and types something. Immediately, ten cars pull into the parking lot, surrounding us. Men in black suits emerge, all armed.
"Twelve hours until the wedding," Julie says. "Between now and then, my people will be hunting you. If you make it to the ceremony alive, we'll finish this there. May the best family win."
She gets in her Mercedes and drives away.
The armed men advance slowly, guns drawn.
"GET DOWN!" Marcus screams from the car.
He floors the gas pedal, steering straight at the men. They scatter. Marcus skids to a stop beside us. "GET IN!"
Rosa and I dive into the car. Bullets shatter the back window. Marcus guns it, weaving between other cars as the Syndicate men give chase.
"Where do we go?" Rosa shouts over the gunfire. "They'll find us anywhere!"
"There's one place," I say, pulling out my phone. "Somewhere Julie would never think to look." I dial Vanessa. "Mom, we need somewhere to hide. Fast."
"I have a place," Vanessa says immediately. "Old Syndicate safe house that was decommissioned five years ago. Julie doesn't know it exists. I'm texting you the address now."
The text comes through. Marcus plugs it into his GPS and takes a sharp turn, temporarily losing our pursuers.
"We've got maybe ten minutes before they find us again," Marcus says. "Gerald, whatever plan you're cooking up, it better be brilliant."
I look at Rosa. She looks back at me. We're both thinking the same thing.
"We need to turn the trap around," Rosa says. "Julie thinks we're prey. We need to become predators."
"How?" Marcus demands.
I pull out the flash drive. "Julie needs to unlock this to prove her crimes. But what if we could unlock it without her?"
"Your father said it needs her biometrics," Rosa reminds me.
"No," I say slowly, an idea forming. "He said it needs biometric data. Fingerprint and retinal scan. What if we could fake those?"
Marcus glances at me in the rearview mirror. "You want to create fake biometrics? Gerald, that's—"
"Impossible with normal tech," I finish. "But I know someone who specializes in identity fraud. Someone who owes me a favor."
Rosa's eyes widen. "You're talking about creating a fake Julie."
"Not a fake Julie," I correct. "Just fake enough to fool a computer. If we can unlock that drive, we can copy the evidence and leak it to every news outlet before the wedding even starts. Julie's Syndicate empire crumbles before she can trigger those bombs."
"That's actually brilliant," Marcus admits.
My phone rings. Vanessa.
"Gerald, we have a problem," she says urgently. "I just got word from my contacts. Julie's not planning to trigger the bombs during the ceremony."
"When then?"
"During your first kiss," Vanessa says grimly. "The moment you and Rosa kiss as husband and wife, the bombs detonate. She wants that to be the last thing you see before you die—each other."
My blood runs cold. I look at Rosa.
"We kiss, everyone dies," I whisper.
"Then we don't kiss," Rosa says firmly. But her voice shakes.
"If you don't kiss, Julie will know you're onto her," Vanessa warns. "She'll detonate manually. Either way, people die."
The car falls silent except for the sound of tires on pavement.
"Unless," I say slowly, "we fake our deaths too."
Rosa stares at me. "What?"
"We stage an accident," I explain quickly. "Before the wedding. Make Julie think we're dead. Then she has no reason to trigger the bombs at the ceremony—"
"But she'll still go after her rivals another way," Marcus interrupts. "You'd be buying time, not saving lives."
He's right. Damn it, he's right.
Rosa takes my hand. "There's only one way to stop this," she says quietly. "We