VESPER POV
The knife was cold against my throat.
Kieran held it steady, his breath warm on my neck. We stood on the old bridge—wood rotting beneath our feet, river rushing below. The same bridge where he'd fallen twenty years ago.
Where Callahan had let him fall.
Or so Kieran believed.
"He'll come," Kieran whispered. "My brother never could resist playing hero."
"He's not coming." I kept my voice steady. "I told him not to. I told him I want a divorce."
"And yet you're still wearing his ring." Kieran's free hand grabbed my left hand, lifting it. The wedding band caught moonlight. "Still letting him track you. Still hoping he'll save you."
"I forgot to take it off—"
"Liar." The knife pressed harder. Not cutting. Just threatening. "You're a terrible liar, Vesper. It's almost charming. You love him, don't you? Despite everything. Despite the manipulation and the lies and the murder. You actually love the monster."
Did I?
I didn't know anymore.
Five years of marriage to a man I'd never really known. Five years of separate bedrooms and polite distance and a contract that said we owed each other nothing but appearances.
But I'd seen the way Callahan looked at me tonight. The desperation when Kieran took me. The fury when the building collapsed. The surrender when the police came.
That wasn't acting. That wasn't a contract.
That was something real.
Something terrifying.
"I don't love him," I said. "I barely know him."
"Then why are you helping him?" Celestine's voice came from behind us. She stood at the end of the bridge with Theron Vex—a massive man with scars covering his face and hands that looked like they'd broken a thousand bones.
"I'm not helping him. I gave you his account access. I showed you his files—"
"You showed us what he wanted you to show us," Theron said. His voice was gravel and violence. "Fake accounts. Dummy corporations. Nothing real. Did you think we wouldn't notice?"
My stomach dropped. They knew. They knew I'd been feeding them false information.
"I don't know what you're—"
"Stop lying!" Kieran yanked me backward. I stumbled. My foot went through a rotted plank.
The wood cracked. Splintered.
I looked down at the river thirty feet below. Dark water. Rocks. Death.
"Careful," Kieran said softly. "This bridge is old. Dangerous. People fall from it all the time. Tragic accidents."
"Kieran, please—"
"You're playing both sides, Vesper. Pretending to help us while still protecting him. I can see it in your eyes. Every time we mention hurting Callahan, you flinch. Every time we talk about killing him, you look sick." He turned me to face him. "You love him. Admit it."
"I don't—"
A sound cut me off. Engine. Close. Getting closer.
Headlights appeared through the trees. A car. Driving fast.
Too fast.
It crashed through the guardrail and stopped at the bridge entrance. The door opened.
Callahan stepped out.
He was covered in blood. His clothes torn. His face bruised from the police fight. But his mercury eyes found mine across the distance and something in my chest cracked open.
He came. Of course he came.
"Hello, brother," Kieran called out. "Right on time. Did you miss me?"
Callahan didn't answer. Just started walking toward us. Slow. Deliberate. Every step a promise of violence.
"Stop there!" Kieran pressed the knife harder against my throat. A thin line of blood appeared. "One more step and I cut her."
Callahan stopped. "Let her go. This is between us."
"Everything is between us!" Kieran's voice broke. "You left me to die! You saved yourself and let me fall into that river! I was thirteen years old and you abandoned me!"
"I tried to save you—"
"LIAR!" Kieran's hand shook. The knife bit deeper. I felt blood trickling down my neck. "I reached for you. I begged you to grab me. You looked me in the eyes and you let go."
"The bridge was collapsing. If I'd held on, we both would have died—"
"So you chose yourself! You let your little brother fall to save your own skin! Then you took our parents' money and built an empire while I rotted in foster homes being beaten and starved!"
Tears ran down Kieran's face. The knife trembled against my throat.
Callahan's expression was raw. Broken. "Kieran, I searched for you. For months. I thought you drowned. If I'd known you were alive—"
"You would have what? Saved me? Protected me?" Kieran laughed bitterly. "You save her. You protect her. Your precious Vesper who you've known for five years. But your own brother? The one who shared a womb with you? You left me to die."
Wait. "Shared a womb?" I repeated. "You're twins?"
"Didn't he tell you?" Kieran smiled against my hair. "We're twins. Born two minutes apart. I came first. I was supposed to inherit everything. But I fell. I died. And Callahan got everything."
"That's not—" Callahan's voice was hoarse. "That's not what happened."
"Then tell me what happened! Tell me the truth!"
"Our parents were murdered by Theron's father!" Callahan shouted. The words echoed across the river. "By the previous Theron Vex. He wanted Dad's territory. Wanted Mom's connections. They killed them both and came for us next. We ran. The bridge was our only escape. I told you to go first because you were faster. You made it halfway and the wood gave out. I grabbed for you. I did. But you were already falling and pulling me with you. I had to choose—fall with you and die, or let go and live to get revenge."
Silence fell.
"You chose revenge over me," Kieran whispered.
"I chose to survive so I could destroy them! And I did! I killed Theron's father. Killed every single person involved in Mom and Dad's murder. Forty-three people, Kieran. Forty-three deaths to avenge our parents and you!"
"But not to save me."
"I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!"
The bridge creaked. Groaned. The old wood was giving way under our weight.
"Doesn't matter now," Theron said, stepping onto the bridge. "You're both going to die tonight. You, your wife, your empire. Everything ends here."
He pulled a gun. Aimed at Callahan.
"No!" I didn't think. Just moved. Threw myself sideways, breaking Kieran's grip.
The knife cut my shoulder. Pain exploded. I didn't care.
The gun fired.
Callahan dove.
The bullet missed him by inches.
Then the bridge collapsed.
All of us—me, Kieran, Callahan, Theron—fell through rotting wood into nothing.
Time slowed. I saw Callahan reaching for me. Saw Kieran grabbing for his brother. Saw Theron's shocked face.
Then we hit the water.
Ice-cold. Black. The current grabbed me, pulling me under.
I couldn't swim. Never learned. Water filled my lungs.
I was drowning.
Arms wrapped around me. Pulled me up. Broke the surface.
Callahan. Holding me. Swimming for both of us.
"I've got you," he gasped. "Don't let go. Don't you dare let go."
Behind us, Kieran surfaced. He was bleeding. Struggling.
"Callahan!" he screamed. "Help me! Please! I can't—"
The current pulled him under.
Callahan stopped swimming. Turned. Looked at his drowning brother.
Looked at me in his arms.
And I saw the choice in his eyes. The same choice he'd made twenty years ago.
Save his brother.
Or save me.
He couldn't save both.
"Callahan," I whispered. "Save him. Save your brother."
"No."
"Please—"
"I already lost him once. I won't lose you." He tightened his grip. Started swimming toward shore. Away from Kieran.
"CALLAHAN!" Kieran's scream was desperate. "DON'T LEAVE ME AGAIN! PLEASE!"
Callahan didn't look back.
We reached the shore. He pulled me onto the rocks, checking for injuries.
Behind us, Kieran's screams stopped.
Silence. Just the river rushing.
I looked at Callahan. At the tears streaming down his face.
"You let him die," I whispered. "Again."
"I saved you," he said. "I'll always save you."
Then Kieran surfaced downstream. Theron had him. Was dragging him to the opposite shore.
Both alive. Both staring at us across the water.
"This isn't over!" Kieran screamed. "You chose her over me twice! TWICE! I'll make you pay for that! I'll destroy everything you love!"
Theron pulled him away. Into the trees. Gone.
Callahan collapsed beside me, shaking.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so sorry."
I didn't know if he was apologizing to me or to Kieran.
Maybe both.
Police sirens wailed in the distance. Getting closer.
"We need to run," Callahan said.
"Where? They know your face. Your name. Everything."
He looked at me with those mercury eyes. "Do you trust me?"
I should have said no. Should have run. Should have let the police take him.
But I touched his face. Felt him trembling. Saw the monster who'd chosen me over his own brother.
"I don't know," I said honestly.
"Good enough." He pulled me to my feet. "Come on."
We ran into the darkness together.
And behind us, I heard Kieran's final scream echo across the water:
"I'LL KILL HER, BROTHER! I'LL KILL HER AND MAKE YOU WATCH!"