CHAPTER 16: The Mirror Image

The face on the screen wasn't a stranger's.
It was mine—older, etched with lines of calculated cruelty and cold ambition, but unmistakably, identically mine.
"Surprised, Father?" the woman on the screen asked, a slow, predatory smile curving her lips as she leaned forward into the camera's light. "You didn't really think you were the only one who could fake a death, did you?"
My father sat paralyzed, the color completely drained from his face, his lips parting in a silent, disbelieving gasp.
"Who is that?" I demanded, my voice trembling as I looked between the screen and my father. "Dad, who is she?!"
My father swallowed hard, his hands shaking slightly as he reached out to tap the console screen, trying to trace the signal's origin. "She... she was your older sister, Elena. Your twin. Born five minutes before you."
"My twin?" I stared at the screen, my mind reeling. "That's impossible. I was an only child. Mother never mentioned—"
"Because she couldn't, Elena," the woman on the screen interrupted, her voice dripping with venom. "Mother knew the truth. She knew that Father didn't build this firm on stolen capital—he built it by selling out our family to the syndicate twenty-five years ago. He locked me away in a private facility in Switzerland when I was ten years old just to keep me quiet while he raised you as his perfect, obedient little heiress."
I turned slowly to look at my father, my eyes wide with betrayal. "Is that true?"
My father lowered his head, his silence serving as the most damning confession possible.
"She's lying," my father muttered, though his voice lacked any conviction. "The Geneva facility... there was a fire. Everyone inside perished."
"Not everyone, Father," my twin sister laughed softly—a cold, empty sound that echoed off the cabin walls. "I watched you sign the demolition orders from my hospital window. I watched you walk away without looking back. And for the last twenty years, I've been building my own empire—using Adrian, using Tessa, and using Vance to dismantle your little foundation piece by piece."
The screen flickered violently, and a new set of data began downloading automatically onto the helicopter's secure navigation console.
"What are you downloading?" my father snapped, slamming his hand against the control panel.
"Just a parting gift, Father," my sister replied smoothly. "A complete transfer of every remaining asset in your offshore accounts into my personal holding company. By the time this helicopter lands in Geneva, you won't even have enough money to buy a cup of coffee."
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Before my father could shut down the system, the screen flashed a final warning: Transfer Complete. Account Balances Zeroed.
And then, the screen went completely black.