Chapter Fifty Eight

Jake.

I can’t breathe. The air in the room feels thick, heavy, and suffocating. My mind keeps replaying Kyla’s words over and over again like a tape that won’t stop spinning. She called me. She called me the night she went into labor. And Amina answered the phone.

It doesn’t make sense, it shouldn’t make sense, but every detail fits together too perfectly to be a coincidence. My stomach churns. My pulse pounds in my ears.

Kyla sits on the couch, her fingers trembling against her knees, eyes still glossy from tears. I can see the exhaustion in her face, the years of running and fear. And all I can think about is that my own blood, my family, the woman I once trusted stood between us and did nothing but destroy us. 

I force myself to speak, my voice low and uneven. “She, she answered the call.”

Kyla nods weakly, her voice raw. “She told me never to call again. That you had moved on and I should too.”

I drag a hand down my face, trying to process it, but the anger rising inside me is stronger than reason. “She knew. She knew you were alive. She knew about the babies. And she didn’t say a damn word to me and she went on to play house with me all those years, knowing you were out there, God.”

Kyla looks up sharply, confusion flickering in her eyes. “What do you mean?”

I swallow hard, my heart slamming against my ribs. “Kyla, yesterday” I stop, struggling to form the words. “Yesterday, when I went home, I I told Amina that you were staying here and that you had kids.”

Her eyes widen. “And what did she say?”

I laugh, but it’s hollow, bitter, sharp. “She acted shocked. Completely blindsided. Like she had no idea.”

Kyla’s face hardens instantly. The warmth drains out of her features, replaced by cold realization.

I continue, my voice shaking with disbelief. “She hugged me, Kyla. She told me maybe now I could finally heal. That I should be kind to you, that she didn’t blame you for leaving.” I grit my teeth, fury boiling in my chest. “She looked me dead in the eyes and lied.”

Kyla exhales shakily, her voice quiet but trembling. “Of course she did.”

“She fooled me,” I whisper, pacing, my hands shaking. “All this time, every tear, every kind word, every night she told me she missed you, it was all an act. She made me mourn you, Kyla. She made me bury you in my heart and live like a ghost. And then she took your place in my life. How could she? How can someone be so cruel to their own sister?”

“Because she’s not who you think she is,” Kyla cuts in, her voice sharp now, laced with a fury that mirrors my own.

I stop pacing and turn to face her. “Then who the hell is she, Kyla? Because I don’t even know anymore.”

Kyla’s hands clench into fists on her lap, her jaw tight. “She’s someone who’s always wanted what wasn’t hers. My clothes, my friends, my life. And when she couldn’t have it, she found a way to take it.”

Her words hit me like a blow. I think back to all those small, harmless moments I brushed off the way Amina would mirror Kyla’s hairstyle, wear the same perfume, laugh the same way. I used to think it was sisterly admiration, that maybe she missed Kyla so much she just wanted something that reminded her of her. Now I see it for what it really was: obsession.

Kyla shakes her head slowly, disbelief and rage flashing across her face. “She’s still playing the same game.”

“I don’t get it,” I mutter, my voice rising. “Why? What did she want? Was it money? Jealousy? Power? What could possibly drive her to destroy her own sister’s life?”

Kyla looks down, her voice trembling. “You, she wanted you Jake and the life you have to offer.”

The word hits me like a thunderclap.

She lifts her gaze, eyes red but unflinching. “She wanted you, Jake. She always did. You were the only thing she couldn’t have. And when she saw how much you loved me, it broke something inside her. So she took everything, my trust, my name, my future just to get what she wanted.”

I feel sick. The room feels too small, too suffocating. I stand again, pacing, my thoughts spiraling. “God, Kyla, I let her stay in my house. I let her comfort me. I let her be part of my life while she was the reason you were gone.”

Kyla’s eyes follow me, her expression full of pain but also resolve. “That’s what she does, Jake. She plays the victim until she becomes the villain.”

I stop and look at her. “She fooled everyone. Even me. Especially me.”

Kyla nods, her voice softer now, sadder. “That’s because she’s good at it. She has always known how to twist a story until she comes out looking innocent. When I was little, she would break something and blame me, and I would be the one punished. When I started dating you, she made sure to remind me how ‘lucky’ I was, how she could’ve had you first if she had wanted to. I thought she was joking back then, I never thought she will take it this far.”

The realization settles in like poison. “She’l was been planning this for years,” I say slowly.

“Yes,” Kyla murmurs. “And she nearly got away with it.”

I move closer, lowering myself beside her. My voice is quiet now, but it’s shaking with fury. “When I saw her yesterday, she didn’t even blink. She looked me in the eyes and pretended she didn’t know about the twins. Pretended she hadn’t already held my phone five years ago and told you to never call again.”

Kyla turns her face toward me, her expression tight with restrained emotion. “That’s because she’s behind all of this.”

The words land like a verdict. The truth we’ve been circling finally taking shape.

“She’s behind all of it,” Kyla repeats, her voice steady now. “The car accident. The hospital. The threats. The fake suicide. Every piece of it leads back to her.”

I stare at her, my pulse hammering. The walls seem to close in. For years, I blamed fate, tragedy, bad luck, anything but the people closest to me. But now, everything is clear.

Amina was never the victim. She was the architect.

And she has been walking free, right under my nose, for five years.

I stand slowly, my hands curling into fists. “She made me mourn you, Kyla. She made me think our love was a lie. But I swear to you she is going to answer for this.”

Kyla stands too, her eyes hard, unwavering. “Then we need to be careful, Jake. Because if she did all this to separate us once, just to get what she wants, think how far she will take it, my life and the life of my children is in danger”

I nod grimly, finishing her thought. “She’ll do it again.”

The silence that follows is sharp and tense, but beneath it, something else hums a shared fury, a dangerous unity that wasn’t there before. For the first time in five years, we’re on the same side again.

And for the first time, I see the truth for what it really is.

Amina didn’t just destroy our past, she's still out there, and she’s not done yet. I saw her reaction the other day when I told her Kyla had moved into the country house, she was going to make a move and I had told her exactly where to find her. 

But this time, we were steps ahead of her.