Ch-20

•~•Aziel’s POV.

The hospital ward was dark, the only light in the room was the faint glow from the machines keeping Nathaniel alive, casting long, eerie shadows against the walls.

The rhythmic beeping of the monitors filled the silence, steady and unchanging—just like him.

Five years, and he hadn’t even batted an eyelash. His face was exactly the same—sharp features, handsome, nearly identical to mine—except for the paleness of his skin.

Wires snaked around him, an oxygen mask covered half his face, and his chest rose and fell in a slow, mechanical rhythm.

From my wheelchair, I stared at him, my fingers curling around the cold armrests. The doctor’s words replayed in my head, his tone clipped and professional.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Grant, but we can’t give you any updates on the patient’s recovery, even as his twin brother. Your mother is registered as his guardian and has requested full confidentiality regarding his treatment.”

Confidentiality? From me? It was almost funny—almost. But beneath that thin layer of amusement, it was downright infuriating.

My hands clenched into fists. The anonymous caller had said Nathaniel was showing signs of recovery, that he might finally wake up. But looking at him now, he seemed the same as he had for the last five years.

And if he truly was recovering… Why was my mother keeping it from me?

What was she hiding?

I exhaled sharply as the thought I had been trying to avoid surfaced, gripping me with a quiet, suffocating weight.

My gaze stayed fixed on my twin—the man I had been forced to become in the eyes of the world.

What would happen if he woke up now?

What would happen to me? To my marriage with Irene? To the life I had been forced to live in his place—the life I had, against all odds, started to feel almost comfortable in?

Slowly, I pushed myself to stand, my legs trembling slightly but holding firm. Step by step, I moved closer, tilting my head as I studied his face.

If I had known that night would end like this… that it would leave him in a fucking coma for five whole years… would I have done anything differently?

Or would I have let it happen exactly the same way—made him suffer as revenge against my mother, just so she could feel the same loss she had forced me to endure?

For what she did to Irene.

For what she did to our unborn child.

——

Five Years Ago

——

I hadn’t been myself that night. Hell, I hadn’t been myself for a week—not since I found out Irene was pregnant. With my child.

I hadn’t gone home in days. I spent my nights in hotels, drowning in whiskey, trying to silence the war inside me.

Should I tell her the truth? That I wasn’t Nathaniel—that I was Aziel? That it had been me all along? That the child growing inside her was mine?

Every night, I debated going to her, confessing everything.

That when she lost her virginity, when she first learned what it meant to belong to someone in the most intimate way—it had been with me.

Not him.

That every night, when she lay bare and vulnerable beneath me—when she moaned his name in pleasure, believing it was him—it had always been me.

My hands that roamed her skin. My lips that claimed hers. My body she clung to in the dark. Never his.

But if I told her… would she forgive me? 

Would she hate me? Would she understand that I kept up this act because I had fallen madly in love with her? That I would burn the world down just to be with her?

I had no answer. I was lost, trapped between the truth and the lie, unable to decide which path would destroy me less.

That night, I finally went home. Barely sober. The alcohol dragged through my veins, my thoughts sluggish, my steps unsteady as I stepped out of my car and made my way toward the mansion.

As if on cue, the front door flew open and slammed shut almost instantly.

Nathaniel stormed toward me, his eyes blazing.

Then came the punch. A brutal, solid hit to my jaw.

Pain exploded through my skull, jolting me sober. I stumbled back, my lip split, the sharp taste of blood spreading over my tongue. I ran my fingers over it, then looked up at him.

His fists were clenched. His entire body shook with fury.

“You fucking bastard,” he spat.

I gritted my teeth, anger surging to meet his. “You’d better have a damn good reason for that,” I growled. “Because if you don’t, I swear I’ll knock out every last one of your teeth.”

Nathaniel’s chest rose and fell sharply. His eyes, wild with rage, locked onto mine.

“Oh, I have a reason,” he seethed. “While you were out drinking yourself stupid after breaking our agreement—after fucking my girlfriend until she got pregnant—Mom found out.”

My pulse roared in my ears.

“She thinks the baby is mine,” he went on, his voice shaking with barely contained rage.

“And since she doesn’t want it ruining her plans for me to marry Shoshana Bates, she offered Irene money to get rid of it. And to disappear.”

I froze.

“And guess what?” Nathaniel’s voice dripped with venom. “She took the fucking money.”

My breath hitched. “No.” I shook my head. “Irene would never do that. That’s not who she is.”

Nathaniel scoffed. “Believe what you want. But whether she did or didn’t, this is on you. If you hadn’t gotten greedy and fucked her—without protection, no less—none of this would be happening.”

I barely heard the rest of his words. Denial clawed at my chest. No. She wouldn’t take the money. She wouldn’t… right?

“I’ll talk to Mom,” I said, forcing steadiness into my voice. “I’ll tell her everything. I’ll tell her the child is mine, not yours.”

Nathaniel’s cold laughter cut through me. “Go ahead. Meanwhile, I’ll do something more productive—find Irene and tell her everything about our swap. And while I’m at it, I’ll make sure to convince her to get rid of your fucking child so we can start fresh.”

A sharp, suffocating pressure clamped around my chest. 

No. 

If anyone was going to tell her the truth, it had to be me. Not him. Not when he saw my child as nothing more than a mistake, something that needed to be erased—just like our mother did.

I couldn’t let him reach her first. If anything, it was better if we confronted her together—it would be the first time she ever saw us side by side.

My hands curled into fists.. “I’m coming with you.”

Nathaniel smirked, his eyes gleaming with cruel satisfaction. His voice dripped with mockery. “Whatever. Just know this—once I find her and she gets rid of that bastard, she’ll be done with you. You’ll never have her again.”

My jaw clenched. “And you think I’ll just stand by and let you talk her into killing my child?” My voice was razor-sharp, laced with fury.

“You already have Shoshana. You don’t even love Irene. You’re just being fucking greedy—so just let her go.”

“So you can have her?” Nathaniel sneered. “Never. She’s mine, Aziel.”

He tilted his head, a smug grin curling his lips. “And whether I love her or not—or why I still want to keep her by my side despite my engagement to Shoshana is none of your damn business.”

His eyes gleamed with pure arrogance. “What matters is that when all of this is over, she’ll choose the original. Me. Not you. The fucking copy.”

Something inside me snapped. I wanted to lunge at him, to beat him to a fucking pulp—to knock that smirk right off his goddamn face.

My fists clenched, my blood boiled, but I forced myself to swallow my rage.

There was something more important right now.

Irene.

Nathaniel turned, heading toward his car, but I grabbed his arm, yanking him back. “You’re coming with me,” I said, my tone leaving no room for argument. “If anyone knows where she could be, it’s me.”

He jerked his arm free, rolling his shoulders like he was shaking off something filthy.

“Whatever.” His smirk didn’t waver, but his irritation flickered beneath it.

Without another word, he strode toward my car, yanking the door open and sliding in, his every movement sharp with barely contained anger.

I got into the driver’s seat, gripping the wheel so tightly my knuckles turned white.

Neither of us knew my decision to drive that night would change everything.

Maybe it was the alcohol in my system.

Maybe it was the reckless driver in the other car.

Or maybe it was just fucking bad luck.

But we never made it to Irene.

The crash came out of nowhere. A blinding impact. A violent jolt.

Metal twisted. Glass shattered.

The car flipped.

And Nathaniel—

He took the worst of it.

——

Present

——

When my mother found out the truth—the swap, the accident, everything—she blamed me.

She still did. And the strange dislike she had always harbored toward me? It festered into something uglier. Hate.

I exhaled, staring at Nathaniel’s unconscious form.

The anonymous caller’s words echoed in my head.

"You were in his shadow five years ago… Most people didn’t even know you existed. And because of him, you lost the woman you loved and the child in her womb…”

“... And now that you’ve been forced to take his place, think about what happens when he wakes up. The inevitable changes in your marriage. In your life. Your mother will discard you without hesitation.”

“... And by then, you won’t just be in his shadow. You’ll be erased completely. Don’t you think?”

My throat tightened. My fingers curled.

I reached out, my hand hovering over Nathaniel’s oxygen mask.

Maybe… maybe it would have been better if he had died that night. Maybe it would be better if he never woke up.

My fingers brushed against his oxygen mask.

Then I grabbed it.

And just as I was about to rip it off—

The door to the hospital ward slid open.