LOGINThe explosion sent another violent tremor through the yacht, throwing me against the wall before Arlo caught my arm and pulled me upright. Smoke was already creeping through the corridor, mixing with the sharp smell of burning metal, while alarms screamed from somewhere above us. For several seconds, none of us could hear anything except the ringing in our ears and the distant shouts of people running across the decks. “Everyone still here?” Ava shouted. “I’m fine,” Arlo answered. “Danielle?” “Still standing.” Ava turned to me. “Sofia?” “I’m fine.” Another blast sounded in the distance, smaller than the first but close enough to make the ceiling tremble. Danielle grabbed the nearest railing as the yacht tilted again, and Ava immediately moved toward her. “We need to get out of this corridor,” Ava said. “If the damage reaches the lower decks, we're going to be trapped.” “Where do we go?” I asked. “Up.” I almost laughed. “Up? We just got dragged onto this yacht because Kons
The sound of the lock turning made Ava move immediately, crossing the room and pressing one finger to her lips. I barely had time to step back before she pulled a narrow metal panel from the wall, revealing a dark opening behind it. Danielle pushed herself upright, gripping the edge of the table as she tried to steady her weak legs. “This way,” Ava whispered. “We have maybe thirty seconds before they realise I’m not where they left you.” I looked at Danielle, then at the narrow passage behind the panel, wondering how she was supposed to make it through when she could barely stand. Ava seemed to read the question on my face and moved toward Danielle without hesitation. “I can walk,” Danielle said quietly. “You can barely stand,” I replied. “And I’m still walking.” There was something in her voice that made me stop arguing, so Ava helped her into the passage while I followed close behind. The space was cramped, barely wide enough for one person at a time, and the walls were lined
Ava waited until the footsteps outside faded before she turned back to me.“You need to keep your voice down,” she whispered. “If they hear anything unusual, they'll come back.”I nodded, still trying to process what she had just told me.“You've been working for Konstantin?”“Not for him.”“Then for who?”“Myself.”The answer caught me off guard.Ava walked to the table and picked up the communication device she had removed from her collar.“I never truly left this family.”I frowned.“I thought you did.”“That was the point.”She switched off the device and placed it face down.“Everyone was supposed to believe I wanted nothing to do with them anymore. Konstantin included.”“You let him believe that?”“For years.”I stared at her.“Why?”“Because people talk differently around someone they think is no longer a threat.”She crossed the room and pressed her fingers against a section of the wall.A hidden panel clicked open.My eyes widened.Inside were several small storage drives, fo
The guards gave me no time to say goodbye to Danielle.One grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the door while the other stood between me and the bed. “Wait,” I demanded, twisting against his grip, but he didn't slow down.Danielle tried to stand, but her legs gave way beneath her.“Danielle!”She caught herself against the bed.“Go,” she whispered.“I’m not leaving you here.”“You have to.”The guard dragged me into the corridor before I could reach her.The door slammed behind us.I immediately fought back.“Let me go!”The guard tightened his grip.“Stop resisting.”“Take your hands off me!”I kicked backward, catching him in the leg.He cursed.The second guard grabbed my other arm.I struggled between them, trying to slow them down, but they were stronger and prepared for every move I made.“Where are you taking me?”Neither answered.“Is it the room Danielle warned me about?”Silence.My stomach twisted.That was answer enough.They were taking me somewhere Danielle had been terr
The guards pulled me through the corridor before I had any chance to fight them properly.I twisted against their grip, searching for Arlo, but he was being dragged in the opposite direction by two other men. “Arlo!” I shouted, my voice echoing through the yacht.He turned immediately, his eyes locking onto mine as the guards forced him toward another corridor.“Sofia!”“I’m here!”One of the men shoved me forward.“Keep moving.”I stumbled but caught myself before I fell.“Where are you taking him?”No answer.I looked back again.Arlo was still fighting them.“Don't let them separate us!” he shouted.“I won't!”A guard grabbed my shoulder and spun me around.“You don't decide where you go.”I glared at him.“Neither do you.”His expression hardened, but he didn't respond.They dragged me farther down the corridor, away from Arlo.The distance between us grew with every step.Then I heard a door slam somewhere behind me.I stopped fighting.For one terrible second, there was nothing.
“He wants to replace Isabelle with you permanently.”Danielle's words refused to leave my head.I looked at her, then at Arlo, trying to find a flaw in what she had said. There had to be one, because the alternative was too horrifying to accept.“But Isabelle is alive,” I said.“For now.”My stomach tightened.“You said Konstantin wants to erase both of us.”“He doesn't need to kill you both.”Danielle stepped closer.“He only needs to make sure neither of you can ever reclaim your identity.”I looked towards the locked door.The idea suddenly made every part of the plan make sense.The wedding.The engagement.The public appearances.The photographs.The way everyone had been encouraged to accept me as Isabelle.Konstantin hadn't simply tolerated the deception.He had been building it.“He wants the world to believe I'm Isabelle.”“Yes.”“And Isabelle disappears.”“Yes.”“Then what happens to me?”Danielle's expression hardened.“You disappear too.”My throat tightened.“But if I'm I