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Chapter 13: The First Theft

Author: T Noir
last update publish date: 2026-05-02 20:39:20

The hours crawled past. Elara lay motionless in her bed, staring at the ceiling. Every creak of the old house sent her heart into her throat. Every footstep in the corridor made her hold her breath. She'd pulled the blankets up to her chin like a child hiding from monsters, but the monsters in this house didn't live under the bed. They walked the hallways in expensive suits and charcoal dresses. They smiled at breakfast and whispered on the phone when they thought no one was listening.

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  • THE BILLIONAIRE'S BURIED TWIN    Chapter 15: The Voice on the Other End

    The phone arrived the next morning.Mrs. Windsor brought it with the breakfast tray, placing the small box beside the coffee pot without comment. Her face betrayed nothing, but her eyes lingered on the package a moment too long before she retreated from the room.Elara waited until the door clicked shut before opening it. A smartphone, sleek and black, already charged. A single contact was programmed into it: Alexander. No passcode, no restrictions. He'd given her exactly what she asked for.Now she needed to use it but she didn't have Viktor's number.The journal had given her his first name and a warning. The photos gave her the name of his bar—The Anchor. But no phone number, no address. Nothing that would let her reach him from inside this house.She sat on the edge of the bed and forced herself to think. Weeks ago, when she'd first searched Isabella's study, she'd been looking for secrets, for warnings, for anything that would tell her who her sister had been and why she'd disapp

  • THE BILLIONAIRE'S BURIED TWIN    Chapter 14: The East Wing

    Elara stood outside the east wing door with her hand pressed flat against the cold wood. Her heart was beating so hard she could feel it in her temples. The corridor behind her was empty. The house was quiet. Somewhere far away, a vacuum hummed and a maid laughed at something someone said, but here, at the entrance to the abandoned wing, there was only silence.She had walked past this door a few times without stopping. Every servant in the house did the same. It was invisible by agreement, a threshold everyone had learned not to cross and now she was going to cross it.The key was in her pocket, cold and heavy against her thigh. She wrapped her fingers around it, took one last look down the empty hallway, and pushed the door open.The hinges groaned. She froze, her whole body rigid, listening. No footsteps, no voices, nothing.She stepped inside and pulled the door shut behind her. The darkness swallowed her whole. She stood motionless with her palm pressed against the closed door, b

  • THE BILLIONAIRE'S BURIED TWIN    Chapter 13: The First Theft

    The hours crawled past. Elara lay motionless in her bed, staring at the ceiling. Every creak of the old house sent her heart into her throat. Every footstep in the corridor made her hold her breath. She'd pulled the blankets up to her chin like a child hiding from monsters, but the monsters in this house didn't live under the bed. They walked the hallways in expensive suits and charcoal dresses. They smiled at breakfast and whispered on the phone when they thought no one was listening.She turned onto her side. The sheets tangled around her legs. She didn't have a key yet, but she was already planning how to get it. Viktor had said Mrs. Windsor was the only one besides Alexander who entered the east wing. If there was a spare, it was with her.I have to search her quarters. I have to take it.The thought made her stomach clench. She wasn't a thief. Even in the worst years—the hungry years, the foster homes where kids stole from each other's lockers just to survive—she'd kept her hands

  • THE BILLIONAIRE'S BURIED TWIN    Chapter 13: The First Theft

    The hours crawled past. Elara lay motionless in her bed, staring at the ceiling. Every creak of the old house sent her heart into her throat. Every footstep in the corridor made her hold her breath. She'd pulled the blankets up to her chin like a child hiding from monsters, but the monsters in this house didn't live under the bed. They walked the hallways in expensive suits and charcoal dresses. They smiled at breakfast and whispered on the phone when they thought no one was listening.She turned onto her side. The sheets tangled around her legs. She didn't have a key yet, but she was already planning how to get it. Viktor had said Mrs. Windsor was the only one besides Alexander who entered the east wing. If there was a spare, it was with her.I have to search her quarters. I have to take it.The thought made her stomach clench. She wasn't a thief. Even in the worst years—the hungry years, the foster homes where kids stole from each other's lockers just to survive—she'd kept her hands

  • THE BILLIONAIRE'S BURIED TWIN    Chapter 12: The War Inside

    The door clicked shut behind Viktor. Elara stood alone in the library.Her hands were trembling. She pressed them flat against her thighs, but they wouldn't stop. The fire had died to embers. The room smelled like old books and smoke and the faint, fading trace of Viktor's cologne.He believed me.The thought circled in her mind like a trapped bird. Viktor had looked at her, really looked and seen past the diamonds and the designer clothes. He'd seen Elara, the cleaner, the foster kid, the imposter and he hadn't walked away.She walked to the window. The gardens were dark. Somewhere out there, Viktor was driving back to his bar, probably already working and somewhere in this house—somewhere very close—the truth about Isabella was waiting.What am I doing?The question came from somewhere deep. A voice she'd been ignoring for weeks.I should be enjoying this. I have food, I have warmth, Alexander wants me. He's starting to need me. I could just… stay, play my part, keep my head down.N

  • THE BILLIONAIRE'S BURIED TWIN    Chapter 11: What She Left Behind

    Viktor was quiet for a long moment. The fire crackled in the hearth behind him, casting shifting shadows across his face."Isabella had a twin?"He said it like the words didn't make sense. Like he was turning over a puzzle piece that didn't fit any picture he knew."I was told I was abandoned as a baby." Elara's voice was steadier now, lighter without the weight of the lie pressing on her chest. "I never knew. None of us did. Alexander found out the night he met me."Viktor's jaw tightened. "The night he met you? Where?""In his penthouse. I was scrubbing his toilet." She let the words land without flinching. "I was a cleaner living on minimum wage, no family, no future. He saw the birthmark behind my ear and looked at me like I was a ghost.""The same birthmark as hers?.""Yes."He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, hands clasped tight. "And he forced you to take her place?.""He didn't give me a choice. He had evidence, fabricated evidence of crimes with my face on camera. Isabel

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