Chapter 3: Swapped to the past

I stood up. My legs were still shaking. "What makes you think I'm capable —"

"There's a criminal in every man. I'm not here for a sob speech, Charlotte. I need you out in a month."

"How?" I asked. My restraints were gone, but every word he said still cut.

He looked at my belly, and quickly looked away. Something told me that he knew but I pushed the thoughts away and steadied myself at the edge of the table 

"You know what, Gabriel? I'd rather serve life with a clear conscience than lie my way out. If no one else believes me, Lizzie knows I would never hurt her in a thousand lifetimes."

"Touching." He made a face like he was going to be sad, then dropped it. "The bars are still locked against your freedom, Penelope — I mean, Charlotte."

The name stopped my breath.

Penelope.

The name Marshall had said while inside me that night in the hotel, his forehead pressed against mine, his voice rough as he came. I didn't know who Penelope was then.

And now Gabriel said it too.

Everything I ever loved went to someone else. Mom's love went to Diana. My books went to Elizabeth. And now the two men I ever knew both said the same woman's name.

I have always been the one who called first. Who waited. Who ran the errands no one else would. I wanted Mom to feel my sincerity. I wanted Elizabeth to admit she took my story and give it back. I wanted Gabriel to know me and love me.

I lost every time.

"You should leave," I said calmly, but my voice cracked. "Visiting hours are over."

"Charlotte —"

"Please. Go."

He didn't hesitate. The door jammed and his footsteps faded.

I sank to my knees and held my chest. My future flashed in my eyes. No job, no sister, a baby in jail.

“Everything I held dear had been taken. Why should my life go too, for a crime I couldn't imagine?” I muttered under my breath and then I touched my belly.

"Heavens. No. I won't lose her too."

"Lizzie," I sobbed, my nose blocked, eyes pouring. "I could never do this to you. You know me. For my baby's sake, help me. I cannot lose her as well."

"If you can hear me, help me find who did this before the hearing.”

One moment I was on the cold floor begging my late sister for help. The next moment, I had a dream where Lizzie planted a kiss on my forehead.

I woke up about to marry my sister's husband.

"Breathe," I heard a man say.

It was low and close, and at the same time, I felt a man's large, rough hands cupping my face.

I opened my eyes to daylight. For the first few seconds, the light was blinding. I lifted a hand to shield my face from it and tried to sit up.

Music swelled around me. An orchestra playing an interlude too long, like they were waiting for someone to remember her line. Behind it, I could hear indistinct chatter. Not panic. It sounded like a celebration.

White flowers lined the walkway, from the front of the altar all the way to the rows.

I tried to sit up but my feet hurt. I looked down and met a wedding dress.

Vekee James lace. Long sleeves and tight at the waist. The dress Elizabeth cried over for a month because she thought it wouldn't be delivered in time. The dress I steamed for her while she told me how to do it properly.

I was wearing it and my ankles were shaking in stilettos. I never wear heels. Not ever.

"Liz, you'll be fine," the man said.

Liz is my sister's name. I'm Charlotte. We are triplets with Diana, but we are not identical. My face is oval. My hair is short and dark.

The hair falling down my back was long, curled, and light brown. Like Lizzie's.

I snapped my head up at the man and met a black suit that probably cost as much as my tuition. Striking in the way that makes you stare even when you don't want to with a thin scar running down the side of his left eye. The same way he looked the night we met at the Bougainvillea hotel before he knew me as his wife's sister.

Marshall.

"Marshall?" I said, and my voice came out breathy. Definitely not mine.

Behind him was a wedding arch covered in white roses, and a priest who wouldn't look at me, with sweat beaded on his forehead.

Marshall held out his hand. On his palm, a diamond ring.

Elizabeth's ring. The ring that went missing after her killer cut off her fingers. The same ring Mom asked me to return in the interrogation room.