LOGINDave POVI was halfway through reviewing reports on our international branches when the investor call began.Three screens open.Projected numbers.Expansion models.Two men in Singapore speaking in polished, careful tones about market penetration and distribution channels while I mentally calculated how long it would take before one of them said something tedious enough to justify ending the call early.They did not disappoint.Forty seven minutes in, we wrapped.“Looking forward to closing this deal,” one of them said.“As are we,” I replied.The screen went black.I shut my laptop.Reached for the next file.Then my office door opened without warning.Sera entered carrying an iPad.Urgent face.Never a promising sign.“Sir,” she said, “you need to see this.”I looked up.“What happened?”She crossed the room and handed me the tablet.“Cyn and Iny.”I frowned.“What about them?”Iny is Lydia’s younger sister and I haven’t heard anything from her since my marriage to her sister.I di
Lydia POVI laughed.Then cried.Which was inconvenient.And deeply embarrassing given I was alone.I set the phone down.Covered my mouth.Laughed again through tears.Because somehowAfter all this timeThe universe had finally looked over and said:Actually, no. Let’s ruin them instead.Well deserved.Entirely.I sat there in silence for a while.Then picked up the phone.Locked it.Placed it face down.And said to no one,“Interesting.”Because apparently therapy had taught me restraint.I left work early.Collected the children.And drove them to swimming lessons.The car ride was loud.As always.“Mummy,” Eli said from the backseat, “if sharks live in water why do we swim in their house?”“Because we are arrogant as a species.”Ava nodded solemnly.“That tracks.”Eli frowned.“What’s tracks?”“Later,” I said.At a red light, I glanced in the mirror.Ava was fixing her goggles with grave concentration.Eli was wearing his on his forehead like a tiny, confused accountant.“My chil
Lydia POVThe next day at work, my assistant walked in balancing three files, an iPad, and the expression of a woman who had accepted chaos as a career condition.“Morning, boss.”“Morning.”She dropped the files onto my desk.“New cases. Two are standard panic. One is interesting.”That got my attention.She slid the top file toward me.“Bellamore.”I looked up.“The Bellamore retail group?”She nodded.“The Bellamore retail group.”Well.That was interesting.Bellamore was one of the biggest luxury department store chains in Country Z. Elegant branding. Expensive campaigns. The sort of company people associated with polished marble floors and women who wore perfume that cost more than rent.I opened the file.Then blinked.Then read it again.A leaked video had surfaced online the night before.A Black woman in one of Bellamore’s flagship stores had been followed by security while shopping. The footage showed an employee whispering to another while pointing at her bag. Then security
POV: AvaI believe I am the more logical twin.Eli disagrees.But Eli also once ate glue because he said the label claimed it was non toxic and he wanted to “verify.”So his judgment is compromised.Our mother says we are both alarming in different ways.Which I consider fair.Mummy is very strong.She works a lot.People listen when she talks.Even grown men in expensive suits.She wears sharp clothes and sharper expressions and fixes everyone’s problems while drinking coffee that smells unpleasant.She is also clumsy.Last Tuesday she walked into a glass door because she was reading emails.She pretended it did not happen.It did.Eli and I saw.We learned we did not have a father when we were three.Not officially.No one sat us down and explained.It became obvious at daycare.There was a family event.People came holding balloons and juice boxes and extra parents.Mothers.Fathers.Stepfathers.One child had three adults arguing over who got to carry him.Greedy.Mummy came alone
Lydia POV“Congratulations, ma’am. Five years with the firm.”Nina, my assistant, placed the bouquet of white lilies on my desk.Then she smiled once and left before I could respond.I stared at the flowers.Said nothing.Not because I was ungrateful.Because my brain had stopped briefly.Five years?Five?That could not possibly be right.I came to this country less than six years ago with two suitcases, one unborn childwhich later turned out to be offensively two children and enough money to survive approximately one week.And now—Five years.Five years since Madam Eloise handed me a card and changed the trajectory of my life with the emotional warmth of a military draft notice.I sat back slowly in my chair.Looked around my office.Floor to ceiling windows.Glass shelves.Awards I pretended not to care about.A framed magazine cover Nina insisted on hanging despite my objections.A terracotta plant pot on the sill painted badly by Ava and labelled in Eli’s handwriting:PROPERTY
Lydia POVI stared at Madam Eloise’s card for so long my supervisor had to physically pluck it from my hand.“Lydia.”I blinked.She waved the card once in front of my face.“You’re not seriously considering saying no, are you?”The office had gone suspiciously quiet.Even Clara was staring.“I…” I looked around. “It’s just very sudden.”My supervisor snorted.“Success usually is.”One of the account executives leaned over my cubicle.“That woman built half this city’s reputation management industry from scratch.”Another added, “She does not recruit. She acquires.”Clara folded her arms.“If you stay here after being personally headhunted by Madam Eloise, I will report you for criminal stupidity.”I stared at her.“You are… strangely supportive.”She shrugged.“You’re irritatingly talented. We all knew this place was temporary for you.”My throat tightened.That caught me more off guard than it should have.My supervisor softened.“Take the offer, Lydia.”Quietly:“This place was alw
Lydia POVBecause the dress inside looked like it had lost a fight with common sense.It was tiny.Short enough to be offensive.Tight enough to require prayer.And covered in some kind of flashy embellishment that made it look less like a dress and more like a nightclub sponsorship.I stared at it
Lydia POVA week after the disaster dinner, I decided to learn how to do eyeliner.Not because I had anywhere to go.Not because my husband had suddenly remembered I existed.But because I had too much time on my hands, too much silence in this house, and apparently, when life was actively mocking
I stared at the name. Then looked up slowly. Bernard pretended to be deeply interested in the flower arrangement by the wall. Coward. I looked back down at the paper. “Interesting,” I said. Bernard wisely said nothing. I exhaled through my nose and moved on. “Fine. We’re doing this once an
Lydia POVThat afternoon, the house was unusually empty. Not empty empty. Just… scattered. The cleaners were somewhere in the far wing doing whatever rich people’s staff did in corners of houses no one actually lived in. Bernard had gone out to restock household supplies. Even the cook had dis







