Double Edge

"The Carboni family will agree to—"

"Mrs. Salvatore?" Carboni's gravelly voice cuts through the fog. "You were saying?"

"I..." My eyes fix on the wine glass.

"Perhaps my wife needs a moment," Nicolas says. "Gentlemen, shall we take five?"

"Of course, of course," Carboni says. "These negotiations are delicate."

"Excuse me." I push back from the table.

"Isabella." Nicolas catches me in the hallway. "What happened in there?"

"I lost time again. Five minutes, maybe more."

"This is getting worse."

"I know." I turn to the bathroom mirror. "I—"

"Get out." The voice from my mouth isn't mine. "Get out of my body!"

"Valentina?"

"Stop pretending to be me. Stop stealing my life!"

"Mom?" Sofia's voice breaks through. "Luna says you're fighting with yourself again."

"I'm fine, sweetheart."

"No, you're not," Luna calls out. "Other mommy is sad."

"Other mommy?" Nicolas asks sharply.

"The one who holds her coffee different," Sofia says. "See? Like this."

"And likes different flowers," Luna adds. "We sorted them out. These are mommy's favorites, these are other mommy's."

"Girls," Nicolas says quietly. "Go find Maria."

"But daddy—"

"Now, please."

"You've noticed," I say once they're gone.

"Hard not to." He holds up his phone. "Left-handed one minute, right-handed the next. Different signatures on documents. Two distinct lipstick shades at meetings."

"Nicolas—"

"Who am I talking to right now?"

"I—"

"Nicky?" My voice changes, softer, higher. "Why is she in my head?"

"Valentina?"

"She's trying to take over. She's—" I grab my head. "No! This is my time!"

"What's happening here?" Elena's voice cuts in. "Sister-in-law, you seem... troubled."

"Stay out of this," Nicolas warns.

"But I'm concerned." Elena's heels click closer. "Especially after that fascinating phone call you made last night. The one where you claimed to be Isabella Romano?"

"What?" Nicolas turns to me.

"I didn't—" Pain splits my skull. "The weapons shipment. Nicolas, I need to tell you—"

"Which hand did you shoot with?" Elena interrupts. "Before the accident? Left or right?"

"Right," I say.

"Left," my voice says simultaneously.

"Fascinating." Elena's phone appears. "And the beach house? Tell us about it."

"What beach house?"

"The one with the blue door," my voice says. "Where we fell in love, Nicky. Don't you remember?"

"Stop," Nicolas commands. "Elena, leave."

"But things are just getting interesting." She holds up her phone. "I have quite a collection. Different handwriting, different habits, different memories. Almost like..."

"Like what?" Nicolas's voice is dangerous.

"Like we're hosting an imposter." Elena smiles. "Or perhaps a ghost?"

"Get out!"

"I'm just looking out for family." She backs away. "Oh, and you might want to check your study. Someone's been leaving interesting letters."

Nicolas grabs my arm. "What letters?"

"I don't—I can't—" The room spins. "Have to tell you... about your father..."

"What about my father?"

"He's not..." Darkness creeps in. "The letter... in your study..."

"What letter? Stay with me!"

"Ask her," my voice says, but it's not mine anymore. "Ask Isabella."

"Isabella?" Nicolas's voice sounds far away. "Isabella Romano?"

"I'm sorry," I whisper as consciousness slips away. "I only had two hundred days..."

The last thing I hear is Elena's laughter mixing with Valentina's cries in my head, a symphony of betrayal set to the rhythm of Nicolas's racing heart against my cheek as everything fades to black.

"What do we do with her?" Elena's voice pierces the darkness.

"Get Dr. Martinez," Nicolas orders. "Now!"

"She's not who you think she is, brother."

"Move!"

Consciousness returns in fragments, voices filtering through:

"Vital signs stable," an unfamiliar voice says.

"When did the episodes start?" asks another.

"Let me see her!" Nicolas demands.

"Sir, please—"

"She's my wife!"

"But which one?" Elena's voice cuts through. "Come look at this security footage."

Footsteps retreat. I force my eyes open, finding myself in Nicolas's private medical suite.

"You're awake." Maria, the twins' nanny, sits beside me. "The girls are worried."

"Where's—"

"Mom!" Sofia bursts in, Luna right behind her.

"Careful," Maria warns. "Your mother needs rest."

"We know who you are," Luna whispers, climbing onto the bed.

"You do?"

"Santa Muerte told us," Sofia says. "In our dreams."

"Girls!" Nicolas's voice thunders from the doorway. "Out. Now."

"But daddy—"

"Maria, take them."

Once we're alone, Nicolas locks the door. "Talk."

"I can explain—"

"Security footage shows you accessing files about Isabella Romano's death. Phone records show calls to her old contacts. The twins talk about 'other mommy' while you switch personalities mid-sentence."

"Nicolas—"

"Then there's this." He slams papers onto the bed. "A letter about my father, in my dead sister's handwriting."

"Your sister?"

"Valentina." His laugh is bitter. "But you knew that, didn't you? Since you're wearing her body."

"How did you—"

"The twins. They see things we don't. Talk to saints we can't see." He leans close. "So tell me, who am I speaking to? My wife? Or the woman Adrian Constantine murdered?"

"Both. Neither. I don't know anymore."

"Try again."

"She's fighting me." I grab my head. "Valentina's consciousness—it's getting stronger."

"Good." His voice hardens. "Maybe she can tell me who you really are."

"You know who I am."

"Say it."

"Isabella Romano."

"Prove it."

"The night Adrian poisoned me," my voice shakes. "I was going to tell him I was pregnant."

Nicolas goes still. "That wasn't in any report."

"Because I never told anyone but him." Tears fall. "He killed our baby before I could even—"

"Nicky?" My voice changes. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Val?"

"She's in my head." My hands flutter. "The other woman. The dead one. She's trying to—no! This is my body!"

"Stop!" Nicolas grabs my shoulders. "Both of you!"

"Time's running out," I say, my voice my own again. "Santa Muerte gave me two hundred days. If I don't—"

"Mom?" The twins' voices come through the door. "The saint says it's time."

"What's time?" Nicolas demands.

"The choice," Luna calls.

"Love or revenge," Sofia adds.

"You have to pick," they say together.

Nicolas stares at me. "Isabella."

"Yes?"

"That ritual you've been researching in the old books. The blood binding between crime families."

"What about it?"

"It would bind us forever. Make you truly mine in the underworld's eyes."

"Or?"

"Or you can have your revenge on Adrian. But not both." He touches my face. "The girls are right. You have to choose."

"I—"

Elena's scream cuts through the mansion. Footsteps thunder down the hall.

"Sir!" A guard bursts in. "It's your father's files. Someone just leaked everything to all five families."

"What files?"

"The ones proving he was Adrian Constantine's real father. Making you and Valentina—"

"Siblings," I whisper.

"Half-siblings," Nicolas says. "Which means this body you're in..."

"Is your sister's."

The room spins as both consciousness fight for control. In the doorway, Elena's face twists with triumph.

"I knew it," she says. "Wait until Adrian hears his dead wife is possessing his dead sister."

"No one is hearing anything," Nicolas says quietly.

"Really?" Elena holds up her phone. "Because I just pressed send."

The twins' voices drift through the chaos: "Choose, mommy. Choose now."

Love or revenge. Time's up.