Chapter 6 - INTO THE DEN OF SNAKES
"You are not going in there," Detective Bennett commanded, grabbing my forearm tightly. "He's unstable, armed, and unpredictable. SWAT is ten minutes away. They will breach the building and take him down."
"If SWAT breaches, he hits the button," I said, looking her dead in the eye. "You saw him. He has nothing left to lose. And I need to know the truth, Bennett. I've lived in a cage of lies for five years. I'm not staying in the dark anymore."
Before she could stop me, I unbuckled my seatbelt, threw open the cruiser door, and stepped out into the pouring rain.
"Evelyn! Stop!" Bennett shouted behind me, but the police officers at the perimeter held her back as I raised my hands high above my head and walked toward the shattered front entrance of the morgue.
"It's just me, Jason!" I shouted, my voice cutting through the heavy downpour. "I'm coming in alone!"
The glass crunched under my boots as I crossed the lobby. The air inside smelled of cold steel, formaldehyde, and copper. I followed the sound of Jason’s ragged breathing down the dimly lit hallway toward the sub-basement intake room.
I pushed open the heavy double doors.
The scene was straight out of a nightmare. Fluorescent lights flickered above. Clara was thrashing on the steel table, her eyes bulging with panic. Jason stood three feet away, covered in sweat, holding the road flare close to a row of red plastic containers marked FLAMMABLE SOLVENTS.
When he saw me, his shoulders slumped, and tears spilled down his face.
"Evie..." he choked out. "You're walking. You... you survived."
"Barely," I said, stopping ten feet away. "You locked me in our house without water, Jason. You let me starve on the floor while you pretended to fly to Europe. How can you stand there and tell me you were trying to save me?"
"Because if I didn't make it look like I abandoned you, they would have executed you on the spot!" Jason yelled, his voice cracking. "The syndicate... they've been tapping our phones for months. Clara owed them four million dollars from high-stakes tables in Europe. She gave them your trust fund details as collateral! She told them you were an invalid who would die anyway!"
I turned my gaze slowly to Clara.
Under the harsh lights, I could see the anger in her eyes—not fear, but pure, venomous rage at being caught.
"Is it true, Clara?" I asked quietly.
Jason reached down and ripped the duct tape off Clara’s mouth.
Clara spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor and laughed—a cold, hysterical sound that sent shivers down my spine.
"Of course it's true, you pathetic little martyr!" Clara sneered, her mask completely slipping. "You sat on millions of dollars doing nothing while I built a life! Grandfather gave you everything just because you were the 'good twin'! You didn't deserve that money! You were always weak!"
"And the baby?" I asked, my voice deadly quiet. "The photo in the wall?"
Clara smirked. "There is no baby, you idiot. That photo was staged two years ago with a rented child to keep Jason obedient. I made him believe we had a daughter together so he’d help me drain your account without asking questions!"
Jason froze. The flare in his hand trembled violently.
"What... what did you say?" Jason whispered, his face turning ghostly white. "Maya... Maya isn't my daughter?"
"She doesn't exist, Jason!" Clara screamed with malicious delight. "You were just a gullible fool who believed every word I said because you were desperate to play the hero!"
Jason’s eyes went completely blank. The realization that his entire life—his betrayal of me, his hidden sacrifice, his terror—was built on a fabrication broke something fundamental inside his mind.
May you like
His grip on the flare loosened.
It began to slip from his fingers, falling directly toward the open vat of flammable solvent below.
