Chapter 3 - The Sister Who Died TwiceVictor collapsed against the stage.
Chaos consumed the ballroom.
Adrian fired at the lock beside a service door and pulled Elena through it. Noah followed before Victor’s guards could surround them.
They entered the hotel kitchen, where chefs and servers crouched beneath stainless-steel counters.
“You shot Victor,” Elena said.
“He was reaching for a weapon.”
“He was staring at me.”
Adrian grabbed her shoulders. “Listen to me. The woman on that screen is not Lily.”
Elena struck him across the face.
It was the first time she had ever fought back.
“You paid to kill her.”
“I paid because Victor threatened you.”
“The recording said—”
“The recording was edited!”
Noah aimed his gun at Adrian. “Step away from her.”
Adrian slowly raised his hands.
“You think you’re protecting her?” he asked Noah. “Tell her who you really are.”
Noah’s jaw tightened.
Elena looked between them. “What does he mean?”
Before Noah could answer, alarms began ringing throughout the hotel.
A voice came through the emergency speakers.
“Mrs. Cross, proceed to the underground ballroom alone. You have five minutes. If either man follows you, three hostages will die.”
Security footage appeared on a kitchen monitor.
Three people were tied to chairs.
One was Elena’s father, whom she believed was safely recovering in a private nursing home.
The second was a federal prosecutor.
The third was Lily.
Older, thinner and scarred—but unmistakably alive.
Elena pressed one hand to the screen.
“Lily.”
Her sister lifted her head.
She looked terrified.
The distorted voice returned.
“Four minutes, Mrs. Cross.”
Elena ran.
Adrian and Noah followed until she threatened to scream and expose their position. She descended alone through the service corridors, carrying the mysterious phone.
The underground ballroom had been abandoned for decades. Dust covered the tables. Mirrors lined the walls.
Lily sat in the center beneath a single light.
Elena rushed to her and tore away the tape over her mouth.
Lily gasped. “You shouldn’t have come.”
“I saw the recording. Adrian and Victor tried to kill you.”
“No.” Lily seized her hand. “That was what they wanted you to believe.”
“Who?”
“Our father.”
Elena stared at her.
Lily explained that their father, Senator Daniel Vale, had created Project Lazarus to erase witnesses and manufacture new identities. Victor had financed it. Commissioner Reed protected it.
Lily had discovered the operation and attempted to expose it.
“Adrian paid Reed,” she said, “but not to kill me. He paid him to fake my death before Dad could reach me.”
Elena’s anger wavered.
“Why didn’t Adrian tell me?”
“Because I made him promise. Anyone who knew I survived became a target.”
A slow clap echoed through the room.
Senator Vale emerged from the darkness, no longer bound.
The hostage footage had been staged.
“I always knew Lily was the sentimental one,” he said. “But you, Elena—you were supposed to be stronger.”
Men with weapons stepped from behind the mirrors.
Elena moved in front of her sister.
Her father smiled.
“The world has now seen Victor’s crimes. By morning, he will be blamed for everything. Project Lazarus will belong entirely to me.”
“And us?”
“You will both die in the fire.”
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The doors locked.
Gas began hissing from the vents.
