Finnegan

I couldn’t stop staring at the screen. I tried to, but the image before me kept replaying over and over.

Devin was alive. Devin was...alive?

My twin brother threw his head back, eyes glinting in the camera as he stood next to my mother, shaking hands with Richard Saxon.

I shut my eyes tightly for a second to fight off the sudden headache splitting my skull.How the hell was he alive? We had mourned him for fifteen years. Fifteen solid years.

My mother made sure to cry her eyes out at every bloody memorial we held for him every single year; it was practically the most important day in the world for my family.

And there he was in the grainy footage, shaking hands, signing documents, laughing with my mother like they hadn’t been lying to me all along. His face was unmistakable.

We pretty much had the same jawline, the same build, but I would know that arrogant tilt of the head any fucking time.

My hands gripped the edge of the table the computer sat on, nails threatening to sink into the wood. The men around me exchanged glances while the video played out before my eyes.

Alive. Devin, alive. It echoed over and over in my skull like a gunshot. I felt the ground shift beneath me, and the air in the dingy auction house room was suddenly growing thick and suffocating.

My lawyer was saying something beside me, but I couldn’t hear him. All I could hear was the roar of blood in my ears and the ghost of my brother’s laugh from fifteen years ago.

How? How was this possible? I had attended his funeral. I had seen the fucking casket. His body was battered and bruised and mangled, almost unrecognizable.

I had watched my mother cry. I had carried the guilt for years, wondering if I could have saved him, if I had been a better brother. And all this time... he was alive.

Who the hell had we buried fifteen years ago?

I shot to my feet, the chair scraping loudly against the floor. The men in the room flinched, watching me warily.

"Boss?" one of them asked cautiously. "Is everything... alright?"

Oh, everything was perfect, buddy. I just found out my twin brother is breathing, alive, and fucking well.

I turned and walked out without another word, my lawyer hurrying after me. James had the car waiting. I slid into the backseat, my mind still reeling.

"Drive to mother’s house," I ordered James, my hands clenching into fists, fingers digging into my palm hard enough to draw blood.

"Yes, sir."

The drive felt endless. Every second stretched into what felt like an eternity as memories flooded me.

All of mother’s words and accusations.

Devin would never treat me like this!

You could never be Devin.

My hands flew to my face, dragging down slowly while I tried not to lose my shit. This had to be some sort of joke. Devin’s smirk surfaced in my head. My mother’s golden child was alive all along.

She decided for me. She fucking deceived me!

When the car finally pulled up to mother’s sprawling mansion, I didn’t wait for James to open the door — I shoved it open and stormed inside, the heavy front doors slamming behind me.

Victoria was in the living room, lounging on the couch with a glass of wine. My mother stood near the fireplace, staring into the flames like she could burn away her sins.

Too damn bad.

"Where is he?" I demanded, my voice echoing through the room.

Both of them turned to me. Victoria pursed her lips. "Hi, darling, did you miss me?"

"Have you come to apologize?" Mother asked coolly, arching her brows at me. How could she be so... so scheming and cruel?

"Devin," I snarled, stepping closer. "Where the fuck is my brother?"

Mother tilted her head to the side and shook it, a pitiful look on her face.

"Oh, Finnegan," she sighed. "You’ve forgotten. Your brother is dead. He has been for years. You really should see someone about these delusions."

Could anyone believe this? See how smoothly, how easily she lied. If I hadn’t seen the video of Devin myself, I would have believed her this very instant. In a few strides, I crossed the room, halting before my mother, breathing harshly.

"Don’t you dare lie to me, mother," I hissed, tightening my fists. "I know he’s alive. Where is he?!"

My mother’s green eyes narrowed for a moment, watching me warily. When she realized I knew, she cleared her throat, the pretense draining from her eyes.

"It’s no use pretending anymore, then," she said flatly, as if this was completely normal.

"But we can’t tell you where Devin is. Not yet."

I felt like the world had tilted on its axis. "How could you lie to me?!"

"I was going to tell you," she scoffed. "There’s no need to be so dramatic."

"When?! When are you going to tell me? You had fifteen years, mother! You... you weep like your world is ending every year, for him. Do you have any idea how psychotic this is? How could he be alive all these years, and I haven’t seen him? Why is he hiding? What are YOU hiding?!"

It all clicked into place then — why she had tried to implicate me, why she had planted the spyware, why she had been buying Wolfe shares in secret.

She had been preparing the company for her precious Devin. Her favorite son. The one she had hidden away while letting me believe he was dead.

She was... fuck, she was doing it all for him.

"You were going to send me to prison," I whispered, my voice shaking with fury as it all dawned on me. "So he could take my place. Why? Why would you do that to your own son?"

Mother huffed, waving a dismissive hand. "I have no time for a whining brat. You were always the difficult one, Finnegan. Devin understood loyalty. He understood family."

I was about to demand more answers when my phone rang. It was River.

I answered immediately. "What is it?"

"We’ve been trying to call you," she said, voice tense. "You weren’t reachable. Can you come home? Something seems to have happened with Abigail and Annette. They won’t tell me what’s going on, but they look shaken. Please, Finn. Come quickly."

I ended the call, my chest tight with a new kind of fear. Abigail. What if something had happened to her while I was chasing Devin’s ghost all over the fucking place?

I glared at my mother and Victoria one last time, my eyes burning with contempt.

"This isn’t over," I fumed. "I will find Devin."

And then I would find out why the hell mother had been hiding him all these years.