JULIA'S POV
The room felt wrong the moment I stepped into it.
Too still.Too cold.Too quiet.
Kai had called me, his voice low and urgent, asking me to meet him in the abandoned guest wing of the Bennett estate. I shouldn't have come alone—not after the threats, not after the files, not after everything I'd seen.
But something in his tone…There was a tremble I had never heard in him before.
My footsteps echoed across the dusty marble floor. The hallway lights flickered, casting long shadows that stretched like claws along the walls.
"Kai?" I called softly.
No answer.
I pushed the door open.
What I saw made my blood freeze.
Kai stood in the center of the room— shoulders rigid, hands clenched, eyes darkened with something I couldn't name.
And beside him…
A woman.
Her back was turned to me. Long black hair, slightly tangled, fell over the pale blue silk dress she wore. Her fingers traced the edges of the old velvet sofa like she was touching a memory instead of fabric.
I felt a chill crawl up my spine.
Something was wrong.
Very, very wrong.
"Kai… who is—?"
He didn't turn.He didn't breathe.He didn't blink.
When he finally spoke, his voice sounded cracked… almost shattered.
"Julia," he whispered. "You need to meet someone."
The woman turned.
My heart stopped.
She looked like me.
Not exactly—But enough to make disbelief slam into my chest.
Her eyes.Her cheekbones.Her voice when she breathed out, "Julia?"
It felt like drowning.
Kai stepped between us, as if afraid of what would happen.
"This," he said quietly, "is Ava."
I stared blankly.
"Ava…?"
He swallowed hard.
"Your sister."
My knees buckled. I grabbed the edge of the table to stay upright.
"My… what?"
Ava stepped closer, her smile fragile and trembling, like porcelain about to crack.
"I've waited so long," she whispered. "So, so long to see you again."
Her hand reached for mine.
But Kai grabbed her wrist.
Hard.
His eyes were burning.
"Ava, stop."
She jerked her hand back with a wounded whimper that made my skin crawl.
"Sister?" I choked out, staring at Kai. "Why didn't anyone tell me? Why didn't my father—?"
Kai's jaw tightened.
"Because Ava wasn't supposed to meet you. Not yet."
Ava laughed suddenly— a high, brittle sound that echoed in the room.
"Kai didn't want you to meet me," she said softly, tilting her head. "He didn't want to share you."
My breath caught.
"What?"
Kai stepped forward, tension radiating off him like heat.
"Julia—listen to me—Ava isn't stable. She—"
"I'm not STABLE because YOU LEFT ME!" Ava screamed, voice cracking like a whip.
The force of it made my stomach twist.
Her eyes burned with an obsession so sharp it made the air feel thinner.
"You promised you would stay," she whispered fiercely to Kai. "You promised you wouldn't love anyone else. You promised—"
"Enough," Kai snapped, voice low, shaking. "Julia doesn't need to hear—"
But Ava wasn't listening.
She turned to me, smiling with a sweetness that didn't reach her eyes.
"Kai belongs with me," she said softly. "He always has."
I stepped back, heart pounding.
Kai inhaled sharply, stepping between us again, shielding me like instinct.
"Ava… stop. She's not ready for this."
Ava's smile dropped.
"You mean you're not ready."
Her voice hardened.
"You mean you still won't admit it. You still won't choose."
I looked between them, confusion tearing me apart.
"What is she talking about, Kai?"
His eyes closed for a moment—pain flickering through his expression.
"Because," Ava whispered, circling us slowly, "Kai is in love with you."
The world fell silent.
My heartbeat stuttered. My breath hitched.
Kai's eyes snapped open—wide, furious, vulnerable.
"Ava," he growled. "Don't do this."
But she stepped closer, her voice a broken whisper.
"I loved you first, Kai…You loved her first."
KAI'S POV
This wasn't how it was supposed to happen.
Not here.Not like this.Not with Julia trembling and Ava spiraling in front of us.
I moved closer to Julia, shielding her with my body. She smelled like fear and confusion—two things I never wanted to see on her.
Ava kept speaking, her voice trembling.
"You think I didn't see it?" she whispered, eyes glassy. "The way you watched her? The way you protected her? The way you hated every man who touched her?"
I felt Julia stiffen behind me.Her breath hitched.
Ava laughed—a sound full of heartbreak and jealousy.
"You loved her when she was five, Kai. FIVE. And you hated her for it. You hated her because she ruined everything."
My blood turned to ice.
"Ava—" I tried, voice breaking. "That's enough."
"No!" she screamed, voice shattering. "She took EVERYTHING! She took our mother's attention! She took your heart! And now she's going to take the Bennett name too!"
Julia gasped.
Ava's hands shook violently as she pointed at her.
"Why couldn't you die instead of us losing everything?"
Julia staggered backward, breath choking.
I snapped.
"Ava!" I shouted, grabbing her shoulders, shaking her. "STOP!"
Her tears fell fast, messy, frantic.
"I loved you," she whispered. "I loved you so much I lost myself. And you—" she glared at Julia— "you took him away."
Julia shook her head instantly.
"I didn't… I didn't know…"
"But he knew." Ava's voice dropped to a whisper, deadly and cold."He always knew."
I closed my eyes, guilt pressing like a crushing weight.
Because Ava was right.
I had known Julia wasn't just someone from the company. I had known—on some level—that she was tied to the Bennett family long before she did.
I swallowed hard.
"Julia," I whispered, turning toward her. "I never meant for you to find out like this. I never wanted you to get caught between—"
"Between WHAT?" she snapped, voice breaking. "Between your hatred and Ava's obsession? Between lies and secrets? Between families I didn't even know I belonged to?"
Her voice cracked again.
"Kai… what am I to you?"
I had no answer.
Because the truth was dark.Twisted.Unforgivable.
I loved her.
And I hated myself for it.
JULIA'S POV
Ava's voice dropped to a chilling whisper.
"You were sent away because of me," she said. "Because I hated you since the day you arrived. Because you were the daughter our mother loved more than me."
I felt my stomach plummet.
Kai stepped forward instantly.
"Ava, stop—"
"No," she hissed. "She deserves to know the truth."
Her finger pointed directly at me.
"You weren't protected from the Bennett family.""You were protected from ME."
The room spun.
My knees went weak.
Kai grabbed my arm instinctively, steadying me.
Ava's smile warped into something broken, painful, deranged.
"You shouldn't have come back, Julia."
She took a slow breath.
"And now that you're here… everything will fall apart."