Immediately the car slowed into park inside the courtyard of the estate, Genesis shoved the door open and stepped out before the engine had fully stopped. Tears poured from her eyes like furious raindrops, streaking down her cheeks as she stumbled up the stone steps. Her breath came in ragged gasps, chest heaving with sobs she couldn't contain.
Kieran was right behind her, boots pounding the gravel, calling her name"Genesis, wait!"but she didn't slow. She shoved the double doors open with both hands.
The living room went deathly quiet.
Every head turned.
Revelation rose slowly from the couch, eyes wide. Daisy froze beside Elena, clutching her doll, confusion clouding her small face. Veronica stood near the window, arms crossed. The Angels, Katherine, Joy, Mia went still, hands hovering near weapons out of instinct.
Genesis's gaze swept the room, wild and shattered, then locked on Revelation.
All the signs she'd missed crashed into her at once.
The way the Angels had always said she looked like Revelation,, same sharp cheekbones, same shape of face, same quiet intensity. She'd laughed it off, never seen it.
The names.
Genesis.
Revelation.
The strange, protective care Revelation had shown her from the beginning, small touches, quiet words, always there when she needed someone to lean on.
How could she have been so stupid?
Revelation opened her mouth.
Genesis spoke first, voice raw and trembling.
"How long?" she whispered.
Revelation took a hesitant confused step forward. "Genesis…"
"How long have you been hiding a sister behind lies?" Genesis's voice cracked, rising. "How long have you watched me bleed in loneliness, telling you how I wished I had siblings of my own and you said nothing?"
Revelation's face crumpled, finally realizing what was happening. She looked at Kieran standing frozen in the doorway then back to Genesis.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry. I came here to protect you…"
"Shut up!" Genesis screamed.
The word exploded from her like a gunshot.
She grabbed the nearest thing, a heavy crystal vase from the side table and hurled it against the wall. It shattered in a spray of glass and water, flowers scattering across the floor.
"Where were you?" she shouted, voice breaking into jagged pieces. "Where were you when I was in our father's house? For fifteen years, raped over and over again, drugged, treated like an animal, beaten, humiliated, where was your protection then?"
Revelation's eyes filled with tears. "I didn't know…"
"You didn't know?" Genesis laughed, bitter and broken. "You and our mother hid for fifteen years! You left me there! You let them break me, and now you stand here and say you came to protect me?"
Revelation stepped forward, hands raised. "We love you. We never wanted to stay away. Mom… She thought she was keeping me safe. She thought if they knew she was still alive without enough strength…."
"Stop lying!" Genesis grabbed a framed photograph from the mantel, her, daisy and Kieran and smashed it against the floor. Glass exploded outward. Daisy flinched, hiding her face in Elena's skirt.
Revelation's voice broke. "Genesis, please…"
"No!" Genesis spun on her, tears streaming. "You don't get to 'please' me! You don't get to cry now! You had years, years, to find me. Months to tell me. To save me. And you didn't. You let me think I was alone. You let me think I was broken beyond repair."
Revelation reached for her.
Genesis jerked away. "Don't touch me."
Revelation's hand fell. Tears slipped down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry."
Genesis laughed again, hollow, anguished. "Sorry doesn't fix fifteen years of rape. Sorry doesn't fix the nights I woke up screaming and no one came. Sorry doesn't fix the fact that I carried this pain alone while you were… where? Safe? Hidden? Loved?"
She turned wildly, eyes landing on Kieran.
"And you…" Her voice cracked. "You knew. You knew she was my sister. You knew about the tapes. You knew about Reeve. You let me walk into that interview room and watch myself being raped for the first time in front of strangers. You didn't warn me. You didn't protect me from that."
Kieran stepped forward, hands raised. "Genesis…"
"I'm done," she whispered.
She spun and ran up the grand staircase, footsteps echoing like gunfire.
Daisy whimpered. "Lily…"
Elena pulled her close.
Genesis burst into the master bedroom. She yanked open the closet doors, grabbed a suitcase, and started throwing clothes inside, dresses, sweaters, jeans, anything she could reach.
Kieran appeared in the doorway, breathing hard.
"Genesis, stop."
She laughed, wild, broken. "Stop?" She grabbed one of his shirts, soft, black, one she'd slept in a hundred times and held it up. "Wait. I didn't buy this with my money. So I can't take it. None of this is mine."
She dropped the shirt like it burned her.
"I'm leaving."
Kieran stepped inside, voice low and urgent. "No. You can't go anywhere. Keenan is still out there. He'll—"
"I don't care!" she screamed. "I'd rather face them than stay here drowning in your lies!"
She tried to push past him toward the door.
Kieran blocked her, gentle, but firm. He reached back and turned the lock with a soft click.
"You're not leaving," he said quietly.
Genesis stared at the locked door.
Then at him.
Tears streamed down her face.
"You don't get to decide that anymore," she whispered.
She backed away until her legs hit the bed and sank down, burying her face in her hands.
Kieran stayed by the door.
Neither of them spoke.
Downstairs, the house was silent except for Daisy's soft crying and Revelation's broken sobs.
The war outside had paused.
But inside these walls, a different one had just begun.
Genesis sat on the edge of the bed, suitcase half-packed and abandoned at her feet, clothes spilling over the sides like spilled secrets. Her shoulders shook with silent sobs, but when she finally lifted her head to look at Kieran, her eyes were dry, red-rimmed, exhausted, but steady.
"You know what hurts the most?" she whispered.
Kieran didn't move from the door. He couldn't. Every muscle in his body was locked, waiting for the next blow.
"I used to think you were the first person who ever saw me," she said, voice so quiet it barely carried across the room. "Not the mute girl. Not the broken stepdaughter. Not the victim. Just… me. Genesis. I thought when you looked at me, you saw someone worth protecting. Someone worth loving."
She swallowed hard.
"But you didn't see me at all, did you? You saw a puzzle. A mystery to solve. A wounded bird you could fix. And every time you held me, every time you promised to keep me safe… you were holding back the one thing that could have actually healed me."
Kieran's throat worked. "Genesis… "
"You knew I had a twin," she continued, voice cracking now. "You knew I had a sister who was out there somewhere. You knew I spent my whole life believing I was alone in the world. That no one would ever come for me. That I wasn't worth coming for."
A fresh tear slipped free, but she didn't wipe it away.
"And you let me keep believing it."
Kieran's face crumpled, slowly, painfully, like something inside him had finally fractured beyond repair.
"I was going to tell you," he rasped. "I swear I was. I just… I wanted to be sure. I wanted to protect you from more pain until I knew it was safe."
Genesis laughed, a small, shattered sound.
"That's the thing, Kieran. You didn't protect me from pain. You protected me from the truth. And the truth… the truth would have given me someone. A sister. A piece of myself I thought died when my mother did."
She pressed her hand to her chest, over her heart.
"I spent fifteen years thinking I had no one. No blood. No family. Just enemies wearing familiar faces. And all that time… she was right there. Revelation was right there. And you knew."
Kieran took one step forward, instinct, desperation but stopped when she flinched.
"I failed you," he said, voice raw. "I know I did. I thought keeping it from you was mercy. I thought… if you never knew, you'd never have to grieve what you lost."
Genesis looked at him, really looked and the heartbreak in her eyes was worse than any scream.
"But I already grieved it," she whispered. "Every day. Every time I looked in the mirror and saw no one who looked like me. Every time I wished for someone, anyone who would understand the dark without me having to explain it. I grieved her before I even knew her name."
She stood slowly, legs unsteady.
"And you took that grief and turned it into another secret. Another lie I had to carry."
Kieran's hands clenched at his sides. His voice broke on her name.
"Genesis… please."
She shook her head.
"I can't breathe here anymore," she said quietly. "Every corner of this house smells like your secrets. Every time you touch me, I wonder what else you're hiding. Every time you say you love me… I wonder if it's me you love, or the version of me you think you can fix."
She walked past him, slowly, deliberately and tried the door.
Locked.
She stared at the knob for a long moment.
Then she turned back to him, eyes glistening but voice steady.
"Open the door, Kieran."
He didn't move.
"I can't let you walk out there," he said hoarsely. "Not with Keenan still breathing. Not with…."
"I'm not asking," she said.
Genesis stared at the locked door for a long, trembling moment.
Then she turned back to Kieran, eyes glistening but voice steady as steel.
"Open the door, Kieran."
He didn't move.
"You would have to kill me to get out of this room," he finished, voice low, final, unbreakable.
Genesis smiled, cold, broken, utterly empty.
The smile didn't reach her eyes.
She walked past him to the nightstand, opened the top drawer with shaking fingers, and pulled out the small black pistol he kept there, loaded, safety off, the way he always left it when he was home.
She turned.
Pointed it at his chest.
Kieran didn't flinch.
Didn't step back.
Didn't raise his hands.
He just looked at her, eyes dark, empty, devastated like he'd already accepted whatever came next.
Downstairs, the house was still frozen in the aftermath of her earlier rage. Revelation stood at the foot of the stairs, tears streaming silently. Daisy clung to Elena's skirt, face buried, small body trembling. Veronica paced near the window, arms wrapped tight around herself. Jaden looked confused and in shock. The Angels stood in a loose semicircle, weapons holstered but hands hovering, waiting for a signal that never came.
No one moved.
No one breathed.
Upstairs, Genesis's finger tightened on the trigger.
Her hand shook not from fear, but from the sheer weight of everything breaking inside her.
"You really think I won't?" she whispered.
Kieran's voice was quiet. Raw.
"I think you already have."
A single tear slipped down her cheek.
She stared at him, at the man who'd saved her, broken her, loved her, lied to her, protected her, caged her, all at once.
The gun trembled.
Her finger curled.
And then…
BANG.
A gunshot rang through the entire house, sharp, deafening, final.
The sound cracked like thunder, reverberating off marble floors and high ceilings.
Downstairs, everyone flinched as one.
Revelation gasped, hand flying to her mouth.
Daisy screamed, a small, terrified sound and buried her face deeper into Elena's skirt.
Veronica spun toward the stairs, eyes wide.
No one moved.
No one dared.
The echo of the shot lingered in the air like smoke.
And no one knew who it had hit.