Chapter 123 MORE THAN THEY KNOW 2

Chapter 123 MORE THAN THEY KNOW 2
Nancy's POV

I sat across from Jaxon’s bed, my head resting in my trembling hands as I stared at him. The longer I looked at his pale face, the more my throat burned with unshed tears.

I hadn't meant to trigger his panic attack, but I didn't think I would ever be able to erase the sheer terror I had seen in his eyes.

I ran a hand through my hair just as the bedroom door clicked open. Troy walked in, carrying a tray of food.

“Hey, come have something to eat,” Troy called softly, placing the tray on the side table in the corner.

“I don't think I can swallow anything, Troy. I can barely get my own saliva down without feeling like I'm going to throw up,” I admitted quietly, my gaze glued to Jaxon.

“Tell me about it,” Troy muttered, coming over to stand beside me with his hands buried in his pants pockets.

“What is he so terrified of? Right before he passed out, there was this awful fear in his eyes,” I asked, unable to stop my mind from spinning.

Troy sat beside me, his own heavy gaze resting on Jaxon. “Probably because you remind him of someone.”

“Let me guess... Emmy?”

Troy nodded in response. “And her mother.”

The mention of her made me wonder what their history had really been like. “He must have cared about her deeply to have that kind of terror rooted in him,” I whispered. Jaxon lay so still on the mattress that the only reassurance I had of his life was the shallow rise and fall of his chest.

“He cared about Emmy a lot, and I think that’s what led to his relationship with her mother. Jaxon adored that little girl. She was young, intelligent, and full of life, but her illness restricted her from so much. Jaxon would always make time in his busy schedule to play with her. He even got her Alba when he realized she was bored, trapped inside with nothing but grown men assigned to guard her. Or at least... that’s what we thought they were doing. Jaxon had promised Emmy’s mom he’d cover her medical bills and that of Falcone's, but it turned out Falcone had already decided they wanted her dead.”

Troy’s shoulders slumped, his eyes dropping to the floor.

“They killed her, didn't they?” It was more of a cold realization than a question.

Troy nodded silently. “They killed her first, then took little Emmy’s life, too. Jaxon has never stopped blaming himself for their deaths—especially Emmy’s. She died right in his arms.”

A sharp ache pierced my heart as I looked back at Jaxon. The accident hadn't just thrown him into physical agony; it had trapped him in a living nightmare.

A soft knock at the door interrupted us. One of the staff members stepped in to announce Kelvin’s arrival. Troy instructed her to send him up, and a moment later, Kelvin entered the room. His eyes swept across mine, drifted over Jaxon, and then settled on Troy.

“Is he okay?” Kelvin asked, his voice small.

He looked like he had just been through hell with his mother. His hair was a windblown mess from nervously dragging his hands through it, and the tight crease between his brows told me he was barely holding himself together.

“Does he look okay to you?” Troy snapped harshly. I could feel the residual anger radiating off him from that night at the ranch.

I reached out immediately, placing a gentle hand over Troy’s arm. When he looked at me, his eyes burning, I gave him a subtle shake of my head, wordlessly pleading with him not to take his fury out on Kelvin. Troy closed his eyes and released a long, shuddering sigh, forcing his temper down.

“How did it go with her?” I asked Kelvin softly. “Did you get her to admit to anything? Did you record the conversation like we discussed?”

Kelvin simply nodded.

“Good. Let’s hear it.”

“Actually, I have something else to report first—something I found deeply off,” Kelvin said, pulling his phone from his pocket before pressing play on the audio file.

The room fell dead silent as the recording played. The further the voice went, the colder my blood ran.

“I’m confused... what is this?” Troy asked, stepping forward to take the phone and replay the audio.

The part that made my stomach turn violently was when she begged Kelvin to kill Jaxon followed by the chilling moment she confessed to killing nurses.

My hand darted out to grab the phone from Troy, hitting pause immediately. I couldn't listen to another second of those voices or that sickening laugh.

“What room is she talking about?! What nurses?!” Troy’s voice rose in pitch as his control frayed. “Because the last time I checked, the only person who got traumatized from being shoved into a psychiatric facility was Jaxon! And the monster who put him through that hell was her! So what on earth is she blabbering about?!”

“I don't think this is about Jaxon at all,” I said, swallowing the hard lump in my throat. “What if she’s talking about herself?”

“I thought so, too,” Kelvin said, retrieving his phone. “So far, all we know is that the Lancaster family lost a daughter who was presumed dead. But somehow, she’s alive. Not only that, but she might have murdered her twin sister for reasons we still don't understand. Whatever really went down between those two sisters, I’m starting to think there’s a much darker layer to this story.”

“So Isadora wasn't lying after all,” Troy muttered, dragging a hand across his face in total disbelief. “She’s completely unstable.”

“I think it’s more than instability—I think it’s severe trauma,” Kelvin said quietly. “If we’re going to figure this out, we need to dig into what happened to the Lancaster twins. The official reports say the investigation was called off a year or two after Seraphina Lancaster went missing. But doesn't that strike you as strange? Parents don't just stop looking for their missing child unless they’re forced to, or they know something. Why did Mr. and Mrs. Lancaster give up hope?”

Kelvin paused, looking at us intensely. “And if Seraphina was alive the whole time, why didn't she ever reach out to her parents? Why does she hate her twin sister so much that she’d murder her and steal her life? If Anastasia Lancaster is dead... where is her body?”

He had clearly been obsessing over these questions the entire drive here.

“Why are there still so many missing pieces?” I murmured, feeling the weight of it all pressing down on my chest. “The closer we get to the truth, the deeper the mystery gets. It feels like we’re hanging by a thread.”

“What if she staged it all?” Troy argued, folding his arms. “What if this entire breakdown was just an act? That’s her specialty, isn't it? Wearing whatever face suits her and manipulating everyone right into her sick little game?”

“I wish I could agree with you, Troy, but things are starting to click,” Kelvin said softly. “When I was little, I used to see her staring at an old photograph. Two of the faces had been violently ripped out. I always assumed they belonged to her parents because the only two faces left intact were hers and her sister's. Something terrible happened to her—something rooted in deep abuse. I’m not asking you to forgive her or take her side just because she’s my mother, but if we want to tear this web down, we have to understand where the root lies. Don't worry... I’ll look into it myself.”

Sensing the lingering tension and distrust in the room, Kelvin turned toward the door. “I’ll head out first.”

My heart sank as I watched him walk away. He was creating distance, and a rift in our group was the absolute last thing we needed right now. We had to stand together if we were going to survive this.

“I should probably go after him, shouldn't I?” Troy asked, his voice laced with hesitation.

“Yes, you should,” I urged him. “If Jaxon and Kelvin share the same father, they’re brothers. We can't afford another division when we haven't even survived the nightmare right in front of us.”

Troy nodded silently and hurried down the hall after Kelvin.

I turned back to Jaxon’s still form, a cold shadow creeping over my heart.

What on earth were we really up against?