Chapter 43: Connecting the Dots

~Isla / Tricia

My head was pounding with pain, and my body was aching. I try to open my eyes, but my eyelids become heavier than I anticipated. I can hear people talking around me, but I don't understand a word they're saying.

My wrist and ankle are wrapped in a cold metal wrap. I stood still for a few moments, allowing the pain to subside and for the buzzing people to vacate the room, before attempting to open my eyes again, which I did successfully.

When my eyes first opened, I was blinded by white light. I squinted, allowing my irises to adjust, and my vision began to clear, revealing the familiar place.

I noticed that I was now wearing a hospital gown while lying on a white single bed, that the walls were painted white, and that there was a counter bar placed near the door where all of the laboratory apparatus was kept.

How could I possibly forget this place? This place turned into my hell ten years ago.

Everything that had happened before I arrived here was suddenly brought back to me. Fuck! Win-win brought me here! But why? That bastard took us together and yet he's helping him? When I heard the door open, I closed my eyes and pretended to be still sleeping. I heard footsteps approaching me and then felt someone checking on me.

"Everything is fine, Master. I'm not sure why she hasn't woken up yet." A woman's voice speak up.

"Leave." Familiar voice ordered which I easily recognize, that bastard. I heard the door open and then close, indicating that we are both alone.

"I know you're up." He coldly stated, I slowly open my eyes and send him a hard glare.

"What do you want! What have you done to my twin?" I angrily growled at him while struggling to get off with these stupid cuffs. He simply laughed at me and patted my head.

"I see you already know my present for you. Are you surprised?" He mocks.

"Why did you do this to me? To us? Of all the people why us?" I snarled at him.

"Because both you and your twin are special to me." He cooed, tracing my tattoo. I tried to get away from his touch but O was held in place.

Special? Is it because we escaped his pest experiment that we've become special? Is that it?

"All right, to help you understand, I'll tell you a story." I didn't say anything and just listened to him.

"A long time ago, there were two brothers who had nearly identical faces and were almost mistaken for twins."

He grabbed a single stool from the counter and sat down.

"They were so close that nothing seemed to be able to separate them. Till the time that they studied in college, they met a beautiful young woman that catches their attention. At first, they thought it was nothing more than a passing fancy.”

His gaze grew distant, as if he was reminiscing about the past.

“They admitted to each other that they felt the same way about the girl at first, but they just laughed it off because they are brothers and had the same taste in girls.”

He smiled to himself as he recalled his happier days.

I'm tempted to snort, but restrain myself.

“They became friends with the girl a few years later, but she had no idea that both boys were in love with her. Do you have any idea what the lady's name is?” His expression changed. It became dark and gloomy.

“It's Trixie, beautiful isn't it? So that's it, Cloudio revealed his feelings for the girl to his year older brother Lino. Lino backed him up in everything he did, even though it hurt him to see his younger brother courting the woman he loved.”

Trixie? Cloudio? That’s my Mom’s and Dad’s name. Could it be?

He resumed his conversation, jolting me out of my reverie.

“Then one day, as they were returning home from Cloudio's courtship with Trixie, something happened. Their parents were fighting, and they could hear it. They accidentally heard that Lino was their father's illegitimate child.”

That must be why he’s so agitated when I called him Bastard cause it’s true.

“Lino was very angry because he had found out the lie, he had been living for most of his life. But even so, he still didn't change until he felt that everything was becoming biased. Cloudio is is the only name that comes out from Trixie’s mouth. Even if Lino is present, Cloudio is always the one that everyone is looking for. Cloudio is the one who is always praised when he returns home because he always does something right in their company as well as in mafia.”

“So, Lino should try his hardest to be his brother, but whatever he does will never be enough. No, Lino thought to himself. He disregarded all of this and became obedient to everything he was told, so when their father died, they left everything to Cloudio. It was said that the legitimate son would inherit all of the property and Lino would only receive financial support.”

Is that why he's doing everything? To exact vengeance on my father?

“That was extremely unjust on his part because he was also his father's son, and that's when his rage at his father's family began. He ran away from his father's control and became a street kid, wandering around aimlessly until he met an elderly man who was the boss of the Tribal Mafia.”

“He treated him as if he were a real child and left him in charge of everything. But since fate was cruel to him, the family he had begun to grow and love was slaughtered. All the members of the mafia there, including the old man who adopted him.”

“They burned the entire headquarters to make sure no one survived the slaughter.”

“Even though fate had been cruelled to him, they still allowed him to survive that horrific incident. He also found that the massacre's perpetrator was his beloved brother. He felt so much hatred and anger that he decided to fight tooth and nail, even though it was impossible, so he raised the shattered mafia and renamed it Stan Mafia.”

“He also learned that his brother and Trixie were married, and that they had a twin daughter. He came back with the intent of getting their children, but he was late because the twins had already been hidden.”

Twins? Mom and Dad had twins? Does that mean…

He leaned back in his chair and rested his feet on the edge of the bed where I was lying.

“Lino waited a few more chances and found out where the couple hid their daughters until he found it with their Mafia chauffeurs.” He continues his life story.

“He adopted a boy who was about the same age as the twins and quickly became their best friend. Do you know what that child's name is? Winterwynne Jacob Stan, or Win-win as you may know him.”

I found myself unable to move, I've been hit by his story. Does Mr. L stand for Lino? Cloudio is my Dad's name so this is why he have many similarities to Dad?

My Mom and Dad, I'm not their adapted child, they are my biological parents. Is this why the reason why I look like Mom?

So, the night they found me in that dark deserted road wasn't just a coincidence or Mom's guts. Is this the reason I feel like my life is a roller coaster with many twists and turns? Most importantly, he used Win-win to lure us, and we fell into his trap! Some of my questions are being answered, and it's slowly resolving the puzzle in my head that I've been trying to solve for the past ten years.

"But the story doesn't end there."

When he spoke again, my attention was drawn back to him. This time, he removes his mask, revealing my father's similarities, but he only has a burnt scar on the left side of his face. He began telling me about how successful he had been in taking us.

"Everything falls into place as soon as I have both of you..."

"... that's when your twin let you ran away from you before I put the chip on you. Leaving her behind.”

That night, I thought she was dead. That night that I keep blaming on myself. That one fateful night that I shouldn’t have left her behind.

“I was fuming with anger at the time and was about to shoot her in the chest when this Jerome guy interrupted and caught the bullet meant for your sister. Of course, he died. So I was about to shoot your sister again when one of my scientists stopped me and told me that even if we lost you, we could still do something. With some help of advance medicines, I was able to cure her illnesses.”

How come Henna haven’t know about this? Is it possible that he was aware but chose not to inform me?

That motherfucker deserves hell!

“That’s why it took me this long to create another you and because you also have the same blood so it became successful but not successful as you. You're naturally healthy, whereas she isn't, so I still need you to carry out my plan against your loving parents. Isn't it a brilliant idea? " I remained silent, allowing everything I heard to sink in.

It's as if I'm playing connect the dots on my head, with each dot serving as a piece of the puzzle. Maybe none of this is true, and it's all just a part of my nightmare that I'll always have.

Maybe tomorrow I'll wake up on my fluffy bed to see Mom waking me up with my nightmares again.

But, I'm afraid not. I'm still here, staring blankly at the ceiling, tears slowly streaming down my cheeks, cuffs on both my wrist and ankle. I felt so helpless this time, so weak, and I'm sure he's grinning down at me right now in my state.

"Would you like to see your twin?" I ignored him when he asked me a question. I didn't move or even look at him, my mind still blank at the process, knowing that if I listened to any of this, my brain would shut down.

Someone took off my cuff and then stood me up. I'm not sure what they did to my body, but I feel like my energy is draining. I'm sure if these two guys weren't holding me, I'd be crawling on the floor right now.

We followed the long corridor, and after what seemed like an eternity of walking, we came to a halt in front of a large glass door. Lino pressed his palm against the scanner, causing the door to slide open.

The room walls were covered with mirrors, just like in my nightmare I had once, and in the center stood a huge glass box that reached all the way to the ceiling, inside of which stood the other me, though she didn't have a tattoo or colored hair like mine.

She was just standing in the middle with wires attached to her body. She looked like a Guinea pig in the movie, what was that called? Frankenstein?

I was just standing there staring at my twin, whom I thought was dead ten years ago, and now she's standing in the middle of that shit, threatened like a laboratory animal.

Lino signaled something to his men that I couldn't understand, and the next thing I knew, the glass box was slowly gliding down, and the wires attached to his body were being removed one by one. She opened her eyes, revealing her golden dragon eyes. She walks over to our place and stares at me blankly, with no expression.

I stared at her as she does the same, that's the moment that I finally broke out. A sob escapes my lips, and tears stream down my cheeks.

I shrug off the hands that were holding me and hug Luzy tightly, despite the fact that my feet are struggling to support my weight. I buried my face in the crook of her neck and sobbed loudly, oblivious to the people around me.

She didn't return my hug, but she also didn't push me. She simply let me hug her. She's alive, she's very much alive! I didn't believe Mr. Villa Samonte when he told me that night that she was alive, but now she's here, the one I'm hugging.

"It's me, L-Luzy." I breathe out between sobs as I face her.

"Do you still remember me?" She looked coldly at me first before brushing my hands off of her, and as a result, my knees became limper, causing me to fall to the ground.

Through my hazy vision, I saw her approach Lino, lowering her head in respect.

"What do you want me to do with her, Master?" She approached him with a blank expression.

NO!