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The SUV glided through the empty city streets, the engine humming low under Malik’s skilled hands. The adrenaline from the escape still clung to the cabin like a second skin, everyone felt it. The air inside was thick, dense with unsaid things.

Devon sat quietly beside Katherine in the back seat, occasionally glancing at Kingsley, who was slouched between them. Kingsley’s head leaned against the window, eyes half-closed, the faint city lights flickering across his pale face. His body was safe now, but his mind? Still inside that room. Still behind that door labeled 4 B. What they did to him.

He hadn’t said much since they drove off. But the silence didn’t last.

Devon cleared his throat gently. “So… we’re going back to the apartment in Manhattan, right? Safer there.”

Katherine turned to him and shook her head softly. “No. We’re not going to the apartment.”

Devon raised a brow. Kingsley stirred.

“We’re taking him to his parents’ place,” Katherine said.

The words sliced the air. The SUV felt suddenly colder.

Kingsley blinked, then slowly sat up straighter. “What? No. I-I don’t want to go there.”

“You need to,” Katherine said firmly, though her voice held tenderness. “Kingsley, they’re the only powerful people that can deal with Beth. They need to see what she’s done to you. They need to see with their own eyes that she’s dangerous. That they made a mistake by forcing you to stay in that marriage.”

Kingsley gave a hollow laugh, but there was no humor in it. “And what makes you think they’ll care?” he muttered, his voice still hoarse from dehydration and disuse. “They probably know I was missing. Do you think they don’t? My parents are too connected. If they wanted to find me, they could’ve done it in a day, hours.”

“They didn’t,” he said flatly, cutting Katherine off. “The vow renewal didn’t resume. They must have a call. They must have come looking. So what does that tell you?” He looked out the window again, jaw clenched. “It means they knew I was missing and didn’t do anything. Maybe because I didn’t go through with the vow renewal and they cut ties with me, but I am still their son and they are still my parents. They didn’t hear from me for months and couldn’t look for me.”

“No one knew you were missing,” Katherine said. “Not your parents. Not the media. No one.”

Kingsley frowned. “That’s not possible.”

She cut in gently. “It is. Because Beth replaced you.”

Kingsley frowned. “That’s not possible. I—”

She cut in gently. “It is. Because Beth replaced you with a double.”

He blinked. “A what?”

“A doppelgänger. Someone who looked like you, sounded like you. She took a man who already resembled you and made him undergo jaw reduction surgery to look identical. She padded his body, trained him, drilled him on your life. Then she presented him to your parents and friends like nothing was wrong.”

Kingsley just stared. Katherine could almost see the ice freezing over his brain as his mind refused to process it. His fingers twitched beneath hers.

“You’re lying,” he said slowly, his voice cracking.

“I wish I were,” she whispered. “But I saw him with my own eyes. So did Carolina. Devon. Your parents didn’t know. No one did. He showed up at the vow renewal and played the part. No one questioned it because no one wanted to. Not even your parents.”

Kingsley opened his mouth, but no words came. He gripped the seatbelt, chest rising and falling fast. The shock was setting in now, the nausea, the dizziness, the creeping sense that the world was unreal.

“This is too much,” he murmured. “I… I can’t…”

Katherine leaned closer, her voice like silk. “I know. It’s too much. But right now, I need you to rest. When we get to your parents, I’ll explain everything. We’ll explain everything. They need to hear it from us. They need to see you.”

Devon added from his side, his voice calm but steady, “You’re not alone, man. We’ve got you. We’re not leaving your side.”

Kingsley looked down at his hands, still trembling, and gave a slow, defeated nod. He closed his eyes. No more words. Just the sound of tires on pavement. And the silent promise echoing in the air between them: This ends now.

The black SUV pulled up to the curb in front of the towering Midtown skyscraper that housed the Rowe family penthouse. The building gleamed with privilege, its entry guarded by polished brass doors and uniformed doormen who barely blinked at the sight of the vehicle.

Devon helped Kingsley out first, shielding him with his coat against the cool pre-dawn air. Katherine stepped out next, hovering protectively at his side. Malik and Ryan stayed by the vehicle, their presence still alert, still ready.

They moved through the lobby with purpose. By the time the elevator reached the top floor, Katherine’s heart was thudding hard in her chest. She glanced at Kingsley beside her, his face pale, his eyes shadowed, his once-chiseled features thinned out from weeks of captivity. She reached for his hand, and he squeezed hers in return, silent but aware.

The elevator chimed. The penthouse doors opened.

Michael and Anna Rowe stood there, robes still on, faces marked with sleep and confusion.

“Who—” Anna began, but then her eyes landed on the figure between Katherine and Devon. She gasped.

Michael stepped forward, brows drawn together. “Kingsley?”

Their son looked up slowly, his lips parting, his expression dazed but unmistakable. “Mom… Dad…”

Anna’s hand flew to her mouth. Her knees buckled, and Michael caught her just in time. “My God…” Anna whispered, her voice cracking. “What happened to you?”

Michael’s face drained of color. “You look—Jesus, Kingsley, what the hell happened?”

Devon steadied him. “It’s a long story. But we need to come inside. Now.”

Katherine moved forward, supporting Kingsley on the other side. “Please… we need to talk. And you need to see the truth for yourselves.”

Michael stood aside wordlessly, jaw tight, eyes glued to his son’s fragile form. Anna reached out with trembling hands. “Come in, sweetheart. Sit down. Let me get you water. Food. Blankets—”

Kingsley let himself be led inside, but before he passed through the threshold, he looked over his shoulder at Katherine. She gave him a small nod.

Anna draped a blanket over him as she tried to steady her trembling hands. Devon stood behind him protectively. Katherine remained nearby, her heart still pounding, her mind running through every detail she’d planned to say.

And then—

“What did you do to my son?” Michael Rowe’s voice rang out, sharp and accusing.

Katherine turned to him, stunned. “Excuse me?” she said quietly, blinking.

Michael stepped forward, his eyes blazing with fury. “Don’t play innocent. You disappear, and then you reappear out of nowhere bringing my son back looking like he’s been through hell. What did you do to him?”

Katherine’s voice tightened, but she stood tall. “What makes you think I had anything to do with this? I know you and your wife don’t like me, Mr. Rowe. You’ve made it clear you never wanted me in Kingsley’s life. But I need you to stop projecting and listen to me. Because what your son has been going through—”

“The only thing going through here,” Michael interrupted, his voice rising, “is you walking into this house like you still belong here, like you can stand in my presence and demand to be heard?”

“Father, stop.”

It was Kingsley. The room fell into a hush.

Kingsley struggled to sit up straighter, his blanket slipping off his shoulders as his gaunt eyes locked onto his father’s. “Stop talking to her like that. Katherine saved my life. My life. Not you. Not Mother. Her. While you two went on living your lives, while you stood at some fake vow renewal with a stranger, Katherine was the one trying to find me. She didn’t give up.”

Anna’s lips parted slightly in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“Let her speak,” Kingsley said. “Please.”

Katherine took a slow breath. Her fingers curled slightly by her sides. The moment was now.

“I know it’s a lot to take in,” she said carefully. “But I need you both to hear me. This started months ago. I woke up from a coma that your daughter-in-law, Beth, put me in. When I woke up, Kingsley had vanished. He wasn’t answering my calls. Nobody had seen him. So I tried to come to Manhattan. I tried to see him, to understand what had happened.”

She paused.

Anna looked bewildered. Michael still looked angry, but something in his eyes had flickered. A crack in the stone.

“I tried everything to get close to him again. When I finally saw him, it wasn’t him. I mean, it looked like Kingsley, it sounded like him… but it wasn’t. His eyes were dull, his posture was different, the way he moved, even the way he talked… it wasn’t my Kingsley. I tried touching him. I even hugged him. But the feeling, his heartbeat, the rhythm, it wasn’t right.”

She swallowed and continued. “That’s when I knew something was wrong. I knew it wasn’t Kingsley. So my friend Carolina and I came up with a plan. She posed as a housemaid and infiltrated your son’s house while ‘Kingsley’, the impostor, and Beth were out. She found two passports of the real and fake Kingsley, and his phone. Why were his phone and passport locked in a box? She hacked into Beth’s phone. That’s when we found the real Kingsley.”

“Where?” Anna asked breathlessly.

“In a private biotech lab on Staten Island,” Katherine said. “They had him in a secure facility for memory erasure. He’s been there for three months.”

Michael stepped forward, his voice laced with disbelief. “That’s not possible.”

“It is,” Katherine said firmly. “That’s why we risked everything to go in and get him out tonight.”

Michael shook his head. “No, you’re mistaken. He, Kingsley was at the vow renewal. I was there. We were all there.”

Katherine tilted her head slightly. “Did you talk to him, sir?”

Michael’s jaw clenched. “He refused to speak to us. We assumed he was angry. He didn’t want to do the vow renewal, but I told him he had to. We figured he was still sulking. But I saw him. I stood right in front of him.”

“Yes,” Katherine said. “You stood in front of a man who had jaw surgery, padded muscles, and wore Kingsley’s cologne. A man Beth found who already looked like him and whom she modified to be an even closer match. A man she trained to imitate your son so well you never questioned it, because you didn’t want to question it.”

Silence.

Kingsley looked up slowly, his eyes locking onto his father. “Is that true? You never even asked if I was okay? You thought I was mad and just let it go?”

Michael opened his mouth, closed it. Anna sat down slowly, the gravity of it all pulling her down like lead. “My God…”

Katherine stepped forward, her voice soft but unwavering. “I know you don’t like me. And maybe you never will. But what matters now is the truth. Beth stole Kingsley. She tried to erase me from his life. You need to understand that and help us stop her before she tries again.”

Kingsley’s body trembled slightly from exhaustion, but his hand reached out for hers. Katherine caught it without hesitation, grounding him. His voice was quiet. “Now do you believe her?”

The silence was suffocating. Then Kingsley took a breath, a shallow, ragged breath, and spoke. “You want to know what happened?” he said quietly. “You want to know what Beth did to me?”

Michael’s eyes snapped to him. Anna turned her head slowly, cautiously.

Kingsley sat upright, shaking off the blanket from his shoulders. His voice trembled, but it rose with fury the more he spoke. “She drugged me.”

A pause. He looked straight at his father. “She drugged me in my own home and it’s not the first time. She made one of my house staff inject me with a syringe when I came to confront her on what she did to Beth without knowing she had made plans.”

His jaw clenched. Katherine’s hand gripped his tighter. Devon, standing nearby, looked visibly shaken.

Kingsley’s gaze turned hollow, distant. “You don’t even know what they did to me in that lab.”

Anna gasped, one trembling hand going to her chest. “They kept me in a secure cell. Four walls. No light. No clocks. No phone. They took everything. I didn’t even know what day it was. And every day… every day, some researcher would come in. Sometimes alone, sometimes two of them. They’d ask questions. Then they’d sedate me. They monitored my brain activity. Gave me injections. Sometimes I’d wake up with cuts like they were doing surgical prep. Other times I’d be strapped to a cold chair in a room with bright lights and speakers playing loops of words.”

He looked at them both. “Words like forget Katherine. Forget your pain. You’re happy with Beth,” repeated over and over until I thought I’d lose my mind.”

Tears welled in Anna’s eyes as her trembling hand found Michael’s jacket. “They told me I was being prepped, that the real procedure wouldn’t happen until six months in. Because to truly erase someone, you have to dismantle the emotional connections gradually. Break them. Replace them. Strip the neural pathways. That’s what they were doing to me. And all I could do was scream into a pillow that no one would hear.”

His voice cracked. “I stopped eating after a while. What was the point? I wanted to die.”

“Kingsley…” Anna sobbed. Her hands clutched Michael’s coat like she might collapse.

“But then I started dreaming about Katherine again,” Kingsley whispered. “Her laugh. Her smile. Her voice. That’s how I knew they hadn’t taken everything yet. That’s what kept me alive.”

He turned to his parents, eyes bloodshot but unwavering. “And all of it was because of you.”

Michael stiffened.

“You’re the ones who threatened me,” Kingsley hissed. “Told me I’d lose everything if I didn’t stay married to Beth. You told me I’d disgrace the family and destroy the company if I left. That Katherine was ‘not one of us.’ I stayed because of you. Because I didn’t want to be the son who ruined your reputation. I stayed, even though I hated myself for it. And look where it got me.”

Tears rolled freely down Anna’s face now. She let out a broken sob and buried her face against Michael’s shoulder.

“I swear,” she cried, “I swear I will kill that bitch. Look at what she did to my baby…”

Michael’s fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white. His voice came out low and trembling, soaked in rage. “This marriage is over. Tonight. I don’t care what arrangements were made. I don’t care what business contracts are tied to it. She’ll rot in jail. I’ll see to it myself.”

Kingsley leaned back, breathing hard. 

Michael looked at Katherine. Really looked. And for the first time in years, he saw not just a woman fighting for love but the woman who had fought to save his son’s life. He didn’t thank her, but he nodded, slowly, once.