Narrow Escape

Narrow Escape
Iris POV

"Mother," Victoria said, pointing her gun at Grandma Kane. "Step away from them."

"Victoria, darling. I thought you were dead."

"You thought wrong."

Grandma laughed, clutching her burned hand. "You can't shoot me. I'm your mother."

"You stopped being my mother when you killed my sister. When you tried to turn my children into weapons."

"I was making them strong!"

"You were making them prisoners."

Sirens wailed in the distance. Getting closer.

"The FBI," Marcus said. "Someone called them."

"Probably your grandmother," Dad replied. "She planned this perfectly. We're all standing in the open when they arrive."

"Then we need to leave," Alex said. "Now."

"Nobody's leaving," Grandma snarled. "Not until—"

Victoria fired.

The bullet hit the ground near Grandma's feet.

"The next one goes higher. Move, Mother. Let them go."

Grandma stared at her daughter with hatred and disbelief. "You'd really shoot me?"

"Try me."

For a long moment, nobody breathed.

Then Grandma stepped aside.

"Run," Victoria said without taking her eyes off Grandma. "I'll hold her here."

"Mom, come with us," I begged.

"I can't. Someone has to answer for all this. Might as well be me."

"But—"

"Iris, listen. I've done terrible things. Hurt people. Destroyed lives. This is my chance to do something right."

"You'll go to prison."

"Better prison than living with what I've become."

The sirens were louder now. Maybe three blocks away.

"We have to go," Alex said, pulling my arm.

I looked at Victoria one last time. "Thank you. For everything."

"Be better than me, sweetheart. That's all I ask."

We ran.

Dad, Marcus, Elena, Alex, and me.

Through alleys and side streets, always listening for footsteps behind us.

"Where are we going?" I gasped.

"Safe house," Alex replied. "Two miles north. Can you make it?"

My ankle was swelling from when I jumped into the church ruins. Every step hurt.

"I'll make it."

We kept running.

Behind us, I heard gunshots. Not many. Then silence.

"Victoria," Elena whispered.

"She knew what she was doing," Dad said quietly.

But his voice was sad.

We ran for another twenty minutes before reaching a small house tucked between abandoned buildings.

Alex pressed numbers into a keypad. The door clicked open.

Inside, the house looked normal. Furniture. Kitchen. Nothing special.

"Basement," Alex said.

He moved a rug, revealing a trap door.

Down below was a different story. Weapons. Money. Supplies. Everything needed to hide for months.

"How many of these do you have?" Marcus asked.

"Enough. Nobody knows about this one except me and my father."

"Can we trust that?"

"We don't have a choice."

Dad sat down heavily. "This is a disaster. My career is over. Half the FBI probably thinks I'm working with criminals now."

"You are working with criminals," Alex pointed out.

"Not helping."

Elena was wrapping my ankle. "It's not broken, but you need to stay off it."

"We might not have that luxury," I said.

"Then you'll have to deal with the pain."

She gave me pills from a medical kit. I swallowed them dry.

"What now?" Ian asked. He'd arrived ten minutes after us, having taken a different route.

"Now we wait," Alex said. "Let things calm down. Then figure out our next move."

"The bombs are disabled," Ian said. "I made sure of that. But Grandma had backup plans. Other ways to hurt people."

"Do you know what they are?"

"No. But I felt her thoughts before she blocked me out. She's not done. Not by a long shot."

Dad pulled out his phone. "I should call in. Let the FBI know what really happened."

"They won't believe you," Marcus said. "Not without proof. And all our proof just got buried under a church."

"Then what do you suggest?"

"We find Natasha. She knows everything. She can testify."

"Assuming she'll help us."

"She will," I said. "I felt it when she helped me. She wants to be free of Grandma as much as we do."

"Then we need to find her fast. Before Grandma does."

We spent the next hour planning. Who would search where. What resources we had left. How to stay hidden.

But I couldn't focus.

Something felt wrong.

Alex was being too helpful. Too accommodating.

In my experience, people didn't change overnight.

"I need to use the bathroom," I said.

"Down the hall, second door," Alex replied without looking up from the maps.

I limped down the hallway, but didn't go to the bathroom.

Instead, I went to the bedroom.

Something had caught my eye when we entered. A folder on the desk that Alex had quickly shoved into a drawer.

I opened the drawer.

Found the folder.

My hands shook as I opened it.

Inside were photos of me. Dozens of them. From the last three months.

Walking to class. Getting coffee. Studying in the library.

Just like the ones Grandma had shown me.

But these had notes written on them in Alex's handwriting.

"Target confirmed. Begin surveillance."

"Subject shows no awareness of gifts. Perfect for manipulation."

"Approaching target next week. Father approves plan."

My blood turned to ice.

I flipped through more pages.

Plans. Detailed plans about how to kidnap me. How to use me against Dad. How to leverage my powers for the Torrino family.

All written in Alex's neat handwriting.

All dated weeks before the attack on my campus.

"No," I whispered.

Everything he'd said. Every promise he'd made. Every time he'd claimed to love me.

All lies.

All part of the plan.

"Iris?" Alex's voice came from the doorway.

I spun around, holding the folder.

"What is this?"

His face went pale. "That's not what it looks like."

"It looks like you've been planning to kidnap me for months. It looks like every word you said was a lie."

"Iris, please. Let me explain."

"Explain what? That you're exactly like everyone else? That you saw me as a weapon too?"

"I did. At first. But things changed."

"When? When did things change? Before or after you forced me to marry you?"

"That wasn't my choice! My father—"

"Your father who you conveniently have detailed plans with? Your father who you've been working with all along?"

Tears were streaming down my face, but I didn't care.

"You made me fall in love with you. You made me trust you. And it was all fake."

"It wasn't fake. Not after I got to know you. Iris, I swear—"

"Don't." I backed away from him. "Don't say another word."

Dad appeared behind Alex. "What's going on?"

I threw the folder at him. "Ask your new best friend. Ask him about his plans to kidnap and use me."

Dad flipped through the pages. His face went hard.

"Torrino. Is this true?"

Alex looked trapped. "It was true. Weeks ago. Before I knew her. Before I—"

"Before you what? Decided she was more useful alive than dead?"

"No! Before I fell in love with her!"

"Convenient timing," Marcus said, appearing with his gun drawn. "Right after you forced her into marriage."

"I didn't force her. My father did."

"Semantics."

Elena stepped between them. "Everyone calm down. Let's talk about this rationally."

"There's nothing to talk about," I said. "Alex planned this from the beginning. Everything else is just him adapting when his plans failed."

"That's not true," Alex said desperately. "Yes, I planned to use you. Yes, I had orders from my father. But the moment I met you, everything changed."

"Words," I spat. "Just words. How do I know anything you've said is real?"

"Because I chose you over my family! I chose you over my father! I chose you over everything I've ever known!"

"Or you just adapted your plan. Keep me close, make me trust you, use me better."

He looked like I'd slapped him. "You really believe that?"

"I don't know what to believe anymore."

The room fell silent.

Then Ian spoke up. "I believe him."

Everyone turned to look at him.

"What?" I asked.

"I believe Alex. I've been in his head, remember? I felt his emotions. They're real, Iris. He really does love you."

"Or he's learned to fake emotions so well that even psychics can't tell the difference."

"That's impossible. You can fake words. You can't fake feelings."

"Can't you? We have mind control powers. Who's to say he hasn't learned to control his own emotions?"

"Because that's not how it works," Elena said gently. "Iris, I know you're hurt. You have every right to be. But Ian's right. Alex's feelings for you are genuine."

"Then why didn't he tell me about this?" I held up the folder. "Why hide it?"

"Because I was ashamed," Alex said quietly. "Because I knew if you saw those plans, you'd never trust me again. And I was right."

"You were right because you've been lying this whole time!"

"I was lying by omission. There's a difference."

"Not to me there isn't."

Dad put his hand on my shoulder. "Sweetheart, I hate to say this, but Elena and Ian might be right. I've been watching Torrino. The way he looks at you. The way he protects you. That's not manipulation. That's love."

"You're taking his side?"

"I'm taking truth's side. And the truth is, people can change. I did. Your mother did. Why can't he?"

I wanted to argue. Wanted to hate Alex for his betrayal.

But a small voice inside me whispered that they might be right.

"I need air," I said.

I limped toward the stairs.

"Iris, wait," Alex called.

"Don't follow me. I need to think."

I went upstairs and sat on the front steps, ignoring the pain in my ankle.

The night air was cold and clean.

I sat there for ten minutes, trying to sort through my feelings.

Love and betrayal mixed together like poison.

That's when I felt it.

A presence in my mind. Not Ian. Not Natasha. Someone new.

Someone powerful.

"Hello, Iris Kane," a voice said inside my head. "I've been waiting to meet you."

"Who are you?"

"Someone like you. Someone with gifts. Someone who wants to help you."

"Everyone who says that ends up hurting me."

"I'm different. I can prove it. Look to your left."

I looked.

A figure stood in the shadows across the street. Tall. Wearing a hooded jacket that hid their face.

"Who are you?" I asked again.

The figure pulled back their hood.

I gasped.

It was me.

Not exactly me. But close enough to be my twin.

Same face. Same eyes. Same everything.

"Impossible," I whispered.

"Not impossible," the figure said, both out loud and in my mind. "My name is Ivy Kane. And I'm your identical twin. The fourth child your parents had. The one they gave away at birth because they couldn't protect us all."

My head spun. "That's not possible. Ian, Natasha, and me. We're triplets."

"You were quadruplets. But they only told you about three."

"You're lying."

"Am I? Ask your father. Ask Elena. They know the truth."

I stood up, ready to go inside and demand answers.

But Ivy held up her hand.

"Wait. Before you go in there, you should know something else."

"What?"

"Alex's folder? The one you found? It's fake."

"What do you mean fake?"

"I mean it was planted there. By me. Two hours ago."

The world stopped making sense.

"Why would you do that?"

"To test you. To see if you'd trust him despite the evidence. To see if you'd be strong enough for what comes next."

"What comes next?"

Ivy smiled. A cold, calculating smile that reminded me of Grandma Kane.

"War, sister. Real war. Against every bloodline that's been hunting us. And I need to know if you're strong enough to fight it. If you're ruthless enough to do what needs to be done."

"And if I'm not?"

"Then you're a liability. And liabilities get eliminated."

She raised her hand, and I felt something in my mind. A push. Like she was trying to control me.

"Stop," I said.

"Can't. This is your final test. Fight back or die."

The pressure increased. I fell to my knees.

"Help!" I tried to shout, but no sound came out.

Ivy had taken my voice.

She walked closer, still pushing into my mind.

"Goodbye, sister. You were weak. Just like I thought."

Everything was going dark.

I was dying.

And nobody inside the house knew.