Chapter 46 Chapter 46
The air outside the gym was frigid, but it was nothing compared to the ice settling in my marrow. Lena was a silent shadow beside me, her usual rapid-fire commentary silenced by the sheer weight of the wreckage we’d just witnessed. We didn't stop until we reached the far end of the student parking lot, tucked away behind the row of yellow buses that felt like the only yellow things left in a world turning grey.
I leaned against the cold metal of a bus, my breath coming in ragged, shallow puffs. My brain was a frantic pinball machine, bouncing between Marvin’s manic face on the screen, Zayelle’s terrified eyes, and the chillingly calm mask Jace had worn.
"Cass," Lena said, her voice unusually soft. She reached out, placing a hand on my shoulder. "You're shaking. Talk to me."
"He’s his twin, Lena," I choked out, the words feeling like shards of glass. "I spent months thinking Jace was the 'good' one. The one who saw me. The one who balanced out the living hell Marvin puts me through every single day. But what if he’s just… a different kind of monster?"
Lena bit her lip, her eyes darting toward the school building. "Marvin is a forest fire. You see him coming. You smell the smoke. But Jace? Jace is carbon monoxide. He’s silent, he’s invisible, and he’ll kill you before you even know you’re breathing him in."
I looked down at the asphalt. The video was still playing in a loop in my head. Ask him what he did to the girl at our old place. "My mom is at home right now," I whispered, a new wave of panic hitting me. "She’s cooking dinner. She’s probably laughing with Zayelle’s dad, planning some 'blended family' weekend retreat. And all the while, she’s bringing a girl into our house who is being stalked by my bully, and I’m falling for a guy who might have a body count in his past."
"We need to find out what happened at their old school," Lena said, her eyes narrowing with a sudden, sharp determination. "If Marvin is unhinged enough to stand on a car and scream it, there’s a paper trail. Or at least a digital one. People don't just leave a school mid-year for no reason."
"I can't go home yet," I said, pushing off the bus. "I can't look at Zayelle. I can't look at her dad."
"Then we go to the one person who knows the twins’ history better than the gossip mill," Lena said.
"Who?"
"Jacinta."
We found Jacinta in the music wing. It was the only part of the school that felt abandoned after hours. She was sitting on the floor of a practice room, her back against a piano, looking like a discarded doll. The mascara that had been smudged earlier was now a permanent mask of grief.
She didn't even look up when we entered. "Did you see it?" she asked, her voice a hollow rasp. "The video? Everyone is talking about Jace. Nobody cares that Marvin practically admitted he’s been obsessed with Zayelle for months. Nobody cares about me."
I sat down on the floor across from her, ignoring the dust. "Jacinta, I care. But I need to know. Marvin said he called you Zayelle because he doesn't see you anymore. Is he… has he hurt you?"
Jacinta let out a jagged, bitter laugh. "Marvin doesn't hit, Cass. You know that. He just breaks things. He breaks your spirit, your confidence, your sense of what’s real. He’s been a ghost for weeks. But Jace…" She shuddered, finally meeting my eyes. "Jace is the one who scares me."
"Why?" I asked, my heart hammering.
"Because Jace is the one who handles Marvin," Jacinta whispered. "Last year, at their old school, there was a girl. Maya. She was Marvin’s target. He was relentless. He did things to her that made what he does to you look like a playground crush. And Jace… Jace promised to fix it."
I leaned in, the air in the small room feeling thinner. "How did he fix it?"
"Nobody knows exactly," Jacinta said, her eyes wide and glassy. "One day Maya was there, and the next, she was gone. Her family moved. The police were at the school for three days. Jace and Marvin were expelled, but the records were sealed because their dad has money and lawyers. Marvin screams about it when he’s drunk—he says Jace didn't save Maya. He says Jace made her disappear to save Marvin’s reputation."
The floor seemed to tilt beneath me. To save Marvin’s reputation. "He’s not a hero," I whispered. "He’s a fixer."
"He’s a Thorne," Lena added from the doorway, her voice grim. "And fixers don't protect people because they’re 'nice.' They protect people because it keeps their own world from falling apart."
My phone buzzed in my pocket. A text.
Jace: I’m outside your house, Cass. We need to talk. I can explain Maya. Don't believe what Marvin says.
I stared at the screen, a cold dread pooling in my stomach. He knew where I was. Or he knew where I was going. He was always one step ahead, always "calculating," always "nice."
"He’s at my house," I said, standing up. My legs felt like lead.
"Don't go alone," Lena warned.
"I have to," I said. "Zayelle is there. My mom is there. If Jace is what Jacinta thinks he is, I can't let him be near them without me."
The drive home felt like an eternity. The suburban streets, usually so comforting and familiar, looked like a maze of shadows. As I pulled into the driveway, I saw Jace’s black sedan idling at the curb. He wasn't on the porch. He was leaning against the passenger door, his hands tucked into his pockets, looking like a portrait of a brooding heartthrob.
I got out of my car, my keys clenched in my fist like a weapon. "Get away from my house, Jace."
He didn't move. He just looked at me with those eyes that had once felt like home. "You talked to Jacinta. I can tell by the way you’re looking at me. You think I’m the villain of this story."
"Are you?" I challenged, stopping a few feet away. "Did you make a girl disappear to cover for your brother’s crimes?"
Jace sighed, a sound of profound weariness. "Maya was going to kill herself, Cass. Marvin had pushed her so far she was standing on the edge of the school roof. I didn't 'make her disappear.' I called her parents. I paid for the private ambulance. I made sure she got out of this town before Marvin could finish what he started. I took the fall and the expulsion so she wouldn't have to testify in a trial that would have destroyed her."
He stepped closer, his voice dropping. "I’m not a hero. I’m a twin. I’ve spent seventeen years cleaning up the blood Marvin leaves behind. And I’m tired, Cass. I’m so tired of being the only one who sees how dangerous he really is."
"And Zayelle?" I asked, my voice cracking. "Is she next? Is that why Marvin is obsessed with her? Because she’s the new Maya?"
"No," Jace said, and for the first time, I saw real fear in his eyes. "Marvin isn't obsessed with Zayelle because he wants to break her. He’s obsessed with her because he knows she saw what he did that night. She was Maya’s neighbor. She knows I didn't save Maya. She knows I was the one who pushed her to the edge."
I froze. The world stopped. "What?"
"I lied to you just now, Cass," Jace whispered, his eyes filling with tears. "I’ve been lying to everyone. Marvin is a bully, yes. He’s loud and he’s mean. But he’s not the one who broke Maya. I am."
The front door of my house opened. My mom stood there, silhouetted by the warm light of the foyer. "Cass? Is everything okay out here?"
Behind her, Zayelle appeared. She looked at Jace, then at me. She didn't look scared anymore. She looked like she was finally ready to tell the truth.
"Cass," Zayelle called out, her voice clear and steady. "Tell him to leave. Now. Before I call the police."
Jace looked at Zayelle, then back at me. The "nice" boy vanished. The cold, calculating twin returned. He didn't say a word. He just got into his car and drove away, the tires screeching against the pavement.
I stood in the driveway, the silence of the night echoing with the sound of a hundred lies shattering at once. I looked at the house—my home—and realized that the monsters weren't just in the hallways of the school. They were standing in my driveway, they were sitting at my dinner table, and they were the ones I had trusted the most.