Chapter 47 Chapter 47
I stood in the driveway, my heart a frantic bird trapped in my chest. Jace hadn't moved. He was still standing by his car, his face half-hidden in the shadows of the streetlamps. He didn't look like the boy who had walked me to class; he looked like a soldier standing on a landmine.
"Cass," he said, his voice low. "Don't listen to what Zayelle says. She only knows half the story. She saw what happened from a window, she didn't hear the conversations."
"Jace, move," I said, my voice finally finding its strength. I didn't want his explanations. Not yet. I needed to hear it from the girl who lived under my roof.
I pushed past him and ran into the house. My mom was in the kitchen, the smell of roasted chicken filling the air—a normal, domestic smell that felt like a lie. She looked up, startled. "Cass? Why is everyone so tense? Zayelle just ran upstairs looking like she’d seen a ghost."
"I'm fine, Mom. Just school stress," I lied, my feet already pounding up the stairs.
I burst into Zayelle’s room. She was sitting on her bed, her "popular girl" makeup running down her cheeks. The room was filled with expensive shopping bags, but she looked like she wanted to trade it all for a plane ticket out of here.
"Tell me," I demanded, closing the door behind me. "No more waves in the hallway. No more acting like Beyoncé. What happened at the old school? Why is Marvin obsessed with you, and why is Jace so scared of what you’ll say?"
Zayelle looked up, her lips trembling. "It wasn't a party, Cass. Back at the old school, Marvin didn't just bully people. He targeted Maya because she was Jace's girlfriend. He wanted to prove that Jace couldn't protect her. He... he sent her messages, followed her, made her life a living hell."
I sat on the edge of her desk, my stomach churning. "And Jace?"
"Jace tried to stop him," Zayelle whispered. "But Jace doesn't fight like Marvin. He doesn't scream. He calculates. He decided that the only way to save Maya was to make Marvin look like the victim of a crime he didn't commit. He planted evidence in Marvin's locker—drugs, stolen money—anything to get Marvin sent away so Maya would be safe."
I felt the air leave my lungs. "He tried to frame his own twin?"
"Yes," Zayelle said. "But it backfired. Marvin found out. He went to Maya’s house that night to confront her, thinking she was the one who framed him. I lived next door. I saw them on the lawn. They were screaming, and then Jace arrived. There was a fight, Cass. A bad one. Maya got hurt—she fell and hit her head. She’s okay now, but she had to move away. The twins’ father paid off everyone to keep it quiet, but Marvin has held it over Jace’s head ever since."
"So Marvin bullies me because..."
"Because he knows it’s the one thing that gets to Jace," Zayelle said, a tear falling onto her lap. "He bullies you to punish Jace for what happened to Maya. And now that I’m here, Marvin is using me to remind Jace that he can’t hide his past forever. He called Jacinta my name today because he wanted Jace to know that he’s coming for the people in this house next."
A soft knock came at the door. I jumped, my skin crawling.
"Cass?" It was Jace’s voice. He wasn't in the driveway anymore. He was in the hallway, right outside the door. "I know she told you. Please, let me explain why I did it."
I looked at Zayelle. She looked terrified. I realized then that Jace wasn't just "nice" to me because he liked me. He was nice to me because I was his chance at redemption—his chance to finally "protect" someone without breaking them. But his protection came with a body count of secrets.
I walked to the door and cracked it open. Jace was standing there, his eyes dark and pleading.
"Is it true?" I asked. "Did you try to frame your own brother?"
Jace’s expression didn't change. That cold, calculating stillness was back. "I did what I had to do to keep a girl from breaking. I’d do it again. I’d do it for you, Cass."
"That’s the problem, Jace," I whispered. "I don't want you to 'do what you have to do.' I want the truth."
"The truth is that Marvin is downstairs," Jace said, his voice dropping to a chilling whisper. "And he’s not alone. He brought Jacinta. And he’s telling your mom and Zayelle’s dad everything."
My heart stopped. The war between the twins had officially moved into my living room.