Chapter 111 BOOM!

Chapter 111 BOOM!
I stared at the picture Kelvin had handed to me, and it still didn't make any sense.

It was a photograph of two young identical twin girls. They couldn't have been more than six or seven years old. You could barely tell them apart. The only noticeable difference between them was the way they were dressed.

The girl on the right wore a pink dress with a bow tied around her blonde ponytail. The other had her hair down, with a blue butterfly hairpin clipped to the side.

Other than that, they were identical.

The same bright blue eyes.

The same smile.

The same face.

The resemblance was undeniable.

This was Jaxon's mother...

And possibly Kelvin's mother.

“This was one of the pictures pinned to the wall of her room back then,” Kelvin said, pulling me out of my thoughts. “She used to stare at it all the time. There was always so much resentment in her eyes whenever she looked at it.”

I looked up at him.

“Which one of them is your mum?” I asked.

“I'm not completely sure,” he admitted. “But because she still had the same hairpin in another photo I found, I always assumed she was the one wearing blue.”

He pointed at the girl with the butterfly hairpin.

My mind raced.

If they were sisters, then what happened?

Why didn't they grow up together?

Why had Mr. and Mrs. Lancaster only ever acknowledged one daughter?

None of it made sense.

“If they're sisters, then how come nobody knows?” I asked, hoping he had answers I didn't.

But he simply shook his head.

“I don't know, Nancy.”

His voice was tired.

“I was sent to an orphanage before I was even old enough to understand what was happening in my own life. What I do know is that she was angry. Really angry about something.”

He laughed bitterly.

“My only job was to stay out of her life.”

For a moment, his gaze drifted away.

“I know you're probably never going to understand, but I think I understand my mum. Watching your life get destroyed by people you once loved is a different kind of trauma.”

His jaw tightened.

“All she did was take back what was rightfully hers after karma finally caught up with Jaxon's mother.”

The anger in his voice hit differently.

It wasn't simple hatred.

It was years of abandonment.

Years of loneliness.

Years of convincing himself that the woman who left him had a reason worth defending.

But Kelvin had been fed a lie.

He believed his mother had stepped into Jaxon's life after his mother died.

The truth was far worse.

“Kelvin,” I said softly, my voice barely above a whisper, “you have no idea how much damage your mother caused for reasons only she understands.”

I wished he could see it.

I wished he could separate the woman he wanted her to be from the woman she actually was.

He deserved that truth.

He deserved better than the lie she had built his entire life around.

“I don't expect you to understand, Nancy.”

His voice hardened instantly.

“Your life has been perfect. You have your family. Your daughter. Your parents. You have no right to judge her.”

I froze. The words felt like a slap to the face, and looking at him, I realized the vulnerable boy from seconds ago was gone.

Now he looked at me the same way he looked at everyone else who had ever hurt him.

Like I was one of them.

Something inside me snapped.

I was done being gentle.

Done pretending his mother was some misunderstood victim.

“Did you just say perfect?”

My voice rose before I could stop it.

“You don't know what I've gone through because of your mother!”

The words burst out of me.

“You don't know the trauma she's caused. You don't know how many lives she's destroyed!”

My chest rose and fell rapidly as years of frustration threatened to spill over.

Because Kelvin wasn't the only victim standing in this room.

And I was tired of watching him defend the woman who had broken so many people.

“Oh please, Nancy, I just can't deal with this. I have already given you my own explanation. You can go ahead and believe Jaxon all you want, but just know that he is not who he presents himself to be, and you don't know the danger you're stepping into—”

“You mean the danger your mum keeps sending his way?” I shot back, watching as a deep frown settled on his face.

“Your mum killed her own sister just so she could have her life,” I said, my voice firm, my gaze locked onto his.

“What nonsense are you talking about? Are you trying to twist everything because you love him?” he asked, letting out a bitter, angry laugh.

“No, Kelvin. I'm only telling you the truth you've refused to acknowledge for years.”

He let out a scoff.

“Which is?” he asked, his face hard with anger.

“That your mum—the one who left you in an orphanage, the one who spent years lying to you—is the same person who ordered the hit-and-run that took Jaxon's mother's life and nearly took his too.”

I watched as the colour slowly drained from his face.

“That's a lie. She would... she would never do that,” he whispered, his voice barely audible.

“Even you know deep down that it's true. But it's up to you to keep believing what you want to believe.

“In all the years of doing exactly what your mum told you, haven't you ever wondered why she's a Lancaster, yet nobody seems to know about her? She kept claiming someone stole her life, and you believed her.

“Maybe it's really time for you to wake up. Instead of hiding and protecting someone who hid you away so people wouldn't discover the monster she really is, why not go and find the answers for yourself?”

I didn't hesitate to say exactly what was on my mind.

Before leaving, I quickly took a few pictures of the photograph he had given me and placed it back on the couch.

He remained standing there, staring blankly into space as if everything he thought he knew was beginning to crack apart.

I turned and walked out.

I needed to reach out to Jaxon or Troy.

But before that, I needed to do some research of my own on the Lancaster family.

Whatever secret had been buried all these years had to be the key to the countless questions swirling inside my head.

As I made my way back to our front deck, I spotted Annabella pacing back and forth. The moment she saw me, she hurried over.

It was only then that I noticed the large van parked near the farm.

“What's with the van?” I asked as soon as we met.

“I don't know. They said they're here to deliver a birthday present,” Anna replied, sounding just as confused as I felt.

“Where are Mum and Renna?” I asked.

“Probably feeding the chickens,” Anna answered.

Just then, two men stepped out of the van.

They were wearing company uniforms with the name Kids Joy embroidered across them. Masks covered half their faces, and both men were dressed mostly in black.

Something about them immediately felt off.

“Hi, are you Miss Carter?” the heavier man asked.

A strange tattoo curled across the back of his hand.

“Yes. Why are you on my property?” I asked, my gaze moving carefully between both men.

The smaller one had dim grey eyes that felt oddly familiar.

For a brief second, our eyes met.

Then he quickly looked away.

The bigger man, however, with bright brown eyes that almost seemed golden in the sunlight, didn't seem bothered by the staring at all.

"We are just here for a delivery, that's all,” he said, slipping a hand into his pocket before retrieving a small envelope and handing it to me.

The front read:

Happy Birthday to My Little Princess.

Princess?

Jaxon didn't tell me he had prepared something else for Renna.

As the men turned to leave, Anna immediately rushed to my side.

“What's in the envelope? Is it from Jaxon? Is he asking you to marry him?” Anna blurted out.

I simply rolled my eyes before walking past her toward the large package that had already been unloaded from the van.

It was a mini kid's tractor.

“Oh my God! Renna is going to love this!” Anna squealed in excitement.

I couldn't help but smile.

He was really putting so much effort into his relationship with Renna, even though he had already completely won her over.

As the van slowly began leaving the compound, my gaze drifted toward the back of it.

No plate number.

Strange.

I pushed the thought aside, assuming maybe the plate was attached to the front of the van, and immediately moved to scan the company code printed on the carton.

The company information came up instantly.

Only then did I finally shake off the odd feeling crawling beneath my skin.

Soon enough, Anna came running back from the farm with an excited Renna in tow.

The moment Renna saw the package, she froze.

Then she let out a delighted squeal and dashed forward, wrapping her arms around the giant carton.

I couldn't help but smile as she eagerly tore through the packaging with Anna's help, revealing the mini tractor inside.

Pulling out my phone, I dialed Jaxon's number, hoping to reach him as I took a few steps away while still keeping an eye on Renna.

But when the call didn't connect, I assumed their flight had already taken off.

I glanced down at the envelope and pulled out the folded piece of paper inside.

Only one word was written on it.

Boom!

At first, I frowned in confusion.

Why would Jaxon write something like—

My blood ran cold. It wasn't from Jaxon.

My heart stopped beating, and before my brain could even process the horror, my feet were already moving.

My gaze shot back toward Renna and Anna.

But I never got the chance to warn them.

A deafening explosion tore through the air.

Fire erupted violently.

The force blasted me backward, throwing me to the ground.

For a moment, all I could hear was a sharp ringing in my ears.

My entire body screamed in pain as I struggled to push myself up.

Then I looked ahead.

Fire.

Smoke.

Flames swallowing everything.

“Re... Renna...” I choked out.

Panic seized my chest.

“Where is Renna?”

I forced myself to my feet and ran straight toward the flames.