Chapter 4

The bullet-screen flooded past my eyes, packed tight:

"It's over, it's over! She messed with the brakes!"

"I told you she'd make a move! Jump out of the car, hurry!"

"There's a sharp turn ahead! The ocean's right there! You go off the edge, you're dead!"

I gripped the wheel with everything I had, my palms slick with cold sweat.

The car was going too fast. Jumping now was as good as suicide.

The turn was almost on me.

I clenched my teeth and cranked the wheel all the way over.

The tires shrieked against the road.

The car slewed sideways and slammed into the guardrail with a crash.

The rail, rusted and neglected for years, tore open at the impact.

The nose of the car hung out over empty air, the whole body teetering, one breath away from going over.

I was shaking all over.

I unclipped my seatbelt and crawled out the passenger side.

Then I sank onto the ground, dragging in one huge breath after another.

Rain hit my face, freezing, cutting to the bone.

Seeing this, the bullet-screen finally let out a breath.

"Scared me half to death... good thing you're tough..."

"Now do you believe it? This was no accident!"

"She wants to kill you and take everything you have!"

I sat on the ground for a full ten minutes before I moved.

Only then did I pull out my phone, call the dealership for a tow, and file the insurance claim.

I hung up and got to my feet, my eyes going cold.

I wanted to see exactly who this little sister of mine really was.

I hailed a car straight to the hospital.

Over the hours I waited for the results, my phone kept buzzing.

All of it from Leila:

"Sis, why haven't you answered me?"

"Weren't you going to the office? I called and you didn't pick up. I'm so worried about you."

"Sis, just reply when you see this, okay?"

I stared at the screen, my fingertips ice-cold.

The bullet-screen was seething:

"Worried about you? Worried you're not dead yet, more like."

"Crocodile tears."

I sent back one line:

"Was busy, didn't check my phone. I'm fine, I'll be back later."

Once it went through, I switched my phone to silent.

Three in the afternoon, the test came back.

The technician handed me the report.

"Ms. Fox, based on the DNA comparison, the two samples do share a blood relationship. We can confirm that the other party is your biological sister."

Something buzzed in my head and everything went blank.

The bullet-screen blew up too, a wall of question marks.

"?????"

"What is going on? The DNA actually matched?"

"That's impossible! She's a fake!"

I held the report, my hands trembling.

And yet I let out a long breath.

Maybe I really had been reading too much into it.

The birthmark was real. The DNA was real.

She was Leila.

Fifteen years. Maybe her body had changed as she grew up, maybe the seafood allergy had gone away.

As for the brakes, maybe it was just old and worn out, and it happened to fail then.

I was still thinking it through when my phone rang.

The mechanic from the dealership.

"Ms. Fox, we checked your car. The brakes show signs of deliberate tampering. This wasn't a natural malfunction."

The heart I'd just set down jumped straight back into my throat.

I clenched the phone, my knuckles white.

No matter how I turned it over, I couldn't make it make sense.

I decided to go home and ask her face to face.

I'd barely stood up when the bullet-screen erupted across my vision:

"Do not go back! She's got a knife ready at the house, and she's drugged the food with sleeping pills. Go back and you won't come out again!"

"She definitely tampered with the DNA! She dug up Leila's body and probably pulled out her hair to make herself a wig!"

"Go to the police! Go to the police right now!"

I stood frozen, my feet refusing to move.

A wig made from a dead girl's hair. The idea was absurd.

But everything from the last few days made it impossible not to believe.

I set my jaw.

I walked out of the hospital and hailed a car straight for the police station.

We hadn't gone far.

In the rearview mirror I saw a black sedan, following behind us, steady and unhurried.

My chest went tight.

"Could you drive faster, please?"

The words were barely out when the black car surged forward and rammed into our rear.

A crash, and the car shuddered hard.

The driver swore.

"Is this guy insane?"

He tried to steer clear, but the black car sped up and pressed in on us again.

I clung to the grab handle, my heart slamming to get out of my chest.

Who wanted me dead?

Was it her?

But how did she know I was going to the police?

And how did she happen to be right behind me?

That birthmark, Leila's little habits, why could she copy every single one of them exactly?

A thousand questions detonated in my head.

Right then, the black car cut the wheel hard again and came at our side.

The driver wrenched us out of the way, cursing without a break.

A flash of white light went off in my head.

Every fragment snapped into place at once.

I shouted, "Stop the car! Stop the car now!"

The driver flinched and stamped the brake all the way to the floor.

The car lurched to a halt at the roadside.

I sat in the back seat, cold all over.

I'd finally worked it out.

So that was it.

It was that, all along.