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we live in parallel lines. Our worlds are never meant to cross. We were never meant to be.
Tonight, I’m leaving everything behind and reuniting with the one person who always loved me unconditionally. The one who gave me their life.
I trusted him. I was falling for him. I ignored all the signs and my instinct and went to him. I considered him my savior when he’s been my Grim Reaper all along.
Apparently, Arianna said you were to blame before she jumped.”
The thing that rose from the ashes was a demon thirsty for blood. Reina’s blood.
In this godforsaken town, people like Reina and me rule—popular and beautiful and fucking monstrous.
Blackwood is still filled with hollow souls and faceless people. Deep down, it’s almost unrecognizable.
Reina is mine. Fucking mine. And I’ll screw the world so she’ll remain that way. What I have planned for her doesn’t contradict that fact.
She’s the devil dressed as an angel.
My plan was simple: torture then kill her. Make her suffer then finish her miserable life.
She stopped smiling around her sixteenth birthday. When she does, they’re filled with contempt and malice.
The Reina from today is different. She’s so fucking similar to her old self.
If he wants me dead, why would he worry about me? It doesn’t make any sense.
If I want to recover my memories, I need to go back to where it all started. I slide into the back seat and tell the driver, “Blackwood Forest.”
Then I got fucking angry at myself for letting her crawl under my skin this way.
Every time I wake up, she’s the first person who comes to mind. And to my fucking dismay, they’re not thoughts about the best way to destroy her. No. They’re thoughts about her.
She’s finally here. We finally found our way back to each other after nine years.
You saved me. It’s time I save you.”
“I’ve been studying them for years. I can handle them.”
When we were twelve, Reina and I met for the first time.
I had a mother and a sister. Then they were both taken away from me. We were separated for nine years.
Oh my God. My name is not Reina—it’s Rai.
“They’re after Mom’s daughter,” Reina says. “I don’t think they know about me. They only know about you.”
“Reina…” I choke. “You’re Reina now. I’ll be Rai.”
Rai Sokolov. Daughter of Mia Sokolov. I’ve been on the run since the day I was born, homeschooled my entire life, and had no friends until Mom brought my long-lost twin sister to meet me a month ago.
The only one I have left is my dad. If I want to be with him, I have to forget my life and embrace another one. A tear falls down my cheek as I whisper, “Reina. My name is Reina Ellis.”
My plan is in place. It’s chipped and ragged around the edges, but it’s still the same.
She’s the subject of my darkness now,
I even took a picture as proof that she does smile and laugh—just not with me.
I’m not her savior. I’m her worst nightmare.
But she’ll find me in her hospital room as soon as she wakes up, and she’ll fucking tell me why she was escaping.
like the girl I saw for the first time after she disappeared when we were twelve. It was the first time I decided I liked that girl, the first time I thought about kissing a girl.
I lean my head over and suck her bottom lip into my mouth like I did at twelve when she was sleeping in our guest house. A shudder goes through her as I brush my lips against hers one last time. “You’ll never escape me, my ugly monster.”
I was an imposter and knew that one day, the real Reina would return to her life.
I fucked my sister’s fiancé.
I lusted after him and clung to him as if I had every right to. Not only that, I also did something so unforgivable, he’s thinking about killing me now.
He’s not mine. He’s Reina’s.
That’s why Old Reina always kept him at arm’s length and pushed him away. I can understand her thought process more clearly now.
I can’t look at him, not when he thinks I’m Reina. You’re an imposter. You should die.
You made me believe you were my savior when you were the villain all along.”
This is karma biting me in the ass for stealing Reina’s life and throwing her under the bus.
I had to fall for her psycho fiancé just so he’d plan to kill me.
“My name is Rai Sokolov and I’m Reina’s twin sister. I switched places with her when we were twelve. After Mom kidnapped her, we took each other’s identity. She went with the Russian mafia that chased me and I came to live with Dad.” I don’t know why I’m telling him all this, but now that I’ve started, I can’t stop. “I’m not from your world. I’m just a runaway, a nobody who couldn’t save her own sister. So if you want to kill me for whatever the fuck I did to you, stop playing games and do it already. Or let me do it for you—I don’t care anymore.”
“I don’t give a fuck about your name. You’re the only Reina I know.” He reaches out his hand. “Come the fuck down.”
Why the hell did I cheat? Was it another way to remain detached and not grow close to Asher?
Prom queen. My chest flutters in and out of sync. I don’t know why I love it so much when he calls me that. Could be because it’s neither Reina nor Rai. It’s neither identity theft nor confusion. It’s just me.
Snap out of it, Reina or Rai or whoever the fuck you are.
“You were hardly wet before, if ever. You never moaned, either, or shook with desire like you do now.”
My villain and my savior. My damnation and my salvation. The only person I ever told my secret.
“I’m going to tongue-fuck you until you can no longer move, prom queen.” And then he makes good on his promise.
