The world tilted.
Ariana could barely breathe as the guard's words echoed in her ears:
"She says her name is Aria Cruz Volkov."
The name hung in the air like a curse.
Alexander didn't speak.
His gaze locked on her cold, sharp, unreadable.
But beneath that icy stare, a thousand emotions flickered.
"She's alive?" he said finally, his tone dangerous in its calm.
The guard's voice through the intercom confirmed, "Yes, sir. She has identification, the marriage certificate, everything."
Alexander's jaw flexed. "Bring her in."
Ariana wanted to speak, to stop him, but her voice was gone.
Her heart hammered as footsteps echoed from the grand hall.
And then she appeared.
Aria Cruz Volkov.
Her twin.
The mirror that shouldn't have existed.
Aria was breathtaking her dark hair cascading in soft waves, her lips curved into a knowing smirk.
She wore confidence like perfume and danger like a crown.
"Well," she said, her voice like silk over ice. "Aren't you going to welcome your real wife home?"
Alexander didn't answer. He simply looked between the two women identical faces, but worlds apart.
Ariana took an unsteady step back. "Aria what are you doing here?"
Her sister's eyes sparkled with mischief and malice. "You took something that belonged to me, little sister. I came to reclaim it."
Alexander's gaze snapped to Ariana. "You said it was temporary."
"I thought she wasn't coming back!" Ariana said quickly, tears forming. "She disappeared, Alex. I didn't know what else to do."
"Don't call him that," Aria cut in sharply, her tone dripping with poison. "You've already taken enough from me my name, my life, my husband."
The word husband struck Ariana like a slap.
Alexander stepped between them, his patience thinning.
"Enough. I want the truth from both of you."
Aria folded her arms, her gaze never leaving her twin. "The truth? Fine. I made a mistake. I got involved with people I shouldn't have. I needed time to disappear to stay alive."
Her lips curved. "So I asked dear Ariana to take my place. She was always so good at pretending, weren't you?"
Ariana's voice shook. "You promised you'd be gone a month. You vanished for almost three!"
"Details," Aria said lazily, turning to Alexander. "But you, you seem different, darling. Softer."
Her eyes gleamed. "Did my substitute do something to you?"
The air grew tense.
Alexander's expression was unreadable. "You left without explanation. Without contact. I had no reason to believe you were alive."
Aria's smile faltered. "So you moved on that quickly?"
Ariana stepped back, feeling like the ground was slipping away.
She didn't belong here. Not anymore.
"I'll leave," she whispered. "You don't need me in the way anymore."
Alexander's head turned sharply. "You're not going anywhere until I understand everything."
Aria's eyes narrowed. "Still protecting her?"
"I'm protecting the truth," he said. "Something you seem to have misplaced."
A silence stretched between them, sharp and dangerous.
Then Aria smiled the kind of smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"You have no idea what you've started, Alexander. None of you do."
She turned to Ariana, her tone chilling. "You shouldn't have taken my place. You don't know who's watching."
And with that, she brushed past them, heading upstairs like she still owned the house leaving behind a trail of expensive perfume and threat.
Ariana stood frozen, trembling.
Alexander's voice came low and tight. "I want guards posted on both of you. No one leaves the estate without my permission."
He turned to go, but paused by the doorway.
"She's not the only one with questions to answer, Ariana," he said quietly. "But right now I need to know which of you I can still trust."
He walked away, the echo of his footsteps fading into the silence.
Ariana sank to her knees, tears spilling down her cheeks.
Two sisters.
One husband.
And a secret powerful enough to destroy them all now under one roof.