I Was the Decoy Twin - Chapter 2: Chapter 2
You are reading I Was the Decoy Twin, Chapter 2: Chapter 2. Read more chapters of I Was the Decoy Twin.
From the start, I was just a pawn to him—expendable, replaceable. The love I'd clung to, the salvation I'd prayed for—all of it was a carefully crafted lie.
Kevin leaned in, his lips brushing mine in a mockery of tenderness. "Sleep now. It'll all be over soon."
The scent of pine—once comforting—now choked me, thick and suffocating. I tried to fight, to push him away, but the anesthesia had already claimed me. My limbs were leaden, my mind slipping into the abyss.
A cold scalpel traced my skin. Blood swirled in the basin, over and over, until the last frozen shards of my heart shattered.
When I woke, Kevin's face was the first thing I saw—too close, his bloodshot eyes brimming with anguish.
"Ria! You're awake!" His voice cracked, tears glistening. "If anything had happened to you, I—I wouldn't have been able to live with myself!"
He struck his own face, hard. "This is my fault! I made too many enemies, and you paid the price. Someone bribed the doctor to—" His breath hitched. "They made you swallow acid. They cut you open. But thank God… you're still here."
His sobs were raw as he buried his face against my neck, his tears soaking into the thin hospital gown. Every word dripped with concern—but none of it was for me.
I never thought Kevin—the man who wore his disdain like a second skin—could act so convincingly. But then again, he'd do anything for Valentina.
A searing pain ripped through me, my body convulsing.
"Ria! Stay with me!" Panic flashed across his face. He didn't even pause to grab his fallen shoes before sprinting for the door.
The phone on the bedside table buzzed—his phone. The lock screen still showed us, frozen in a lie.
The passcode? My birthday. Or maybe hers.
Unread messages flooded the screen—all from Valentina.
[Kev, Damian hit me again. It hurts… When are you coming to save me?]
[I wish I were my sister. She had you. Had everything. Me? I was stolen once, and now I'm trapped in hell.]
[If I could trade places with her…]
[Oh no—wrong number!]
The messages vanished—retracted.
I tapped Switch Account.
A profile flashed up: [Only Love Tina.]
At the top of his chats—Valentina, pinned. Below it, a group: [One Big Happy Family.]
No grand declarations of love in their private messages. Just quiet devotion in every transfer on Valentine's Day, every good morning, every whispered update.
The group chat? 99+ unread.
My parents. Kevin. Valentina.
Our birthday was in ten days.
Hers, they meant.
Ever since Valentina came back, mine had been erased.
"Tina was taken on her birthday," Mom and Dad had said. "Celebrating too much might hurt her."
Every year, without fail, Kevin would vanish on my day—some urgent business—leaving me with a supermarket cupcake and a single candle.
I'd told myself it didn't matter.
But now I knew the truth.
They didn't protect her feelings.
They just wanted me gone—so they could give her everything.
Kevin leaned in, his lips brushing mine in a mockery of tenderness. "Sleep now. It'll all be over soon."
The scent of pine—once comforting—now choked me, thick and suffocating. I tried to fight, to push him away, but the anesthesia had already claimed me. My limbs were leaden, my mind slipping into the abyss.
A cold scalpel traced my skin. Blood swirled in the basin, over and over, until the last frozen shards of my heart shattered.
When I woke, Kevin's face was the first thing I saw—too close, his bloodshot eyes brimming with anguish.
"Ria! You're awake!" His voice cracked, tears glistening. "If anything had happened to you, I—I wouldn't have been able to live with myself!"
He struck his own face, hard. "This is my fault! I made too many enemies, and you paid the price. Someone bribed the doctor to—" His breath hitched. "They made you swallow acid. They cut you open. But thank God… you're still here."
His sobs were raw as he buried his face against my neck, his tears soaking into the thin hospital gown. Every word dripped with concern—but none of it was for me.
I never thought Kevin—the man who wore his disdain like a second skin—could act so convincingly. But then again, he'd do anything for Valentina.
A searing pain ripped through me, my body convulsing.
"Ria! Stay with me!" Panic flashed across his face. He didn't even pause to grab his fallen shoes before sprinting for the door.
The phone on the bedside table buzzed—his phone. The lock screen still showed us, frozen in a lie.
The passcode? My birthday. Or maybe hers.
Unread messages flooded the screen—all from Valentina.
[Kev, Damian hit me again. It hurts… When are you coming to save me?]
[I wish I were my sister. She had you. Had everything. Me? I was stolen once, and now I'm trapped in hell.]
[If I could trade places with her…]
[Oh no—wrong number!]
The messages vanished—retracted.
I tapped Switch Account.
A profile flashed up: [Only Love Tina.]
At the top of his chats—Valentina, pinned. Below it, a group: [One Big Happy Family.]
No grand declarations of love in their private messages. Just quiet devotion in every transfer on Valentine's Day, every good morning, every whispered update.
The group chat? 99+ unread.
My parents. Kevin. Valentina.
Our birthday was in ten days.
Hers, they meant.
Ever since Valentina came back, mine had been erased.
"Tina was taken on her birthday," Mom and Dad had said. "Celebrating too much might hurt her."
Every year, without fail, Kevin would vanish on my day—some urgent business—leaving me with a supermarket cupcake and a single candle.
I'd told myself it didn't matter.
But now I knew the truth.
They didn't protect her feelings.
They just wanted me gone—so they could give her everything.
End of I Was the Decoy Twin Chapter 2. Continue reading Chapter 3 or return to I Was the Decoy Twin book page.