Page 116 of Poison Vows

“Well,” I start, but my voice comes out rough and low, so I clear it. “If Alessio is who I’m guessing, then you’re wrong. We’re not at all close. If we were, he would’ve told me such vital information.”

Hell, I didn’t even know Alessio is his other name until now.

Grandpa Armando laughs, this time, it’s hearty and amused.

“The last time I heard that tone of passionate resentment was when I forgot my beloved wife’s birthday,” he says with a huge smile on his face that I never thought he could be capable of. “She didn’t speak to me for a month! Can you believe it? When she finally did, it was to bludgeon my heart with passive indifference! Ah, what a woman!”

The joy in his eyes as he says that…

“Ah, speaking of which, happy birthday, Ivy Marie.”

“Uh, it’s not my birthday,” I mutter, feeling even more confused.

Grandpa Armando watches me for what feels like an eternity, then he slowly shakes his head.

“I don’t understand,” he starts seriously. “Why did your beautiful grandmother, in all her wisdom and intellect, play into her daughter’s stupid lie about you?”

Confused, I tilt my head to the left, trying to think. “What lie?”

The fact that Beverly is something else is not news to me… All this time Grammy has believed her daughter to be dead.

“Let me guess, the overprotective people in your life made you believe you’re younger than you actually are, haven’tthey?” Grandpa Armando says with obvious pity in his voice. “They used that amnesia of yours to their advantage, shaped a narrative that you so easily ran with. What a pity.”

“I-I’m sorry?” I stutter. “What are you talking about?”

Grandpa Armando only shakes his head.

“How could a smart girl like you with such sharp survival instincts believe such a watery lie about having a twin sister? Ivy Mare, I’m quite disappointed.”

I start trembling with anxiety and dread.

“Are you saying Melissa is not my twin?” I whisper hoarsely.

“Come on now, I’m sure you must’ve already suspected it,” the old nan says dryly. “Just because you look similar does not mean you’re the same age. As an aspiring doctor, you should know that.”

Like a statue, I sit there with an unfamiliar feeling gripping my heart harshly.

“But seriously, my grandson didn’t tell you about that either? Alessio obviously knew about that too,” he says casually, but I can see the seriousness blended with the glee in his eyes.

He’s not lying. This isn’t a joke.

Melissa really isn’t my twin sister. Beverly has been lying all this time… and I believed it.

And Emmett knew everything all along…

“I mean, just hiding you and scaring you off a path of destruction didn’t work, did it?” Emmett’s grandfather presses on, slashing my wounds wide open without care. “Why wasn’t he honest with you? Is it because you’ve been lying to him all along too?”

Like a bolt from the blue, I’m struck in my vital organs without a defense.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lie. “If anything, he’s obviously the one who’s been lying to me, if what you say is true.”

“Is there a benefit in me lying to you, Ivy Marie?”

The distance between us is so close that I can see the pleased smile hidden in the old man’s eyes, a replica of how he looked that night a long time ago.

“In any case, it really is your twenty-seventh birthday today! And in case you’re debating it in your head, I intentionally allowed the delay for two weeks because I want you to remember your real birthday forever! Isn’t that nice?”

Like an idiot strung up on LSD, I stare at the man in front of me, not seeing him at all.

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