Crowned by Fate (Crowned 2)

“Oh, is that right?” Bryant says calmly while unbuttoning the first couple buttons of his shirt.

“Yep! And, there was also the part where they tried to get Isa into their car and used harming Harper as a way to make that happen—” Devon’s words were cut short by the sound of bone cracking. Blood splatters over the side of my face as Bryant relentlessly lays into Max.

“Bryant!” I yell, tapping his shoulder. “Get off, we need to get answers.”

He doesn’t stop punching, and when I turn to Devon for help, he merely shrugs and grins.

“Bryant!” I growl. “Now! Get off!” Bryant’s fist stops midair before he slowly climbs off him, swiping his mouth with the back of his bloody hand.

When they’re both at a distance from each other, Max spits to the ground and looks up at me from swollen eyes.

“Devon?”

“Hmmm?” he answers.

“Is the area secure?”

“No one is watching, baby girl.”

I bring my eyes to Pearl, who to her credit, doesn’t look fazed. “Who are you?”

“I’m your twin sister that wasn’t good enough.”

“Not good enough for what? Abuse?”

Pearl tsked, bending down and helping Max to his feet. “You got a shot at life, Isa.”

“Again, are you fucking joking? My life? I would have chosen your life over mine!”

“You know nothing about my life,” Pearl answers, her eyelashes fanning out over her cheeks. “Who do you think he was testing on before you, Isa?”

“What do you mean?” I say, stepping forward. Bryant’s hand flies to my palm, stopping me from going any farther. “What do you mean?” I repeat.

“Isa…” a voice I haven’t heard in a long time cries out from the city car. My head turns, and before Bryant can stop me, I launch forward, searching inside.

It’s empty.

“Isa, is that you?” the voice asks again.

“Am I going fucking crazy again?” I say under my breath.

“Let me out!” she screams, and I quickly fly out of the back seat, rounding the trunk. I point. “Fucking open it, Max!”

Max steps backward, arms up as he slowly leans down into the car and pulls on the lever. The trunk pops open and I throw it up, gasping.

“Oh my god!” Tears well in my eyes. “Brianna?”

Brianna’s eyes fly between all of us, her hands tied behind her back. “Help me.”

After the initial shock of her being tied up, I help her out of the trunk and turn my gaze on Max. “Tell me now.”

Max shakes his head as Devon ducks behind Brianna and helps with her ties. “I have to admit, knowing that you killed Peter is satisfying, considering you thought you killed him because you assumed he was your only threat.”

“Why?” I tilt my head, rummaging through all of the memories and words inside my head to construct the right ones that I want to spew out. But there’s nothing. Nothing that I feel will hold enough force to annihilate him once and for all. At least not right now.

Max staggers backward, half of his face swollen already. He leans against the city car. “Simple. Rewrite life…”

My eyebrows cross.

Pearl falls beside Max until they’re side-by-side. “We were going to replace you with me. Max was supposed to kill you in the cabin, and then I was going to take your place.”

“But what happened?” I ask, my eyes narrowed. “Why the sudden change of fucking heart?”

“Well,” Max says, swiping the blood residue off his chin. “We knew that Bryant would pick up something was off with Pearl, so we were trying to figure out another plan. For as long as Bryant and Devon were around, there was no way we could have convinced everyone she was Isa.”

I throw my hands up. “I don’t understand! Why would my parents get rid of you?” I snap to Pearl.

“One parent,” a voice said from somewhere in the shadows. It wasn’t one I recognized. Not off the bat anyway. When I zoned into the shadows in the corner and saw a woman step out, my brain short-circuited.

I recognized her instantly, as if every motherly bone in her body was still connected to mine.

“You died,” was all I could say. After years and years of not seeing her, that was the first thing I could say.

“What?” Brianna screeches from beside me, her hand coming to mine. It was almost a protective gesture that warmed a side of my heart that hadn’t been touched by Brianna before. Ever the cold older sister.

“Daddy dearest was going to lose everything he had and it would have all been because of me, but you had to take that from me too.”

“But you didn’t exist…” I say, pointing to Pearl. I look to Brianna for backup. “Did she?” Brianna was a couple years older than me, but I’m sure she would remember something. Anything.

Brianna shakes her head, her short blonde hair skating over her slender shoulders. “No. I don’t remember.”