Chapter 2

2: 2

2

The housekeeper wouldn't tell me anything.

But one thing I was sure of.

There really was a Percy Henson in the Henson family.

That night Ezra came back, saw how bad I looked, and for once asked how I was.

I worked up the nerve and caught hold of him.

"Tonight, could you sleep in the bedroom?"

Ezra frowned and said nothing.

I rushed to explain, "I had a nightmare last night. I'm scared alone."

After a long pause, Ezra nodded.

That night, he slept beside me.

The whole time he lay with his back to me, deliberately keeping his distance.

In the middle of the night, someone was playing with my hair.

I opened my heavy eyes, and by the moonlight I saw that face clearly.

"Ezra, what's wrong?"

His hand went still, and something displeased flickered in his eyes.

"Edie, don't say that name in front of me. I don't like it."

I was wide awake in an instant.

That look, that tone.

It was Percy!

But Ezra was right beside me! How could he still dare to come?

I turned to look at the space beside me, and there was no sign of Ezra.

Panic hit me. "Where's Ezra? Where did he go?"

Percy's eyes cooled a few degrees. He lifted a hand and gripped my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze.

"Edie, you're mine alone. You're not allowed to think about him!"

The words fell, and he bent down and kissed me.

The motion was gentle, and yet there was a domineering edge that left no room to refuse.

Every struggle I made came to nothing.

Somewhere in the middle of it, I asked him through gritted teeth, my eyes red.

"What exactly are you and Ezra to each other?"

The corner of his mouth curved. "I'm his brother."

As he spoke, he pressed a piece of cold metal into my hand.

"Edie, I'll be waiting for you in the locked room."

After Percy left, I couldn't fall back asleep at all.

I glanced at the time. Four in the morning.

Percy had left my whole body sore and weak.

Ignoring the discomfort, I clutched the key he'd left me.

Quietly, I made my way toward the locked room at the far end of the villa, the room everyone avoided.

Before I married into the Henson family, I'd been warned to stay away from it.

But to find out who exactly shared my bed each night, taking the risk was all I could do.

I opened the door of the locked room.

Inside, it wasn't the mess I'd expected.

Everything was clean and neat, the desk without a speck of dust. Someone clearly cleaned it often.

I called out softly, "Percy."

The only answer was dead silence.

The bookshelf ahead was crowded with trophies and certificates.

Beside it, two school uniforms hung in a neat row.

A photo frame lay face down on the desk.

I walked over and turned it up.

Inside were two boys with identical faces, both around twelve or thirteen, still in that raw, unfinished stage of youth.

Ezra and Percy?

They were twins.

As I came out of the locked room, passing the study, the door suddenly opened from the inside.

It startled me.

Ezra glanced at the far end of the hallway behind me.

He asked in a low voice, "Where have you been?"

I swallowed nervously. "I couldn't sleep. I was just walking around."

He said flatly, "Don't go over there again."

I nodded, then asked, "Why are you in the study?"

He explained, "Once you fell asleep, I came back here to rest."

Something sank in my chest.

Ezra didn't love me, and he wouldn't touch me.

He couldn't possibly be that other man, the one whose eyes and heart were full of nothing but me, who wanted to fold me into his own body.