Chapter 1

I took the fall for someone else and did five years. The day I got out, my wife, Emily Lane, came to pick me up. She looked thinner and worn out, but I was just happy she was still waiting for me.

That was until a little boy ran out from behind her and hid timidly behind her leg. The kid couldn't have been more than four. My blood turned cold on the spot.

"Emily, who is he?"

My voice was shaking.

Emily crouched down and patted the boy's head. "His name is Lucas. He's our son," she said calmly.

I was so mad I almost laughed. "I was locked up for five years, and he's only four. And you're telling me he's my son?"

I thought she'd cry, explain herself, maybe even apologize. But she didn't. She just looked at me with a pitying gaze I'd never seen from her before.

"Because the one I personally sent away five years ago was your twin brother."

"And you were the one who really hit someone and ran."

My name is Michael Carter. At least, that's the name Emily told me.

I stared at her, trying to find even the tiniest sign that she was lying. There wasn't one. Her eyes were terrifyingly calm, like still, lifeless water.

"Get in."

She pulled open the car door and lifted the child inside.

I stood there frozen. My mind went totally blank. A twin brother? Since when did I have a twin brother?

All I knew was that my name was Matthew Carter, and I had taken the blame for my younger brother, Michael Carter. But she was saying I was the real Michael.

Behind me, the prison gate slowly shut with a heavy clang. Five years. Every single day and night in there, I survived by thinking of Emily and feeling guilty toward my brother.

Now it all felt like a sick joke.

Emily leaned out the car window.

"If you're not getting in, do you want to go back inside?"

There wasn't a trace of warmth in her voice.

I pulled the door open and got in. The car smelled unfamiliar, soft perfume mixed with milk. The child named Lucas was staring at me with wide, curious eyes.

Those eyes looked exactly like mine when I was little. My heart clenched hard.

The car started up and drove smoothly away from the place I'd spent the last five years. No one said a word on the way.

I watched the city blur past the window and felt like an intruder. This wasn't the world I knew.

The car stopped in front of an upscale apartment building.

"We're here."

Emily unbuckled her seat belt and picked up the sleeping child.

I followed her into the elevator. Three people reflected in the mirrored wall: a worn-out woman, a sleeping child, and a man in shabby old clothes that didn't fit.

That man was me. And yet he felt like a stranger.

When the elevator doors opened, there was a keypad lock at the entrance.

Emily entered the code, and the door opened.

The apartment was big and tastefully decorated. A family portrait hung on the living room wall. In the photo, Emily was smiling sweetly.

A man stood beside her in a sharp suit, looking confident and full of life. He was holding Lucas in his arms. That man looked exactly like me.

But I knew it wasn't me. I didn't have eyes like that, so confident, so... in control.

Emily carried the child into the bedroom and came back out.

She handed me a glass of water.

"That's Matthew, your brother."

I didn't take the glass.

"I am Matthew," I said, one word at a time.

Emily looked at me, the pity in her eyes growing even deeper.

"Michael, you're sick."

"Five years ago, you hit someone with your car and fled."

"Your brother chose to take the fall for you."

"And because the shock was too much, your memory got messed up."

"You've always believed you were the older brother who took the blame for his younger brother."

Her voice was soft, but every word hit my chest like a hammer.

I looked at the photo on the wall. The man in it was smiling. I wanted to laugh too. But I couldn't.