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I tried to walk past her to my house, keeping my eyes forward, ignoring her, but Sophie had never been one to be ignored.

“Sam!” She called out, shifting the carrier to her hip. “Please, just give me five minutes.”

I kept walking.

“Samantha, I’m your sister. We need each other.”

That stopped me. I turned slowly, taking in the whole picture. She’d styled herself perfectly for this ambush. Hair slightly messy but still pretty. Designer jeans with a small stain near the pocket, probably placed there on purpose. Just enough makeup to look “naturally” exhausted. The dark circles under her eyes could’ve been real or concealer artfully applied. With Sophie, you never knew. The martyred single mother, bravely seeking reconciliation with her estranged twin. Cue the violins.

The twin thing hit hard though, seeing my own face staring back at me, but the differences were brutal now. Where I’d lost weight from stress and too many skipped meals, she’d kept her curves. Where I’d let my natural waves flow around my face, hers still fell in a perfect, straight auburn shade. We were mirrors of each other, except one mirror was holding living proof of why we’d shattered.

The baby. I made myself look at him. Barely a month old, maybe, and the resemblance hit me again so hard I almost staggered. Even the shape of his chin, weak and round, was pure Cain genetics.

Joel’s baby, that was what everyone had believed. Joel, who had dark hair and brown eyes and a strong jaw. My stomach turned.

“We needed each other two years ago,” I said, voice flat. “And you were in my husband’s bed.”

Her eyes filled with tears on cue. Impressive. She could probably teach a masterclass. “Sam, please. I know I hurt you, but we’re sisters. Twins. We shared a womb. That has to count for something.”

“It counted for a lot. Right up until you rode him at my wedding reception.”

“I never meant for it to happen!”

“Right. You just accidentally fell on his dick. Repeatedly, for two years.” I laughed without any humor. “You must be the clumsiest woman on Earth, Sophie.”

“No, it wasn’t two years! It was… it started as just…” She caught herself, realized she was about to admit to a timeline that proved calculation, not impulse. “It doesn’t matter how long. What matters is that I’m here now. I’m trying to make things right.”

“Does it really matter? You drove seven hours with a newborn to make things right, or did you drive seven hours because Joel probably kicked your sorry ass out and Mom won’t stop crying and you’re running out of people to manipulate?”

The tears dried up fast. Her expression shifted, calculating, and then she focused her attention to the house next to mine.

“Who was that man?” she asked, voice changing from plaintive to sharp.

I froze.

“The one you kissed.” A smile played at her lips now, the predator surfacing beneath the wounded-doe act. “You’re not as heartbroken as you want everyone to believe, are you?”

Red hazed my vision. “Leave.”

“So this is why you left. Not because your heart was broken. Because you already had someone waiting for you.”

“Are you seriously accusing me of being the cheater?” The words came out loud enough to echo off the trees. Garrett had said something similar. They were truly a fated match. Made in hell. “You fucked my husband, got pregnant with his baby, and you’re standing in my driveway trying to flip this on me?!”

“I’m just saying, you moved on pretty quickly for someone so devastated…”

“Get off my property.”

She tilted her head, studying me with those eyes that matched mine but held none of the warmth we’d once shared. Her hand moved to the baby’s head, a deliberate gesture, reminding me of his existence. Of everything she’d taken.

“I’m not leaving Cedarbrook,” she said, her voice shifting to that sweet, reasonable tone she used when she wanted something. “I checked into the inn downtown. We need to talk about Mom, Sam. She’s really sick. And she’s asking for both of us.”

“We don’t need to talk about anything.”

“She misses you.”

“She knew about the affair and let me walk down the aisle. She can miss me all she wants.”

Sophie flinched at that. Good. At least she had the decency to react to one truth.