While the "real" Mrs. Colburn was being cornered by a persistent ex-lover upstairs, downstairs was in a state of quiet shock.
Reyna stood before the security barrier, her face flushed with a mixture of heat and rage. She tapped furiously on her phone screen, her expression darkening with every failed call.
"That man is truly tired of living. The moment I step upstairs, I'm going to end your father's life."
The two toddlers beside her didn't look up; they were too busy with their melting ice cream, oblivious to their mother's boiling temper. Reyna tried the number again. Still no response.
She had been standing there for twenty minutes, treated like a commoner because her "baby daddy" refused to pick up his damn call.
And because she didn't have the employee keychain.
Reyna's temper finally snapped when the signal bars on her phone vanished completely.
She needed something to take her anger on. "Ugh, these damn shades!" she hissed.
In a fit of pique, she grabbed the expensive glasses sliding down her nose and hurled them to the marble floor.
Crunch!
Reyna pushed her hair back, her eyes flashing with a predatory light that mirrored Brianna's "executioner" gaze.
The security guard, who had been ready to call for backup to remove this "troublemaker," suddenly turned pale.
He looked at the face—without his glasses, this face was the exact face of the powerful woman who hosted his new favorite show. His knees nearly gave way.
"Oh, my goodness. I am so sorry, Dr. Colburn, for leaving you standing!"
Reyna, whose hands were still mid-air from tossing her hair back, paused. She looked dumbfoundedly at the guard, who was now bowing so low he was practically folded in half.
The "troublemaker" he was about to kick out had suddenly become the one person who could end his career with a glare.
"Dr. Colburn?" Reyna repeated the name with a scowl appearing on her face.
The irritation that had been simmering for twenty minutes transformed. If this man wanted to treat her like her "perfect" sister, she wasn't going to waste the opportunity. She stepped over the shattered remains of her sunglasses, the toddlers trailing behind her like a tiny, ice-cream-covered entourage.
Narrowing her eyes, she hissed. "You've kept me standing here for twenty minutes. Does the my doctorate title mean so little to this company now?"
"N-no! Of course not! I didn't know you were the one... Someone like you doesn't need key chains to enter!" The guard scrambled to hit the manual override for the security gate. The barrier swung open with a submissive click. "Please, go right up! I'll have someone clear the elevator immediately!"
Reyna didn't thank him. She marched into the balcony, oblivious the stares and murmurs, then toward the gold-plated elevators, her mind set on finding her children's father.
...
Rochelle stood frozen in the hallway, making her tablet slip an inch from her grip. Her eyes moved from the office door to the woman marching toward her.
It was a nightmare of geometry—two versions of the same face. But as the second woman drew closer, the illusion flickered.
This version was like a low budget lookalike of the original, her aura lacked the "Goddess" polish, and she was dragging two sticky children like burdens.
Reyna didn't even give Rochelle a glance. She stopped in front of the office of her children's father. She raised her hand to knock but was stopped by the voices leaking through the heavy oak door.
"What—What did you just say, Mike?"
"I said I love you. I've always loved you."
Reyna didn't need to strain her ear, that voice belonged to the father of her children. Confessing his love to some other?
"Even when you left me for that man you married."
"Left you? You literally cheated with my twin sister!"
'Is that... Brianna?' Reyna's fingers balled into fists by her side.
"I thought that was you! I was drunk and she looked like you. You need to understand I don't care about her. It's always been you, Bri."
Reyna's world tilted. Her nails bit into her palms, drawing blood. That stupid bastard; humiliating her like this! The rage burned through her veins like acid.
After all she had done. Her only crime was loving her sister's rich boyfriend.
She remembered that one night in college, the way she had desperately drugged him just to feel his touch.
Bobbie had told her to to use any means necessary to capture a man of wealth and status. But the reality was a bitter pill for Reyna to swallow.
In this city, no one truly looked at her. Every man who spared her a glance was nothing more than Brianna's leftovers.
Except for Mike.
Because Mike was kind to her, Reyna had convinced herself of a beautiful delusion: he was a soul created specifically for her by the heavens!
It didn't matter that he had yet to realize this "truth," nor did it matter that he was still holding her sister's hand. In Reyna's twisted heart, he was her destiny; stolen by a sister who already had everything.
She knew she couldn't win him with grace or intellect.
Therefore, Reyna's only ticket was to get pregnant.
She had used the "fake" pregnancy to blackmail Brianna, forcing her sister to abandon the only man she ever loved. She had lived in the shadows of Brianna's life, waiting for Mike to finally see her.
And when she eventually got pregnant, she had hoped Mike would marry her.
Even when Mike's children had died in that cold hospital room. Reyna knew he'd abandon her that day, but she couldn't afford to lose him. Not when he hadn't put a diamond ring on her finger!
They didn't have enough money to bribe the doctors, so her mother had done the unthinkable—offering her body as a prize for the doctors to switch the corpses with Brianna's healthy newborns.
All of it, just so Reyna could have a claim on Mike. And yet, here he was, confessing that she was nothing more than a drunken mistake.
He loved her! Why was he now lying to Brianna?!
The heat in Reyna's chest exploded. She raised her hand, ready to bulldoze the door and tear the truth out of his throat, but the wood vanished before her fist could connect.
The door swung inward.
Standing in the doorway was Brianna.