Shadows Never Lie (Shadow Duet #1)

Prologue - Ryan

PRESENT DAY

Everything was going according to plan.

Liquor was flowing freely, laughter and cigar smoke filling the air. Poker was the name of the game, but that wasn’t the true game at play here.

No. That game was life, and I was fucking winning it.

I sat back in my chair and surveyed the scene with a smirk. No longer was I the skinny, nerdy kid on the council estate, existing in his twin’s shadow. I wasn’t taunted. Pushed around. Bullied. I didn’t cower from anyone or anything.

I’d left that life far behind. Along with him .

His ghost no longer haunted me. Tonight was proof of that.

My career was flying. Just last month, I’d been named the youngest partner in my firm’s history. My brains had got me there, along with my tenacity. My refusal to ever quit.

And who do you have to thank for that?

I shoved that away. He wasn’t here. He no longer existed for me.

He hadn’t for a long time.

My skinny physique had been replaced with muscles honed by a daily routine I never deviated from. Up. Gym. Shower. Protein shake. Work. Gym. Shower. Home.

It wasn’t that I didn’t have a life outside of that. The evidence of that was all around me. But I didn’t break from the routine. I couldn’t. It was all that had pulled me out of that dark place.

I wouldn’t go back there. I couldn’t.

One of my friends, Tom, got to his feet. He swayed, beer spilling from his pint glass as the rest of the table cheered. I grinned as he brushed it off, barely seeming to notice. “Let’s have a toast to the man of the hour. To Ryan.”

“To Ryan!” the tables roared. Not just ours, but the four others in the room. More proof that I could make friends on my own. That I could live a full and happy life.

I didn’t need him.

I never fucking did.

“Speech,” Tom slurred, spilling yet more of his drink. “Let’s hear from the groom to be.”

The old fear whispered in my ear as every eye turned to me, but it was easy to ignore. The mask of confidence was one I’d donned so often it was practically an old friend. “Nah, nobody wants to hear me drone on.”

The cacophony of noise that followed had my grin spreading wider. They were cheering for me. Encouraging me.

Because they liked me. Me. Ryan Davies.

Fine. It wasn’t the version of myself I’d once been, but who gave a fuck? The old me had died a long time ago. His coffin was buried six feet under and that was where it could fucking stay. Every dream that fool had once had was locked away there too. The life he’d thought he’d lead.

He’d been a naive kid. I wasn’t him anymore.

This, this right here, was the plan. To transform myself into someone new. Someone who could rise to the top. Who was surrounded by people who wanted hiscompany.

To marry the most beautiful person he could find.

Tick. Tick. Tick. I’d checked off each of my life goals with the cold precision he’d taught me. To spite him.

‘You can’t be happy without me.’

‘Fucking watch me.’

The likelihood of him finding out what I’d achieved was slim, but not non-existent. We had connections. I fucking hated that we did, but our pasts were too intertwined. Our roots couldn’t be untangled, despite what either of us might want.

But the chances of him caring? Yeah, those are extremely fucking low.

It didn’t matter. He hadn’t broken me.

And that was enough.

I got to my feet, taking my whisky with me. Even my drinks were different now. No wine for me.

I’d made sure to change everything he’d ever claimed to love about me.

Love.

He always was a good liar.

I pushed a hand through my thick, dark hair, trying to hide my frustration. I’d spent so long not thinking of him, why was he popping up so much tonight? Right before I finally got everything I’d ever wanted? Everything I deserved?

You know why.

A grim chill went through me, but I ignored it. Those words had been said long ago, during a fight I suspected we both wanted to forget.

That was assuming he remembered me at all. I doubted I’d had the same impact on him, despite what he’d said during that final heated argument.

It had all been a game to him. I’d been a replacement for what he truly wanted but couldn’t have.

It didn’t matter what he’d said. It didn’t change anything. He’d still left me. I might’ve been the first to walk away, but it had been him who’d made it permanent.

I forced the thoughts of him away once and for all, replacing them with Kate. Kind, beautiful, smart Kate.

The woman who, in six weeks, would be my wife.

Our romance had been a whirlwind. I’d met her in a coffee shop when we both reached for the last blueberry muffin. I hadn’t even known why I’d gone for that—it had been years since I’d eaten one.

Maybe it had been the date. Maybe it’d been the text from Max, my twin. I rarely heard from him, but perhaps he’d seen the calendar too. Maybe he remembered what this day meant. The part he’d played. The pain that had followed.

The decade of near silence between us since.

Maybe it had been the pouring rain that had me ducking into the coffee shop on the way to the gym. Or maybe it was just a combination of everything. Enough reminders of days long past that had the old version of myself surfacing, breaking free from the dirt for a few seconds.

Just long enough for my hand to brush against another’s.

Blonde hair. Shy blue eyes. Lithe, petite body.

Kate was his opposite in every conceivable way. Which meant she was perfect. Exactly what I wanted.

She’d smiled at me and I’d known I had to make her mine. It wasn’t enough to get my long-dead heart beating again, but nothing was.

I pursued her just as I had everything else over the past decade—relentlessly. Her sunshine and optimism promised to melt the ice I’d been encased in for so long.

I was selfish enough to want it. I’d been cold for years.

I was desperate to burn again.

It hadn’t happened yet, but it would. I was sure of it.

Sure enough to have bought a ring. To have dropped to one knee and asked her to ignore the speed at which we were moving and take a chance on me.

Naturally, she accepted. I didn’t think Kate was capable of doing anything that might disappoint someone, especially me.

That night I’d hit a bar and got drunker than ever before. Well, that wasn’t true. There’d been a time, after that fateful night when…

Don’t.

I didn’t let myself go there. Ever. Not when I knew the danger that lurked, threatening to drag me back into the darkness again.

“Thank you all for coming.” I gestured around the room. “Although I’m sure some of you fuckers weren’t on the guest list. Yes, you, Aiden. Don’t think I can’t see you hiding at the back.”

Aiden cupped a hand around his mouth as he hollered back at me. “Don’t be salty just because I always beat you at pool.”

“You always cheat at pool.” My words were echoed around the room before we all dissolved into laughter at the inside joke. My chest swelled at that. I had inside jokes now. Friends. Money. A fiancée.

And I’d done it all on my own.

“Seriously though”—I raised my glass until the noise died down—“I appreciate you all coming at short notice. I’m sure, having met Kate, you can understand why I was keen to lock her down as fast as possible.”

Several people catcalled around the room as I flushed with pride.

Then, something strange happened. It was almost as though I stepped outside of my body, looking at that twat who was speaking, puffed up with his own importance.

Locked down? Who the fuck speaks like that?

I slammed back into myself and shook it off. This was who I was now. I was the one people looked to. The one people expected to land a beautiful woman like Kate.

That was me. Consistently exceeding expectations.

I’d done the same as a kid, but it hadn’t brought me happiness. Not that I was happy now, but I was close. So close I could almost taste it.

This final step would do it. I was certain.

“Everyone who is important to me is in this room,” I continued. Well, almost everyone. Xander hadn’t been able to get leave so close to his end date, but at least he’d make the wedding. “And I can’t thank you all enough for?—”

The door to my left swung open, and a cold wind swirled around me. I paused mid-sentence, frowning in the direction of the interruption. Who was coming in? Everyone I’d been expecting was already here.

“Everyone important?” A voice once identical to my own rang out. Where I’d worked hard to lose the accent of my youth, the same couldn’t be said of my twin. “Now that’s low, Ryan.”

He stepped forwards into the dim lights of the room. My eyes ran over him as I felt him do the same to me. It was funny, it had been a long time since we’d shared that mythical bond everyone spoke about.

But right now, I knew exactly what he was thinking. He was clocking every inch of me that had changed. The biceps that rivalled his own. The sleek shirt and designer trousers I wore. The amber liquid in the cut crystal that was clasped in my hand.

I raised my glass to him mockingly, acknowledging what he was realising. Yeah, I’d changed. Wasn’t like he’d know given he’d fucked off right around when my life had gone to shit. The years had made Max broader too, his hair lighter than mine, probably thanks to all those days under the desert sun.

Heads swivelled between us in confusion. Identical twins weren’t uncommon, but I guessed it was unexpected for all of them given I’d never mentioned a sibling.

It wasn’t that I hated Max.

Sure about that?

No. I didn’t. I hated the role he’d played, but I didn’t hate him. I couldn’t. That didn’t mean I could tolerate his presence in my life though. He’d made his bed a decade ago, the same as I had.

There was no changing it for either of us.

Aware of the many eyes on me, I didn’t let my smile waver. “Max. Didn’t even realise you were in the country.”

He pursed his lips. “Couldn’t miss my little brother’s stag do.”

I laughed, the sound brittle and foreign. “Forgive me, everyone. Please meet my twin, Max. Despite what he says, I don’t think the three minutes age difference really amounts to much.”