Chapter Three
CHAPTER THREE
Zachary
M ark Walker strolled into the convention room, drink in hand, his crooked smile making it obvious he wasn’t taking any of this seriously. I watched him closely, waiting for a sign—some flicker of recognition that his life was about to change. But he was completely unaware, just another man at a ridiculous event, smiling like this was all a joke. Maybe for him, it was. For me, it was the moment I had spent months preparing for.
Thane and I had discovered each other by accident. But our separation hadn’t been chance—it had been orchestrated, a twisted experiment by a man who believed he could shape nature itself. Simmons had played God, separating identical twins and raising them in vastly different environments, all to prove a twisted theory. Mark and Dylan were part of that same experiment. They just didn’t know it yet.
“Zachary,” Charlotte said softly beside me, slipping her arm through mine. We’d arrived early and chosen a spot where we could see most of the room but remain out of the bustle. Unfortunately, it had given me time to reconsider if organizing this event had been a mistake. “What are you thinking?”
“I didn’t expect him to be so...” I gestured vaguely toward Mark as he stopped to read a sign posted on one of the tables.
“Happy?” Charlotte finished for me.
“Yeah.”
She leaned closer, her voice low and warm. “Isn’t that a good thing?”
I put an arm around her and breathed in her scent. There was a time when I couldn’t imagine loving anyone. Remembering how close I came to ruining my chance of being with Charlotte, my voice thickened with emotion. “The only thing that gives me faith that this might work out is that you agreed to the plan.”
Rising onto her tiptoes, she kissed me briefly, her rounded stomach testing my conviction that waiting wouldn’t have been a better option. I’d debated the merit of pausing everything until after the baby arrived. The problem with putting off an action is there is always a reason to put it off again.
If not involving Charlotte had been an option, I would have chosen that, but she was an all-or-nothing, ride-or-die partner—and honestly, I wouldn’t want any other kind. But if I felt protective of her now, how would I feel after the baby was born?
She slid back beneath my arm and hugged me. “Simmons manipulated their lives—ours too. Without our help, they might never meet.”
I kissed the top of her head, then shifted my attention back to Mark. His life was about to change in a way no one could prepare for. “Is this a mistake?”
Charlotte stayed quiet for a moment, studying my expression. When she finally spoke, her tone was measured and thoughtful. “What part?”
“All of it.” I exhaled sharply. I had never been good at talking about my feelings, but there was no one I trusted more than Charlotte. “Dragging them here, pretending this was just a coincidence. I should have just called one or both and explained their situation to them.”
Charlotte and I had gone back and forth about this for weeks. Was it better to let them discover the truth organically, or to force them to see it? One involved less risk for us but allowed for a possibility that was unacceptable to me: that they might never connect. Thane and Jesse were too cautious when it came to getting involved. Scott—always the optimist—would have agreed with our decision to reach out to separated twins, but bringing him in meant bringing in the others too.
Learning I was part of an experiment had nearly destroyed me. So, why was I willing to pay that pain forward? Because, no matter how confusing the truth was in the beginning, it brought me to a better place. These men had a right to know they weren’t alone.
“You don’t know how much of the truth they’re ready for,” Charlotte said gently.
“How could anyone be ready?” I muttered. “Simmons played God with our lives.” Charlotte gave me a look so full of love and understanding that it humbled me to the core. “The truth matters,” she said. “Even when it’s ugly. You’re not doing this to hurt them, Zachary. Your reasoning is sound. You’re giving them the one thing Simmons never did—a choice.”
“My brothers wouldn’t agree,” I muttered between clenched teeth.
“That’s why we didn’t tell them.” She laid a hand on my chest. “They don’t want to know more than they do, and that’s okay. They have enough information to make that decision. These men deserve the same chance.”
My thoughts held me silent for a moment as Mark scanned the room. He smiled again and exchanged polite nods with staff members. He appeared so... normal. Like someone who didn’t have the weight of a twisted experiment hanging over his head. Could I get him out of there before he met Dylan DeVoss? Should I?
Charlotte tilted her head, her gaze following mine. “Should we introduce ourselves?”
I rubbed a hand over the back of my neck. “We might not have to. At least, not yet. Let’s see what happens when they meet.”
She smiled softly. “I agree. If they start looking for answers, we’ll know. And that’s when we should step forward and give them more information.”
As usual, she was right. I hated knowing people like Simmons existed, but without him, I wouldn’t have Charlotte. The truth brought me to her and reunited me with my adoptive mother.
Was my biological mother still alive? Highly doubtful. Simmons had a frightening habit of making sure no one could expose him. The deeper we dug into the past, the uglier it became. Thane warned that knowing too much could drive a person mad. He suggested I focus on my future with Charlotte.
He’d made peace with what we’d learned—or at least, he pretended to. Thane had a family now. A future. He saw only negative consequences coming from digging into the sins of a dead man. But I couldn’t let it go, not when there were others like us still out there, walking around, never questioning why they didn’t quite fit in. Never realizing their lives had been a carefully designed experiment.
Was he right? Could ignorance be bliss?
I couldn’t see how it could be. Not when there were others like Thane and me, completely unaware they had a twin. Babies separated at birth as part of a decades-long research project by a psychotic man on a mission to prove to himself that his father was wrong about him.
Could things work out as well for them as they did for us? I found a family. What would they find?
Would Mark and Dylan shake hands or come to blows? When I met Thane, I hadn’t been ready for what it meant. It took time to process what we’d lost and what we’d gained, but we had good women at our sides to guide us through. Mark and Dylan might not have that blessing.
Either way, the truth was coming for them.
I let out a slow breath. “After tonight, they’ll have found each other. For now, that’s enough.”