Epilogue 18 years later - Sins of the Twins
Epilogue
The night stank of gasoline and gunpowder.
Not church bells. Not petals. This was our baptism.
Eighteen. Old enough to kill, young enough to still feel immortal. Adrian grinned like he’d been born for this. Maybe he had.
Me? I kept my hands steady, though my gut twisted sharp, the familiar burn biting deep. Not nerves. My body liked to betray me. My voice wouldn’t.
Uncle Logan stood ahead of us, black coat cutting against the dark. He didn’t need to say the rule, we’d grown up breathing them. No fear. No mercy. No backing down.
“First deal,” Adrian whispered, a reckless grin flashing.
“First war,” I corrected.
Headlights swept across the lot. A black car rolled to a stop. The door opened, and he stepped out first. Mr. Vale, a man with a reputation as clean as polished steel and just as cold.
Then her.
Cassandra Vale. Same age as us, but walking like the night already belonged to her. Sharp heels, sharper eyes. She didn’t look at Adrian. She didn’t look at Uncle Logan. She looked at me. And for a moment, my stomach forgot to twist.
Adrian’s grin faltered. Mine held.
Because this wasn’t just business. This was the start of something else.
The twins of sins had arrived. And Cassandra Vale saw us.
***
Gasoline. Gunpowder. The kind of night you never forget.
Eighteen, and already standing shoulder to shoulder with Uncle Logan. Finally, Sebastian stood next to me, stiff as stone. His jaw locked, his gut probably eating him alive. I knew the signs. But he’d never let it show. That was my brother — iron on the outside, fire eating him on the inside.
Me? I was buzzing. Couldn’t stop the grin splitting my face. First deal. First taste of the real game. The first time proving the Creams name wasn’t just something we inherited — it was something we could carry.
Headlights cut through the dark, and the car rolled up slowly. Out stepped Mr. Vale, tall, precise, eyes cold enough to freeze a man mid-breath. Business. Always business.
And then her.
Cassandra Vale. My age. Our age. But she walked out like she was already twenty years ahead, already untouchable. Black dress, sharp smile, eyes like she’d measured the whole room and found us lacking.
I almost laughed.
Because Sebastian froze. He didn’t even blink. And she didn’t look at me. She looked at him. For once, my grin slipped. Just a second.
Then I shoved it back on. Because whatever this was, whoever she was, the game had just changed.
We were the twins of sins. And tonight, the world was finally watching.