Dre stared at the girl he loved, his mouth turning to cotton. Illuminated in the light of her bedroom window, he watched as Skye wrapped the bathrobe tighter around her, and lowered herself to the windowsill. Though her window was raised and she stared into the night, she didn’t see him. He’d made sure of that. He had to wait for the right moment to make his presence known. Through gritted teeth, he listened as the shouting continued in the background. Shouting over a decision he hadn’t made.

“We have to get the police involved, Maverick! Someone is dead because of this boy!”

The panic in the mother’s voice pricked his soul. If only he could waltz through that front door and tell them their fears for their daughter were unwarranted—that it hadn’t been him who had performed that string of robberies and gotten that cop killed. He studied Skye’s face, a vise gripping his chest and stealing his breath. Surely she didn’t believe the rumors… She had to know it hadn’t been him. Unable to hold himself back any longer, Dre inched closer to the window, keeping to the shadows.

“Calm down, Karina. We need level heads to handle this situation.”

Dre sucked in a breath and pressed himself to the side of the house as Skye’s father seemed to draw nearer her bedroom. When the voices faded off down the hallway, he closed his eyes tight and ordered his feet to move. “Skye,” he whispered, crouching beneath her window.

Stifling a scream, Skye peered down at him, her long auburn hair falling over her shoulder. “Dre? Dre, you can’t be here! Everyone knows about today—Mom is calling the cops! They’ll be looking for you!”

He couldn’t read her, and it scared him to his core. Did she think he’d done this heinous crime? “Skye, it wasn’t me!” Dre choked back a sob.

Doubt flashed across her face. “I-I saw you…”

“No,” he shook his head, his fingers gripping the window sill. “You saw Damien. Not me! I swear, Skye, I swear it!”

“Dre, he’s been gone for years…” Her eyes dimmed, her fingers brushing the hair from his face. “Why’d you do it? You had your whole life ahead of you, Dre. We planned a life together!”

Fear gripped his soul. If his own girl doubted him, all was lost. There wasn’t a soul in the world who would believe him now. His only option was to run fast and far. “I’ll come back for you,” he said in a rush.

“Dre, don’t!”Skye went to her knees in the window seat. “Running won’t fix what you’ve done; you need help! We can help you!”

“I’ll get proof it was him, Skye. You’ll see! I’ll get proof, and I’ll come back for you. And when I come back, I’ll never leave you again—I swear. I’m so sorry, Skye. I’m so sorry! I love you more than the air I breathe.”

“Dre, look at me,” she pleaded, reaching for his face. “Damien is dead, Dre. The accident killed him. We both saw it happen.”

Tears streamed down his cheeks as he held tightly to her hands. “I didn’t do it, Skye. And there’s only one other person in this whole world who looks like me. It was him. Damien is alive, and I’m gonna prove it.”

“Dre, Dre no,” Skye cried as he removed her fingers from his face. His lips pressed to hers, his fingers wrapping in her hair. As he pulled back, she stared into his eyes and caught a glimpse of the sorrow in his soul. “You didn’t do it,” she whispered.

He shook his head. “No,” he whispered. “I love you. I’ll come back for you. I promise, Skye. I will come back!” Backing away from the window, he allowed himself one last look at their face before allowing the shadows to swallow him up.

Turning, Dre raced for the woods beyond Skye’s house and promised himself that he would find his twin. And when he found him, he would hold him accountable for all he had done.