Chapter 3 TWIN REVENGE
# CHAPTER 3: TWIN REVENGE
Eleanor Page's morning routine never varied. At precisely 6:30 AM, her smart home system raised the blackout curtains in her penthouse bedroom, allowing the perfect amount of morning light to filter through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The Italian marble bathroom would preheat to exactly 72 degrees, her shower would begin running at her preferred 102-degree temperature, and her smart mirror would display the day's schedule while she applied her immaculate makeup.
At 7:00 AM, she would settle into her custom ergonomic massage chair for fifteen minutes of relaxation while reviewing market reports, before enjoying her breakfast of steel-cut oats and green tea on the east-facing balcony.
This morning, however, her routine shattered at 6:32 AM when her massage chair suddenly reclined to its maximum position and began vibrating with such violence that she was nearly thrown to the floor.
"System, stop massage!" Eleanor commanded, her voice sharp with irritation.
The chair not only continued but increased its intensity. Eleanor jabbed at the control panel, but the screen displayed only a rotating baby bottle icon.
When she finally managed to extricate herself from the rogue furniture, she stormed toward her bathroom, only to find all the lights flashing in a disorienting pattern. Her shower cycled between scalding hot and freezing cold every three seconds.
"System, emergency override! Authorization: Eleanor-Prime-7728!"
The bathroom lights stabilized, but now her entire smart home speaker system began playing a child's voice at maximum volume, repeating the same phrase on loop: "Give me back my sister. Give me back my sister."
Eleanor's hands trembled as she reached for her phone to call security, but it displayed only the baby bottle icon, rotating hypnotically.
In the kitchen, her robotic coffee machine dispensed liquid continuously, overflowing the cup and spreading across the marble countertop. The refrigerator door opened and closed rhythmically, like a giant mechanical mouth.
When she finally managed to reach her landline phone, a child's voice answered before she could dial.
"Good morning, Grandma Eleanor. Did you sleep well?"
Eleanor froze. "Who is this? How did you access my systems?"
"It's Noah, Grandma. Don't you recognize your grandson's voice? The one you tried to make disappear?"
The smart toilet in her guest bathroom began flushing repeatedly, the sound echoing through the penthouse.
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"I don't know who put you up to this, but when I find out—"
"Oh, I put myself up to it," Noah replied cheerfully. "Did you know your smart home hub has seventeen major security vulnerabilities? I found them all. The bathroom was easy. The massage chair took me four whole minutes, though. I'm getting slower."
Eleanor's blood ran cold. "What do you want?"
"Just saying hello to my grandma. Oh, and my sister wanted to meet you too. She's been looking forward to it."
The call disconnected. Eleanor stood frozen in her kitchen as every appliance suddenly returned to normal. The only sound was the steady drip of coffee from her countertop to the floor.
---
Across the city, in Eleanor's private country club, a little girl with copper curls and a pink dress sat primly at a reserved table in the members' dining room. The maître d' had been surprisingly accommodating when she'd arrived alone, claiming her grandmother had sent her ahead while parking the car.
Lily adjusted the princess tiara perched on her head and smiled at the approaching waiter.
"More tea, please," she requested politely, holding out her cup. "And may I have extra sugar cubes? Grandmother said I could have as many as I want today."
The waiter, charmed by her impeccable manners, quickly returned with a fresh pot of Earl Grey and a small crystal bowl of sugar cubes.
Lily waited until he left before removing a small vial from her pink purse. With practiced precision, she added three drops to the teapot, watching with satisfaction as the liquid briefly changed color before returning to normal.
She glanced at her unicorn-themed watch—a match to Noah's dinosaur version—and smiled. Grandmother should arrive in approximately seven minutes, according to Noah's text.
Lily arranged the teacups perfectly, placing one at her setting and one across the table. From her purse, she also withdrew a folded piece of paper with childish handwriting: "Grandma's Special Medicine" with a skull and crossbones drawn beneath it.
When Eleanor Page finally arrived at the country club twenty minutes later, still shaken from her smart home rebellion, she was directed to the table where Lily sat calmly drinking tea.
"Hello, Grandmother," Lily said with a sweet smile. "I've been waiting for you."
Eleanor stopped cold, staring at the child who looked remarkably like Nicole Hawkins, but with unmistakable Page family features—the same copper hair Eleanor herself had had as a child, the same sharp green eyes that had been a family trait for generations.
"Who are you?" Eleanor demanded, though she already knew the answer.
"I'm Lily. Your granddaughter. The one you didn't manage to get rid of." Lily gestured to the chair across from her. "I ordered your favorite tea. Please, sit down."
Against her better judgment, Eleanor sat, her eyes never leaving the child's face.
"Where is your mother?"
"Safe from you," Lily replied, still smiling pleasantly. "Sugar cube?"
Eleanor ignored the offered sugar. "Whatever game you and your brother are playing—"
"It's not a game, Grandmother. It's justice." Lily took a delicate sip of her tea. "Did you know that when someone tries to hurt a baby before it's born, the baby remembers? I remembered everything while I was growing inside Mommy. The drugs you had your nurse give her. The doctor you paid to lie."
Eleanor's face paled. "That's impossible."
"Many things are impossible until they happen," Lily recited, as if quoting someone. "Tea?"
Eleanor stared at the steaming cup before her. "Do you think I'm foolish enough to drink anything you've prepared?"
Lily's smile widened as she lifted her own cup. "You think I put something in your tea? How suspicious, Grandmother." She took another sip of her own tea. "Maybe I put something in mine instead."
Eleanor watched in horror as Lily calmly drank her tea, then set down her cup and pulled out a sheet of paper.
"This is Grandfather's will. Did you know I found a copy? For every sip of tea I take, I'll cross off one name from the inheritance list." Lily dramatically produced a red crayon and drew a line through the first name. "Oops, there goes Uncle Richard's trust fund."
"Stop this nonsense immediately," Eleanor hissed.
Lily took another long sip, maintaining eye contact as she crossed off another name. "Cousin Bethany just lost her art gallery funding. Sad."
Eleanor's hand shot out, grabbing the teapot and pouring herself a cup with shaking hands. "Fine. I'll drink your childish tea."
"Wait," Lily said suddenly, her eyes wide with alarm. "Don't—"
But Eleanor had already taken a large swallow, her eyes triumphant over the rim of the cup. "There. Are you satisfied now?"
Lily's face crumpled into an expression of genuine distress. "But Grandmother, I really did put something in my tea. Not yours. Mine was just a trick."
Eleanor's smug expression faltered as she set down her cup. "What are you talking about?"
Lily reached into her purse and pulled out a small bottle of children's vitamins. "I just put these in my tea. They make it taste like berries." Her lower lip trembled convincingly. "But I didn't put anything in yours. I promise."
For a moment, Eleanor relaxed—until she felt the first cramp in her abdomen. Her hand flew to her stomach as a wave of nausea washed over her.
"What have you done?" she gasped.
Lily's expression transformed from childish concern to cold calculation in an instant. "I lied, Grandmother. There is something in your tea. Just not in mine."
Eleanor tried to stand but found her legs wouldn't support her. She collapsed back into her chair as club staff looked over with concern.
"Help," she tried to call, but her voice emerged as barely a whisper.
Lily leaned forward, still perfectly composed. "Don't worry, it won't kill you. Noah was very specific about the dosage."
Eleanor's vision began to blur as sweat beaded on her forehead. Through her disorientation, she heard Lily continue in a cheerful voice.
"The antidote is in Noah's possession. He says it costs ten million dollars. Per dose."
The last thing Eleanor saw before staff rushed to her assistance was Lily's small hand patting her arm consolingly.
"Family helps family, right Grandmother? That's what you always told Daddy."
---
Shawn Page had been in the middle of a crisis meeting when his security chief interrupted with news of his mother's collapse at the Windsor Club. By the time he reached the hospital, Eleanor had been stabilized, but doctors were baffled by her symptoms.
"We've never seen this particular combination of reactions," the physician explained. "It's as if she's experiencing three different poisonings simultaneously, but none of our standard treatments are working."
Shawn's phone vibrated with a text message from an unknown number:
**"Medical cabinet unlocked. Antidote costs $10M per dose. Mom needs three. Tick tock. -N"**
Attached was a video of Noah sitting in what appeared to be a child's bedroom, surrounded by stuffed animals. He held up a small vial of clear liquid.
"Hi Daddy," Noah said to the camera. "Lily says Grandma doesn't feel good. This will make her better. But first, you have to answer a question."
The boy's face grew serious. "Why did you let Grandma hurt Mommy when she was carrying us? Why didn't you protect us?"
Shawn stared at the phone, the weight of his negligence crushing down on him for the first time. He had no answer.
Noah waited a moment, then nodded as if he'd heard a response anyway. "That's what I thought. The antidote costs ten million dollars. Each dose lasts eight hours. Grandma needs three doses to get better."
The boy tapped on his smartwatch, and Shawn's phone displayed a cryptocurrency transfer request.
"You have ten minutes to send the money, or the first dose won't work anymore. Science is tricky like that."
As Shawn frantically authorized the transfer, he noticed something in the background of Noah's video—a small pink bed beside Noah's blue one, and a princess tiara placed carefully on the pillow.
Twins. He had twins. A son and a daughter who had orchestrated a perfect revenge against the grandmother who had tried to prevent their existence.
And somehow, Shawn knew, he was next.
