HER DYING PROMISE: The Boy with My Twin Sister’s Hairpin

A gunshot cracked through the warehouse, sharp and deafening.

Elena collided with Julian, sending the gun clattering across the concrete floor just as flashbang grenades detonated near the entrance. A dozen tactical officers in black armor swarmed through the shattered doors, tackling Julian and his two henchmen to the ground before they could even draw breath.

"Suspects secured! Cease fire! Cease fire!"

Elena pushed herself up from the dusty floor, her heart hammering wildly against her ribs. She looked down at herself—no blood. She hadn't been hit.

"Clara!" Elena turned around frantically.

Clara was slumping back against the wooden crates, holding her side. A dark stain was rapidly spreading across the front of her ivory blazer.

"No, no, no!" Elena fell to her knees, pressing her hands desperately against the wound to stem the bleeding. "Medic! I need a medic right now!"

"Mommy! Mommy!" Leo threw himself across Clara’s lap, weeping hysterically, his small hands covered in his mother's blood. "Don't go to sleep! Please don't go to sleep!"

Clara weakly raised her right hand, her fingertips trembling as she stroked Leo’s tear-stained cheek. Her breathing was a ragged, shallow whisper.

"Don't cry, my little lion..." Clara smiled softly, her voice barely audible over the shouting of entering paramedics. "You were so brave. You saved me. You saved your auntie."