“You’ll do as I say, Jonah.”
“I love her, Frankie.I can’t keep letting you hurt her.I can’t keep trying to make what you do to her right, apologizing for your actions.Seeing her watch me with fear kills me inside.She’s my wife.I love you, brother, but she’s my wife.They’re my kids.No more.”
His twin?
What?
Oh, god.
Vomit spews from my mouth as the realization hits.
Frankie’s twin never died.
He pauses the video and stares at me with a weird smile on his face.“Jonah found me when we were sixteen.He was so hungry for a connection with me, he was willing to become me anytime I wanted him to.”
“I’m not married to you?”
It’s the only thing I can think to ask right now.
“Nope.I figured I would be a nice big brother and reward Jonah for everything he did for me.”Then he scowls.“I didn’t expect him to choose you over me.”
“What did you do to Jonah, Frankie?”
He presses play again, and I watch in horror as mirror images of each other face off.
“You choose her over me?”Frankie asks, shocked.
“It doesn’t have to be a choice.Don’t you see that?I love you both.”
“I’m going to fuck her and you’re going to watch this time.She’s a whore.She doesn’t love you.You’ll see how much she likes it.”
“No, Frankie.No more.You don’t get to hurt her anymore.Please, brother.Just let me love her,” Jonah begs.
A calmness rushes over Frankie’s face, and he gives Jonah a smile.“Okay, Jonnie.”
Jonah closes the distance between them with a smile so filled with happiness that he doesn’t see Frankie pull the knife from his sheath.
Jonah wraps his arms around Frankie, closes his eyes, and whispers, “Thank you.”
I want to cry out for Jonah to watch out as Frankie lifts the knife, but it would be useless.
Tears fall from my eyes, and sobs tear from my chest as I watch the betrayal and anguish cross Jonah’s face when Frankie plunges the knife into him repeatedly.
“Why?”Jonah whispers, blood leaking from his mouth.
“You chose her over me.”
“I just chose to love her, too.”
Frankie shrugs, dropping him to the ground.“And now you won’t get to anymore.Now, she’s all mine, and neither of you gets her.”
“Birdie,” Jonah breathes one last time before his heart stops beating.
I fall to my knees, my heart shredding from the agony of having to witness that.
It was Jonah.
All the good that I saw in Frankie was never actually from him.
