The jazz joint was hot and loud, but Lila Voss d
idn’t flinch.
She walked through the smoke and sin like she ow
ned it.
Because she did.
“Boss,” her driver said, holding the car door op
en. “You sure about this?”
Lila slid in, silk gloves tightening. “I don’t d
o unsure.”
Then she saw her.
The woman across the street had her face.
Same dark curls, same scar above the brow.
Same tailored red coat.
Lila’s breath caught.
The woman waved.
She pointed to the alley.
Alone.
Lila followed.
“You’re not real,” she said.
The woman smiled. “Neither are you.”
“I’m Lila Voss. My father ran this city before t
he feds got him.”
“So did mine,” the woman said. “But I’m from a w
orld where he still breathes.”
Lila’s gun came out slow.
“You’re lying.”
The woman didn’t move. “You were born in '04. Yo
u shot your first man at sixteen. You sleep with
a pearlhandled revolver under your pillow.”
Lila’s jaw tightened.
“And you?”
“I’m a professor,” she said. “In a world where P
rohibition never came. Where women teach and lea
d and don’t get shot for speaking truth.”
Lila snorted. “Sounds dull.”
“It is,” the woman said. “And I miss the danger.
”
Silence between them.
Then footsteps.
Gangsters.
Lila’s men.
She grabbed the woman’s arm. “You’re coming with
me.”
“No,” she said. “You’re coming with me.”
A flash.
Light.
And then—
A different alley.
Cleaner. Brighter.
No jazz.
No whiskey stench.
Lila spun. “What the hell—?”
“Welcome to my world,” the woman said.
“Bullshit,” Lila snapped. “You’re pulling a fast
one.”
A car passed. Electric. Quiet.
Lila stared.
“Come on,” the woman said. “Let me show you.”
They walked.
The woman led her to a university campus.
Students in clean clothes. No smoke. No guns.
Lila’s chest hurt.
This wasn’t real.
But it was.
And then a man shouted.
“Lila!”
He ran toward them.
Tall. Handsome. A scar on his jaw.
“Thank God,” he said, pulling her into his arms.
“I thought I’d lost you.”
Lila stiffened.
Her double didn’t.
She kissed him.
Lila watched, stunned.
He smiled. “You’re back.”
Lila’s throat burned. “Yeah.”
They called him Dean.
He was a professor.
He taught physics.
He loved her.
Lila watched them together.
Laughing. Touching.
And it twisted her gut.
That night, she stood by the window.
“You want him,” her double said.
Lila didn’t answer.
“He’s yours,” the woman said. “In my world, I ne
ver met him. I never wanted to.”
Lila turned. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because I think you belong here,” she said. “An
d I belong there.”
“You don’t know what you’re asking.”
“I do.”
Silence.
Then the door burst open.
Men in suits.
Feds.
Lila moved fast.
Gun up.
But the woman stepped in front.
A shot rang out.
She fell.
Blood bloomed on her chest.
“No!” Lila dropped to her knees.
The woman gasped. “Take my place…
before they realize…”
Her eyes went still.
Lila stared.
Then she kissed the woman’s forehead.
Took her necklace.
And stood.
Dean came in.
Saw her.
Rushed to her side.
“They shot her,” Lila said.
He pulled her close. “You’re safe now.”
She let him hold her.
Because this was her chance.
To be someone else.
To be loved.
To be soft.
But the world wasn’t done with her.
The next day, Dean showed her the headlines.
“GANGSTER LI LA VOSS ESCAPES FEDERAL CUSTODY.”
He frowned. “You’re in the news again.”
Lila smiled. “Let them look.”
At night, she walked the campus alone.
Thought about her world.
The smoke. The power. The war with the Capone sy
ndicate.
She missed it.
But she had this.
For now.
Then one morning, a knock.
A man in a suit.
Not a fed.
A soldier.
Cold War intel.
“We know who you are,” he said.
Lila smiled. “I’d be worried if you didn’t.”
He handed her a file.
“Your world is collapsing,” he said. “We need yo
u back.”
She flipped through the pages.
Photos. Names.
Her father.
Alive.
And on the brink of war.
She looked up.
“When do we leave?”
He smiled. “Now.”
She kissed Dean goodbye.
He didn’t know why she was leaving.
But he held her like he always had.
Like he’d never let go.
Then she turned.
Stepped through the portal.
Back to smoke and sin.
Back to war.
Back to power.
And in her coat pocket, a note from the other Li
la.
“Be the woman they fear. Be the woman I couldn’t
be.”
Lila lit a cigarette.
The city roared.
She smiled.
And walked into the fire.
