Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
With the door closed, it felt like the outside world had been cut off. The room filled with questions, but one thing rose to the top. “Our mother?” I asked.
Her eyes widened. “Oh.”
I swallowed. “I mean, how is she?” Is she alive? Is she well? Does she know about me? So many more questions waited on the edge of my tongue, wanting to spill out. I gripped my arm and held tight, physically holding myself back.
“I—” She stopped. Her chest heaved up and down in a dramatic breath. “She’s…” She looked down for a second. “Dead. A car accident.”
I stepped back. I hadn’t expected that.
“She died when I was little,” Andrea continued. “I don’t remember a lot of it.” Her voice was strangled, and she dabbed at the corner of her eye again. “I was adopted when I was five—”
“You’re two years younger than me.” I would’ve been seven. I glanced at Carter. I didn’t meet him until I was eleven. That didn’t make sense.
“I remember you.”
“You do?”
She nodded. “I remember playing together. I liked to play with dolls. You hated dolls.”
“I did?” The side of my mouth lifted up.
“I think we played hide and seek in the house. You don’t remember?”
I frowned, shaking my head. “My past is cloudy. I don’t remember a lot.”
“I’m going to get you, girly!”
I shrieked, giggling as I ran away. “No, no, Mama!”
I shook my head. AJ’s face loomed over me next. “It’s dangerous.”
I focused back on Andrea. “I think I remember playing hide-and-seek with you, but then I remember AJ saying it was dangerous.” At the mention of my brother, a scowl formed on her face.
“AJ.” I frowned at her. “Our brother.”
“He’s not my brother, and he wasn’t yours either. He was your kidnapper.” Her eyes grew heated, and her arms crossed over her chest. “I can’t listen to you talk about him like that.”
My own eyes darkened. She couldn’t listen to me? “You might want to leave right now then. I don’t know what happened, but I remember my brother taking care of me, raising me, making sure I went to school every day. He made mistakes, but he loved me.”
Her lips pressed together and she went still, standing like a statue. “Then you and I have very different memories.”
This was insane. “You were young. Me, too. I don’t know what happened, but I should remember you. I don’t. There are lapses with both of us, but AJ did nothing except try to raise me right.”
She shook her head, blinking rapidly. “I know. I…” She let out a resigned breath. “I’m sorry. I…maybe we’re getting into too much too quickly? Maybe we should scale back. I mean—” A rueful laugh slipped out, and she gestured to Carter. “I never would’ve known about you if it weren’t for him. Carter Reed. You’re with Carter Reed. I saw you on television and fell off the couch.”
A ball of tension started to loosen inside me. She started to laugh, and I wanted to laugh with her. The DNA tests were done. This was my sister, no matter what. Whatever had happened in the past, whatever she felt about AJ, this was still my family.
As she continued talking, saying how she couldn’t believe it was me and had Kevin, her family friend, reach out to a private investigator, I realized I really did want to get to know her. She was different than me—I knew there were differences between us, but I felt a connection, too. She was like me in some ways. I wanted to find out all of them. I wanted to know everything.
“So…” She was trickling to a stop. “Carter Reed, huh?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“He’s, uh…” She waved a hand toward him. “He’s got the whole mysterious and deadly attractive thing going for him. Kevin picked that club tonight to meet you. We were up all night, and I got myself worked into a frenzy. I declared it was now or never.” She laughed. “I can be a little dramatic, but Kevin read in a magazine that it was the safest of all his nightclubs.” She laughed to herself. “When they searched us and told us we had to come with them, I think he almost peed himself. He’s still out there, quaking in his boots.”
She was fond of him, but there were no romantic undertones.
“Who is Kevin to you?” I asked. “You said he was a family friend?” I moved closer, my arms falling to my sides. Who had adopted her? Were they good people? Was she loved? I looked at her hand. There was a ring on her finger. That meant she was married?
“He is. He’s, um...” She began fiddling with her ring. “He grew up with me. When I was adopted, I moved to Hillcrest. It’s an uppity town, and my family was wealthy. Kevin’s family was, too. There’s a whole scene there. I guess you could call me a socialite. This—you and who you’re with—has everyone salivating back home. They couldn’t get over it. Half of the girls I know wanted to come with us. Then our PI told us you were in New York, and we hopped another plane to come here. I…anyways, I’m digressing. Kevin. You asked about how we know each other.”