AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That’s the last time we were ever alone together. She’d missed every holiday for the next five years, though she went to see our grandparents and aunts and uncles, who were all still staunchly in her corner.
But it was while we were sixteen that everything started to happen. Once my sister left I came to realize that most of our friends were actually more hers than mine. It was as if friendships that I had built over time had just disappeared once she was gone.
I got to learn that most of them only tolerated me because of her and her personality. That’s also when I learned that we were little more than charity cases in their eyes. It’s true that though we came from a wealthy area, our school was in a district where the elite attended, and our neighborhood barely missed the zoning cutoff.
I had always known that we were not as wealthy as most of the kids there, but it had never been an issue before. They had no issues with paying for us, but once she was gone, they stopped paying for anything for me.
The summer vacations we used to tag along with some of them also came to an end, for me at least. But my sister still got to attend when she was home from college. Mom and Dad dared not say or do anything about it because the rest of the family would be up in arms, and trust me, they tried.
No matter how I cried and pleaded, there was no use. And to make things worse, the boy I was head over heels in love with started dating her when she came back that first fall.
That’s when I really started drinking heavily and partying harder than ever before. It was that December when I first did what he mentioned. I’d met this guy at the club who was hot and older, which is exactly what I was looking for.
Pretty soon, we were hooking up all the time. I was missing days at school to be with him in his luxury apartment, and life was starting to look up. Then he asked about my friends, and the jealousy was too much. Why am I never enough for anyone?
I didn’t let it show, though, especially when he convinced me that he wasn’t interested in her that way. Then he asked if I wanted to make some good money, and all I could think of was that it was the holiday season and I would love nothing more than to go back to school the next semester with all high-end fashion. Think Hemes instead of Louis.
When he first told me his idea, I laughed because I thought it was a joke, but then he told me how much I could make, and it wasn’t so bad after all. The girl will live a life of luxury after all which had to be better than the life she had now. This ‘friend’ was someone I met at the mall, where I had found a part-time job for the season.
I also realized that he was telling me the truth when he said he wasn’t interested in her in that way and that also helped me make up my mind since I was still a bit salty that he had asked me about her.
It had been easy, too. The stupid bitch believed me when I told her that I had won two tickets to Dubai and had no one else to go with me. She was so excited, knowing that she would never be able to win a trip like that.
She didn’t question me because she knew where I came from, something I found of great use over the years. I dressed expensively and looked expensive thanks to Mom’s bi-weekly salon visits, and I’d been taught diction and deportment at one of the finest finishing schools in the country.
That day, I waited until I saw her go to the gate with her ticket in hand and called her at the last minute, telling her to go ahead and board that I was right behind her and not to wait.
I had hyped up the trip so much, and she even had her own spending money, which I had given her, which was my only regret. But in order to make it look good as well as convince her to go ahead when she didn’t see me on the plane I had no choice. I breathed easily when the plane took off with her on it. Whatever happened to her on the other end was up to her, not me.
It got easier and easier after that. I kept making so much money that I had to convince my parents that I was making it online, tutoring rich kids. I stashed most of my money away in my room while giving them barely a fraction to put in the joint bank account they had opened for me.
They were so proud of me. I had stopped thinking about my sister by then and my only interest was in how to make more money. That’s when I learned that there was more money to be made for younger kids. It wasn’t a hard jump. They weren’t my responsibility. If their parents watched over them better they wouldn’t fall into my hands.
I was averaging at least ten kids a year at twenty-thousand a pop, sometimes more, according to how young they were. But once I met the head guy, my looks were put to better use. I’ve toppled quite a few very wealthy men all over the world. Not to mention the politicians I had brought to heel who were now little more than puppets on a string for the boss and the ones above him.
Now, this man was saying that he knew about it all. That can’t be. There’s no way that the organization could be this lax. I’ve been flying under the radar since day one. A sudden thought hit me. My sister looks just like me. If I get out of this, she can take my place. There is no difference in DNA between twins, so….
The phone rang, and he answered, speaking softly. Then he said something that made my blood run cold. “Your sister hates you so much that she has completely changed her appearance. No one would mistake you two. So, whatever you were just thinking, forget it.”
CHAPTER20
The next day, there was still no sign of Jessica, and I was going out of my mind before Cierra called and filled me in on what was going on. She also shared Jessica’s background and the crimes she’d committed over the years, and I shivered at having come that close to evil without knowing it.
The little bit I’d learned before was nothing compared to the things they had since uncovered, and as a mother with daughters, it almost made me want to call them home and lock them in the safe room. Then my thoughts went to the babies and the world they were going to be born into, which looked more and more different from the one I knew.
As far as I know, Jack was still here and yet to be dealt with. When I checked the clone, I saw that there were tens of messages from him reaching out to her with no luck. By the end, they were all filled with panic. Someone had entered the apartment at some point after the night it went dark because there was a new coat of paint on the walls and I’m pretty sure the curtains had been changed.
I was dying to go there and see for myself, if only to make sure that the snake had been taken care of, something Cierra later assured me was the case. “So, what happens now?”
“Now, we bleed her for all the information she has and use it to save as many victims as we can.”
“And Jack? What about him?”
“He’ll be gone soon, so there's no need to worry about him. Your part in this is basically over. You did great, by the way.”
“Wait, that’s it? Just like that, it’s over?”
“From your end, yes. Besides, your husband sent out an order that we dare not ignore.”
