Chapter 42
I hear raised voices in the corridor, and when I get there, I find Roman—who I now know is Beau’s head of security—arguing with someone. He has his back to me, so I can’t see who he’s speaking to.
“You can’t come through,” Roman says.
“Who’s going to stop me?”
“Roman, Elodie is waiting for you,” Beau says, appearing out of nowhere.
My heart jumps.
Could it be Amos who—
Roman still hesitates.
“Amos Cooper,” the newcomer tells Beau, confirming what I suspected.
I can’t move.
“I know who you are. My sister-in-law thinks you’re brothers. Although I admit you look alike physically, in my world that’s not enough.”
“Not in mine, either, which is why I brought three DNA kits. If we send them today, I can get the results delivered tomorrow. Regardless, I came to see them.”
Beau still won’t let him pass, and I decide to intervene.
“Beau, stop that. I told you not to keep him out. Amber is anxiously waiting for him.”
That finally seems to snap him out of it, and my sister’s fiancé steps aside.
And then, suddenly, I’m face to face with my mirror.
Our resemblance is uncanny, and I feel a warmth, a sense of belonging and home long forgotten spreading through me.
“I brought DNA kits,” he repeats what he’d told Beau, and to my shame, I start to cry and run into his arms.
“To hell with science. You’re my mirror.”
For a while, he just lets me hold him, then he wraps his arms around me, squeezing me inside a wall of muscles.
I know Beau and Roman are watching us, but I’m not worried about lowering my guard. It’s the first time I’ve met my brother, and I can’t control the jumble of emotions I feel.
“Come with me,” I say once I calm down. “Amber is dying to see you.”
We go into the room together, and soon, the three of us are staring at one another.
For a fraction of a second, I fear he might do something that could hurt her.
Then, with his arm still over my shoulder, he walks to the bed and, without a word, draws Amber against his chest as well.
You can almost hear the beats of our three hearts in the same rhythm; feelings that can’t be put into words rise up.
We’re not alone anymore. We’re a family now.
The doctor discharges Amber a few hours later, and we all go to her and Beau’s house.
The estate is as impressive as Gianni’s villa, and if it weren’t for the massive number of guards at the hospital, which showed me my brother-in-law is someone important, the size of his mansion would leave no doubt.
Amos doesn’t look comfortable; he’s alert to everything around him. Beau is in the living room with us, and they study each other like two opponents ready to defend.
I see my sister stand and move into the arms of her child’s father, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“I love you,” she says, not seeming to care that we’re listening.
The man visibly relaxes. “Are you happy?”
“Very. We’re a family now, and it’s only growing. I’m even an aunt,” she says, referring to Amos having just revealed he’s a father.
She rests her head on his shoulder, and I move closer to Amos to give the lovebirds some privacy.
We already did the DNA test, but I’m not anxious. I know what the result will be.
“Why did you come to the United States earlier than planned, Elodie?”
I don’t want Amber to hear about my broken heart. She only left the hospital recently and doesn’t need anything to make her anxious. Knowing I’m unhappy would upset her, too.
Still, I suspect he won’t stop asking until he gets an answer. Amos is determined when he wants to find something out. In just a few hours, I’ve already learned a lot about my brother.
Although he looks like me physically, he’s more like Amber in temperament. Quiet. Analytical. Restrained.
As for me, I speak for the three of us.
“I broke up with my boyfriend,” I tell him—something Amber already knew, and I feel Beau’s eyes on me as well.
Jesus, is my destiny to live surrounded by controlling men?
To distract him, I start recounting facts from our childhood, especially about our mother. I need him to understand he wasn’t rejected when he was put up for adoption, he was saved.
I have no idea what happened to him in the orphanage or what his life was like before he went to live with his adoptive parents because he hasn’t touched on that subject yet, but I think with time he will share it.
We already spoke by phone with Lilly at my request, and Amber took the opportunity to apologize for the encounter they had at the mall before she lost her memory.
My sister, the crazy thing, had pretended to be a nerd to get close to our sister-in-law, but of course, she’d messed it all up and drew attention to herself.
She’d gotten so nervous she ended up giving Lilly her real name.
What a disguise!
Amos told us that his wife had become suspicious because of Amber’s appearance, which reminded her a lot of her husband and their twin daughters.
So, she wrote Amber’s name down. Even before we’d ever spoken for the first time, when Amos only knew I was investigating him, Lilly had already handed him the paper with Amber’s name.
Wow, we are the world’s worst secret detectives.
“What’s going to happen with the cult? You haven’t touched the subject again,” Amber asks Beau. Amos and I stop talking to listen to their conversation.
As Gianni assured me would happen, the FBI is investigating them, but I wouldn’t be surprised if, again, the authorities turned a blind eye to the crimes committed on the farm.
There are important men with money and power among the elders.
Only as adults did the two of us learn that the only elder who truly lives inside the cult is our father.
The others lead normal lives in the “real” world, with careers and families.
They are politicians and businessmen, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they managed to escape punishment once more for the atrocities they committed and still commit.
“I don’t want you involved in that, Amber,” her fiancé replies.
“But do you intend to expose them? Elodie and I can help. We can tell what we know.”
“First, we need to get the girls out of there,” he says.
“I’d like to speak with you about that,” Amos intervenes.
Amber and I look at Beau, and I can tell by his posture that he’d love to say no, but when he looks at Amber and she nods for him to tell our brother everything, he seems to change his mind.
“Thank you,” she says.
“For what?”
“I know you don’t like to give in, but don’t forget the cult is part of Amos’s past, too. We all need that closure. I want to ask you one thing.”
“Anything, as long as it’s not something that will put you at risk.”
“It isn’t. What I want you to promise is that their faces will appear everywhere.
I want the whole world to know who the elders are.
They destroyed many lives, they separated us,” she says, referring, I think, to Amos, who watches them seriously.
“It was only a freak twist of fate that allowed us to be reunited.”
“You have my word that they will pay. They will suffer many times over for the evil they did.”