Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Ciarán
I’m sitting here waiting again, but this time it’s because we couldn’t find Emilia and we need to figure out who has her. Sebastiano and Francesco have been looking for more information about John. They think he’s the key to all of this, but they don’t know why. And I told them I have the same feeling about him. I wish I was good at finding information. Teeth? I can tell you all about teeth and how to take care of them. But getting information on someone? I’m clueless.
“I’m going to tap into our database and see if there’s anything there. We have to be missing something,” Salvatore says.
“I’m sending Lorenzo and Keegan to go and check on Frank. We need to make sure he’s safe,” Enea tells everyone.
“What can I do? I need to do something.” Kali frowns.
“What can you tell us about John? What are we missing?” Francesco asks her.
“He’s an only child, he’s adopted?—”
“Wait. He’s adopted?” Francesco asks as he starts typing. “That wasn’t in anything I pulled up about him. Nothing about him being adopted. Not even sealed records.”
“How is that possible? Are you sure he’s adopted?” Salvatore chimes in.
“He told me once, a long time ago, that he overheard his parents talking about how he was adopted. He was too scared to ask, so he never did. That was the first and last time he brought it up. And I never asked because he seemed so sad about it.”
“Fuck. We missed something. We had to have. How can you adopt a baby and there’s no record?” Francesco frowns more as he’s searching.
“Could he have been kidnapped?” Carmelo asks.
“I looked all that up, with facial recognition. I regressed his picture and searched everywhere.”
“Fuck me. What are we missing?” Francesco slams his hand on the table.
This goes on for a few hours. The guys keep searching for any information about John. But they come up empty handed. I think we’re going to have to admit that he had nothing to do with Emilia’s disappearance. And that he’s just a shitbag that cheated on two great women.
“Lorenzo called, Frank’s doing better. And he said that Frank remembered hearing Emilia say John’s name before he got hit,” Enea tells everyone.
Fuck. It was him, so where is he keeping her? We searched everywhere in his house and she wasn’t there. And why would he take her? He hasn’t even tried to contact her in a while now. He’s only been chasing Kali. I’m so confused, and now I’m even more worried. Is he that unhinged? What if he hurts her?
Emilia
“You’re not John. Who are you?” I ask the John look-alike.
“What makes you think I’m not John?” he laughs.
“You don’t sound like him.”
“But I am John. You’ve been with me for a year. You should know me by now.”
Could I really be that confused that I don’t recognize him? Maybe? I mean my head is still screaming at me and my vision is going a little fuzzy. But my hearing is working, and this thing—shape-shifter maybe? It doesn’t sound like John.
“I do know John. And you might look like him, but you don’t sound like him.”
“But you agree that I look like him, right?”
“Yes.”
“And that’s really all that matters. You’re here with me now and we’re going to have a good life.”
What in the fuck is he talking about? We’ll have a good life?
“I have a good life. And I’d like to go back to it.”
Doppelg?nger John takes two steps forward and slaps me across the face. I gasp at the sting it leaves and all I can think is John would never hit me. He may be a liar and a cheater, but he’s not an abuser.
“ I deserve what he has, why should he get everything? The perfect family, the women, WHY WAS I THE ONE LEFT BEHIND?”
I have no idea what he’s talking about. But I do have a feeling that if I don’t play along? He’s going to hurt me more.
“Maybe if you explain to me what you’re talking about?—”
“Why? You don’t care, no one’s ever cared about me. John got the good life and I got left with the psychotic, junkie mother. He took the life I should have.”
Holy fuck. He’s John’s brother? Twin?
“Why don’t you tell me your name? Because I know you’re not John.”
“My name is Paul, I’m the older, better twin. But somehow I got left behind and only John was taken when our father left.”
“Where’s your mom now?”
“In the other room. She’s resting.” He smiles at me.
That smile doesn’t make me feel reassured. That smile makes me think that his mom isn’t ‘resting.’
“Maybe we should get John over here. So you can talk to him and he can understand what’s going on.”
“NO! HE TAKES EVERYTHING FROM ME. WEREN’T YOU LISTENING?” Paul yells as he slaps me again. “You’re dumber than I thought you’d be. When I get Kali here, I’m sure she’ll understand what I’m saying. I only need you to keep me company till I get her. She’s the one we love most.”
Yeah. He’s crazy and I don’t know how to get myself out of this. Suddenly, I remember that Ciarán was on his way back here. But he won’t know where I am. And Frank, I hope he’s okay. I watch Paul stomp up the stairs like a child throwing a tantrum. I spend some time wriggling my hands, trying to get the rope looser. It feels like it might be working, but then again, my hands are going a little numb. So that might be why it feels that way.
I need to find a way to get to Ciarán. That’s when I realize there’s something in my pocket. I think it’s my phone. But I need to get my damn hands free so I can use it.
It takes me a while, but I finally get my hands free and pull my phone out. I don’t want to make any noise. So I decide to text him.
Emilia: Ciarán, I hope you get this. Please don’t text me back. It’s not John. He has a twin, Paul. I don’t think John knows about him. Paul took me and I don’t know where I am. I’m scared