40
Air e
M y knees gave way. Nolan caught me before I could fall and walked me to the settee. I slumped into the chair and took a closer look at the document on the screen. I stared at it for longer than necessary. It appeared legit. It didn't make sense at first, but the more I thought about it, the more memories came to mind of things that were odd. My father drinking a lot after my mother died. Mumbling things like "they took her from me." I always assumed he was referring to mom, but what if he was referring to Aelin?
And then there was the money he always seemed to have even after he was fired from his job. There was one night when we had run out of all basic goods in the house and rent was due when he left and returned with enough money to cover three months' rent. He had said it was money owed to him. Money grandfather had given to him. I thought he meant mom's inheritance, but I think he meant money owed for giving up Aelin to mom's sister.
"Do you have any more proof? My mother could have had twins and one ended up being a stillbirth or something."
"Kelly found some tests your sister did a while ago. She must have had the same suspicions and had taken a DNA test just to make sure. Nolan took the tablet from my weak fingers, opened another document, and handed it to me. "Aelin found a twenty-five percent match with her supposed mother."
"I can't believe it." My voice had gone hoarse. I could barely make out the words. Nolan sank onto the settee beside me and enveloped me in his arms. I was unsure whether to cry or laugh. I was numb. A lot of things were making sense, but a lot wasn't. When I was able to speak again, I said, "What does that have to do with wanting to kill you?"
"That's what I wanted to know. What do you know about the murder attempt? "
"Nothing at all. I had no idea Aelin planned it. I thought it was a random mugging or something."
"Aelin and your grandfather. I don't trust that man for a second."
"I gave her one hundred thousand," I said, more to myself than to Nolan. "She said she was broke."
The doorbell rang. Ever since Nolan got shot, we had increased security and few people came up without the concierge calling first. I froze. Nolan did the same. The doorbell rang again like a jump scare from a cheap horror movie. "It could be the service people," Nolan explained. "Stay here." He got out of the room and I followed him, regardless. I traced his steps as he went to check the door camera. "It's Aelin," he said, even though I could see her clearly on the monitor. She looked a little harried. And she kept darting her bloodshot eyes around.
Nolan made a move to answer the door, but I held his arm. "Don't."
"She's alone, I don't think—" He glanced over his shoulder. He must have seen the worry etched in my face, because he held my hand and softly said, "Don't worry. I don't think she'll do anything. It looks like she told the concierge she was you."
"Then we really shouldn't let her in."
"Don't you want to know why she's here? "
I was curious. Especially after what I had learned. She was aware, and she never told me. All this time I was in the dark and she never said a thing. "Fine."
Nolan opened the door, and I stood behind him as Aelin entered. She was wearing what looked like a cocktail dress even though it was the middle of the day. She completed the look with a bejeweled purse that hung across her shoulder.
"Hi husband," she leaned in to kiss Nolan, but he pulled back, avoiding her.
"What are you doing here?" His voice was gruff and curt.
Aelin perked up, her eyes honing on me and brightening as though she was seeing me for the first time."That's no way to greet family. Looks like your husband knows. Interesting."
My sister. I was still processing that morsel of information. Looking at her now, it's funny how I didn't see it before. We looked alike. Not identical, but I had been obsessed with looking for the differences that I rarely saw the similarities.
I stepped out from behind Nolan, and he put his working arm around my waist. Aelin noticed my swollen belly. "How did you get past the concierge?"
She shrugged. "You know me. I have a way with people." Her gaze darted to Nolan. "Aren't you going to let me in? "
Nolan and I stepped aside, and Aelin entered. Her gaze wandered around the townhouse as she sauntered in front of us. "What a lovely place you have."
We entered the family living room. Nolan I sat down on the loveseat while Aelin chose the armchair.
"Can I talk to you alone?" she said to me.
"Whatever you can say to Aire, you can say to me."
A smile, not quite reaching her eyes, crossed her lips. "Maybe it's better if I speak with you since you're my husband, after all."
"Well, speak." Nolan's voice was strong and threatening, but his hand on my knee was reassuring.
She leaned back in the chair and crossed her legs. "The police are after me. Apparently, I'm being implicated in a scheme to murder you."
"They're implicating me! You told your hitman that you were me!"
"Yeah. yeah. But sadly, that little prick also told them where I live, and they came to my apartment. If I hadn't seen them at the door as I was coming out of the elevator, who knows where I would be? But you don't have to worry about me, dear husband."
Nolan's grip on my knee got tighter. "You tried to kill me. "
"That was my grandaddy's plan. I only convinced the guy."
"What do you want?" I said.
She casually lifted her purse, opened it and took out a gun and pointed it at me. Nolan instinctively tried to cover me with his body, pushing me back onto the couch while leaning forward, partially covering me.
"Aelin…"
"I want what's owed to me or she's dead." She lowered the gun until it pointed at my belly. " They are both dead."
"I think we can talk reasonably without resorting to violence," Nolan said.
"Maybe, but I need a little insurance."
Nolan raised his hand in surrender. "Okay fine."
“Good. I'm being hunted. I have to leave the country now. And I want fuck-you money. Give me, say, my divorce settlement and I would be out of your hair.” She rummaged through her purse with her free hand and took out her phone. She threw the phone on the table in the middle of the living room. "My bank details are on there. One hundred million dollars should be a good enough divorce settlement, don't you think?"
"I don't—"
"Yes, you do. Don't give me the 'I'm not liquid bullshit.'A rich man like you can easily access it." She cocked the gun.
"Fine." Nolan took out his phone from his pocket. "Aire, grab the phone."
I stretched over to take her phone and when I sat back down, Aelin stood up, gun squarely pointed at us. “What about the money I gave you?” I said to Aelin, and she looked at me like I was the dumbest person in the world.
“One hundred thousand is not enough to live on forever,” she said in a condescending tone. “It’s not even enough for a month.”
“I mean, why did you ask for it when you had enough money to hire a hitman?”
“Oh, you know about that? Wow. News travels fast. But I guess your brain is slow. It was a test, you idiot. I wanted to rattle you. And to find out how generous he is.” She pointed at Nolan.
Nervous, I dropped the phone. Aelin picked it up and checked it, then leaned over us, saying, "I don't want you calling nine-one-one while I'm not watching."
"I wasn't going to," I said.
“Make it quick,” Aelin said.
Nolan smirked. “Got somewhere you need to be?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact,” Aelin said. “Got a jet I can borrow?”
“Not a chance.”
Nolan opened his phone and asked me to read out her bank details. He entered them and then, when finished, said, "The money will be in your account in a few minutes."
"Good," she stepped back. "Put the phone back on the table."
I did as she said with shaking hands, then she picked it up without turning her attention away from us.
"Why did you try to kill him?" I asked.
Aelin frowned. "Oh, you don't know? Grandfather never told you?" she shrugged. "It doesn't matter, anyway." Aelin sat back in the chair and when she was slightly distracted, I surreptitiously put my phone on record.
“You and I are sisters,” Aelin began. “Twins. My mother, or my aunt I guess I should say, offered to take me as her daughter after your mother, our mother, told her she could not take care of two kids. Making out on your own in this concrete jungle is tough if you are used to certain luxuries. I guess being cut off from the family fortune was so hard for her that she opted to give up one of us. And since my mother was the one who was supposed to inherit the whole shebang, when she died, I became the heir. I guess I was the lucky one.” She scanned me with an envious gaze. "Looks like our luck has changed. Anyway," she sighed.
"Grandaddy had his whole silly little grudge with the," she waved her gun at Nolan, "Hawthornes and he wanted payback. Marry into their family, get me with a baby, and when that baby grows up, well, he dies," she pointed at Nolan again, "And the baby becomes the heir of the entire Hawthorne empire, completing his long thought out plan. My baby, you see. Unfortunately, there was a little kink in his plan, because I can't get pregnant. Frankly, I don't want to, but that's beside the point. Since I can't get pregnant, and you can, you had to come into my place. That's why he invented that bullshit story of me being missing so you can take my place. It's so funny that you bought it. You're so fucking na?ve, it's quite remarkable."
"What about me?" I said in a small voice. "What were you going to do about me?"
"Well," she looked at me like I was stupid. "You'd have to die as well. After you gave birth to your baby, of course. My baby. Then it all got ruined by a stupid guy who couldn't shoot straight."
"How could you be so cruel? To your own sister."
"Come on. It's not as though you've ever cared about me." She got cut off by her phone. A notification sound beeped. She glanced at the phone and smiled. "Wow. I didn't think you'd actually pull through. Thanks."
She got up and Nolan and I followed suit.
"Promise me you will not come back again," Nolan said .
"With a hundred mill in a Cayman account?" she reached over to him and tapped his cheeks. "You're never going to see me again. Unless I need a yacht or something."
Nolan scowled.
"Just kidding!" Aelin rolled her eyes. "What a stuck-up. How did you manage living with him, sis?"
The concierge desk intercom buzzed, and we all froze. Nolan took my hand in his and squeezed it.
"What's that?" The fear she had been hiding all this time came through her voice.
"Who knows? Friends. Police maybe," I said. I was feeling less afraid now when I saw how she was the one who had more to fear.
"Fuck."
It buzzed again.
Aelin darted her eyes around as though looking for an escape, then she seemed to go with where she came through. She rushed out of the living room. As soon as we heard the door bang shut, Nolan called the desk. It was the police. They were looking for her. A few moments later, we heard a commotion outside. "Stay there," Nolan said. I nodded and watched him rush out. But I couldn't follow his command. I followed him and watched as he peered through the main door. A voice yelled, "Police! Stand Down!" That freaked me out and made me grab Nolan before anything happened to him. But he was okay. The door opened wide, and I screamed in horror. Lying on the floor face down with a gun in my hand was my sister, Aelin.