Page 7 of Sinful Desires

“Since when have you had a hard time explaining something to me?”

That was the thing. I couldn’t remember ever feeling this disconnected from my twin. We practically shared a brain, or we had before some two-faced tech bro decided to get on a plane and insert himself into our lives. “This is complicated. I told you how he found me at the spin studio. Why couldn’t he have told me who he was? Why did he have to be so weird and creepy about it for weeks? He was starting to scare me.”

“Maybe because he was afraid you would react the way you’re reacting right now,” she suggested. “He probably wanted to wait until Dad was around so you wouldn’t rip off his head.”

“Yeah, I might still do that anyway.”

“I think you’re overreacting,” she said with a sigh.

“And I think you’re gaslighting me a little bit,” I retorted, spinning on my heel to walk back across my old bedroom. Ironic that I felt like a teenager again in this room, only this time, I wasn’t pissed off because Penelope Schwartz copied my idea for a topic on our final English paper. This was real, grown-up shit with actual consequences. “I told you that crack he made about the will and how Dad now has the son he wanted. That doesn’t strike you as being wrong?”

“I mean, yeah, it was in poor taste,” she agreed. “But you were acting all belligerent and whatnot.”

“How would you know? You weren’t there.”

“I can see you in my head. Your chin jutting out and everything.” She laughed while I checked my reflection in the mirror over the dresser as I passed. Sure enough, my chin was sticking out. “He was trying to get to you. That’s all.”

How easy would it have been to accept her explanation and move on? My pacing slowed as I realized I wanted to. It would’ve been simple to accept his arrival and intentions at face value.

The only problem was I had seen him before that meeting in Dad’s study. I had felt his… resentment? It was the closest thing to what had shone in his burning glare more than once at spinclass and on the sidewalk. I’d seen it again in the hall outside the study. There was no explaining the sort of thing a person had to feel to understand.

“Miles Young?” she asked, and I grunted confirmation, waiting only a few moments before I heard Valentina’s sound of approval coming through the phone. “Well, I’ll say one thing. He’s fucking hot.”

It looked like we had both reverted to being teenagers. Groaning, I asked, “Because that matters?”

“Uh… yeah. It does. I have eyes. I’m allowed to appreciate what I see.” She mumbled something as though she was reading from an article. “Oh, he’s the guy who designed that new algorithm thingy. I remember hearing about that. And he’s big into AI.”

“Yeah, he would come up with new ways for humanity to be squeezed out, wouldn’t he? I’m telling you,” I insisted when she laughed. “There is something really wrong with the guy.”

“Listen. I hear what you’re saying, I really do. But Dad isn’t some senile old man,” she reminded me. “He doesn’t need you to protect him.”

“If you had seen the way he was smiling at Miles like he was proud of him, you would think differently.” The memory made me shudder in revulsion, the way I would if I had touched a snake. Funny, how bringing him to mind was that of a snake.

“Yeah, okay. I can see that being a little uncomfortable.”

“Thank you,” I mumbled.

I should’ve known she wouldn’t leave it there. “But think of it this way. After everything we pieced together about that Leila woman over the years, doesn’t it seem like he might not have had the best upbringing? Maybe that’s where Dad is coming from,” she concluded. “He feels sorry for Miles because he knows who his mother was. We don’t know what Miles might have gone through.”

It was unusual for her to be so willing to extend grace. Usually, she would have been at my side, demanding an explanation. Like why we’d never heard of Miles and what he thought he’d get out of worming his way into our family.

It didn’t take long for me to understand my mistake. “Mom already got to you, didn’t she? You already knew what happened before we got on the phone.” I groaned, slapping a palm to my forehead. It had taken hours to get a hold of my sister, and I had practically gone crazy waiting to fill her in.

“Why are you treating this like it’s warfare or something? Mom spoke to me,” she amended. “She gave me the bullet points. That’s where Dad is coming from. He feels sorry for Miles and wishes he could have been an influence in his life.”

“Why? He doesn’t owe Miles a damn thing.”

“How the hell would I know?” she snapped. “Man, you are determined to look for the worst possible explanation for all of this. There’s a good chance he doesn’t have any kind of ulterior motive at all.”

It was obvious I was talking to a wall. “Fine. Whatever you say,” I replied.

The sound of her groan was as familiar as my reflection. “Don’t be that way.”

Settling down on the foot of the bed, I asked, “What? I’m being unreasonable, so I’m going to let it go now.”

“If I thought you were actually letting it go, it would be one thing.”

“It’ll be fine,” I flatly insisted. “The end.”

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