Page 4 of Call You Mine

My twin brother, whom I was once close with when we were kids, was the only constant in my life. Even his three best friends, who were practically my extended brothers, were some people I was missing.

Then there was Stella, a loyal friend I once had, but was now strangers with after the ordeals my so-called friends and I had caused her. We’d shunned her, made her an outcast amongst our peers at Servite Academy after she, in theory,betrayedour friendship. It wasn't directly my fault, but I didn’t stand up forher either when my posse of self-absorbed prom queens turned their backs on her.

Stella and I were thick as thieves when we were younger, the two of us always getting into trouble, mostly sneaking into my mother’s closet and playing dress up for hours with her various designer pieces. However, it was when her mother died things took a turn. Instead of being there for her like I should have been, I shut her out, not understanding how to deal with someone else’s grief.

Emotions in my household were suppressed, forgotten, and never shown, regardless of the situation. Servites were raised to be strong, and emotions were nothing more than a display of weakness our enemies could use against us.

The only emotion that warranted any type of attention from my family was to instill fear in others. Typically, for me, indifference was the way to achieve it. No one dared to mess with the Ice Princess. My bitter heart and even frostier demeanor ensured it.

From then on, Carrington, the daughter of a family friend who’d recently been spending a lot more time at my house thanks to our family’s business dealings, became the person I spent most of my day with. She didn’t likee Stella, and I never questioned why she didn’t want her hanging out with us. It didn’t matter, though. I had more in common with Carrington, and after a while, we became inseparable. My friendship with Stella dwindled until there was nothing but sweet memories left.

Carrington understood me in a way no one else could. We lived in the same world, intrigued by the same wealth and riches Stella usually stayed away from. She was the obvious choice for my best friend, even if ‌I could barely stand her brutal attitude. Yet she wore her cruelty with pride and although everyone else around me seemed to hate her for it, it was also something I was used to being around.

It wasn’t until the first time I came back to Hillcrest Hills, a year after I first moved to New York and could finally convince Enzo to allow me a quick visit, that I finally saw Carrington for what she really was—a fake. Despite everyone else warning me and knowing exactly who she was at first glance, I didn’t believe it until I saw it with my own eyes.

The moment I arrived at Carrington’s engagement party, the people I once considered friends met with snide glares and hushed whisperings. At that moment, I knew my old life was over. All those who I once believed to be my equals looked down on me because of what my family had gone through. Because of what they turned out to be.

Frauds. Criminals who were caught, cowards who fled when the truth came to light. In theory, I’d been one of them. At least that’s how they saw it.

When Enzo came for me after my graduation from Servite Academy, I left without saying goodbye to anyone. I thought no one would care or even notice. I had little friends. Unlike my brother, I didn’t have anyone who would fight to protect me. So, for me, there really wasn’t any other option. No one would believe me if I told them the truth of what was happening.

It wasn’t until six months later when Enzo finally let me have a phone—after he’d threatened me to the point I wouldn’t run—that I reached out to Carrington.

However, she didn’t meet me with open arms nor with joy after discovering I was, in fact, alive and well. She and the other three girls I thought to be my best friends met me with bitterness and betrayal. They wanted nothing to do with me and that’s when I concluded they were only my friends because of my family’s status and all it could offer them.

Cynicism was something I was all too familiar with. Fake friends who wanted nothing more from me than the power that came with knowing me. There was no use in opening up andbaring what little soul I had to those I considered friends, if they weren’t interested in any of it.

The Servites were the beginning and end of Hillcrest Hills and when my family became nothing but a joke, they all turned their backs and crucified us, although they were just as guilty of the same sins. Martyrs who acted like the Servites had fooled and taken them advantage of.

I’d like to say we didn’t deserve it, but I’ve never been a liar.

Stepping out of the plane and onto the tarmac, I try my hardest to keep my head down, hiding the bruises painting my face behind dark sunglasses. The sky is a clear blue with sparse clouds perfectly placed, making it look like an impressionist painting of heaven. Trees with bright green leaves and flowers blooming, welcoming me to a perfect California Spring. It had been raining when my plane departed from New York and although it was slightly cooler than usual for this time of the year, there wasn’t a gray cloud to be seen.

I take the tunnel toward the Galen Grove airport, a small airport about twenty minutes from Hillcrest Hills with only three terminals and a handful of airlines used only for business class commercial and private flights.

The brisk air flows through the black long wig I’m wearing to disguise myself as I make my way into the large building before me and head down to the airport lobby with nothing but the clothes on my back and a small duffle bag of necessities Luke grabbed from my suite before I left. Closing my eyes, I lose myself to the rampant noise of the busy airport, letting it consume me as it reminds me all of this is real.

It’s really happening.

I escaped my kidnapper and am finally free. At least until they come looking for me once they find out what I’d done. They had to have found his body by now, having gone to look for himwhen he didn’t check in for his nightly meetings with the other heads of his family.

After sleeping only three hours in the last twenty-four, I’m terrified to see my reflection in the mirror and catch sight of the complete mess I must currently look like.

“Why did I come here?” I murmur to myself, rushing into the bathroom to my right when my paranoia of being followed becomes suffocating. Quickly, I rush into a stall to relieve myself, cringing at the bloodied sequined dress I’m still wearing under a black coat, cursing myself for not stopping to change and wash the blood off me before leaving.

Dried blood stains run down my neck and chest, his and mine combined, but Luke was right, I didn’t have the time.

I tear open the duffel bag eager to get out of this filthy dress, but to my surprise, there’s nothing in this bag that resembles leisure or what anyone would wear unless they were going out to an elusive nightclub. The few garments Luke snagged from my room are designer pieces similar to what I’m currently wearing, but at least they’re clean.

Just as I’m about to slip out of my coat to change, I hear the door of the restroom creak open and a woman currently on the phone enters the stall beside me. If I change now, she might see the bloodied dress fall to my feet. I can’t risk the attention and getting caught. Instead, I rush out of the stall, wash my hands as fast as I can, and button my coat before hurrying back into the airport lobby.

I’ll have to wait to discard these clothes until I get to the hotel I’ll be staying at.

I don’t know why I came back home. Maybe it’s the stupid notion I’ll be safer in plain sight. They won’t come looking for me here, not when they know this is the last place I’d ever come back to. I have no one here who gives a damn about what’s happening to me, and they know that.

Even if Enzo’s father suspects home is where I’ve fled, he wouldn’t dare step foot into a territory he no longer has jurisdiction in. Thanks to my brother and his associates, this is the newly improved Hillcrest Hills, free of all crime and corruption. Ace had no other choice but to take over after Wesley’s death and his accomplice’s capture. It was that or let it fall into even dirtier hands. The only scumbags who once ruled this town are buried six feet under, rotting in a high-security prison cell, or on the run.

Now Ace rules this town, or what’s left of it, with an iron, uncorrupted fist. His wealth and power, self-made in the last three years, rivals what my family once had. And he did it all on his own merits, reforming the legal business my family had first built.

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