Page 36 of Claimed
She rolled her eyes. “Does she know about Julia?”
Jasper stood. “Two days, and then you’re going to the north compound.James will be around to make sure you keep a low profile.” He strolled away without answering her question.
That had been almost three weeks earlier, and Bryn had had a change of heart. She’d gotten word that Jasper would be arriving with Holly. She felt ashamed for never telling the one woman who had truly been her only friend about Julia Valentine. She wanted to confess that she was slightlyjealous that Holly would take her brother away from her. It was the fear of a little girl, not of the woman she was becoming. On top of that, she’d wanted to tell Holly the truth about why she’d invited her to the Christmas mansion to investigate her family in the first place.
Finally, the helicopter appeared and hovered over its landing spot. Bryn ran away from the window and took offdown the stairs. She stopped at the front door to put on her coat, hat, scarf, and gloves. It was as cold as hell out there. When she made it to the porch, the helicopter door opened. William, the guest butler, walked out of the house to stand beside her. He assumed the posture he took when he was ready to accept new guests.
“Who’s that?” she asked, watching the copilot open a blue umbrellaand walk a young woman quickly up the cleared cement walkway that led away from the helipad and toward them. She was a few inches too short, and her clothes were too trendy for her to be Holly, who dressed as if she had a business meeting in the next five minutes.
“It’s Miss Katie,” he said.
She frowned. “Katie who?”
William trotted down the steps and took the umbrella, takingover the task of providing her with cover from the snow. The copilot then handed William the woman’s bag, which appeared old and beat-up. Bryn couldn’t take her eyes off the woman’s face as she and William walked up the steps.
When it became apparent that Bryn was looking at the reflection she saw when she looked in the mirror, she gasped and pressed her fingers against her lips. “Oh myGod,” she said, barely audible.
“You must be Bryn,” her twin said.
They were standing face to face. They were virtually the same height and weight, and surprisingly enough, they both wore black stretch pants with a silver bomber jacket.How in the hell did that happen?
“Oh my God,” Bryn said, shaking her head. Something told her there was a long story behind the longer story.
“Let’s get Miss Katie settled,” William said.
The twins had a hard time ripping their eyes off each other. Finally, Bryn swallowed a huge lump in her throat. “Thanks, William.” She wanted to put a hand on Katie’s shoulder but resisted the urge to touch her. “Um. Can we talk soon, Katie?”
Katie nodded with her eyes cast down. Bryn frowned, noticing how afraid and shocked hertwin was. If genes could account for something, Bryn knew Katie would respond like a raccoon trapped in a corner and fight her way out of that house if made to feel too uncomfortable. So she had to be careful to not spook her.
As William escorted Katie to the second floor, Bryn stood at the base of the stairs. She was at a fork in the road. One branch led upstairs with Katie. The otherled to her hightailing it down to the indoor pool, where Dale, her brother Asher, and his paid-for girlfriend, Gina, were swimming.
Katie turned to look at her as William led her up the stairs to get her settled into a room. There was no doubt they were sisters.But how did we get separated?Bryn needed to make a snap decision. Telling Asher and Spencer, who had brought the prostitute theyshared to the estate, would be akin to helping a sandstorm kick up dust. They would be no comfort to her and offer no assistance, and in fact, they would make the situation worse.
“Nope,” she muttered and ran up the stairs. She would have her time with Katie first.
The conversation had startedwith a simple question. Bryn ran up to Katie just before she entered the room that was prepared for her, on the opposite side of the hallway from where Bryn slept. “Can we talk now?”
This time, Katie nodded energetically. Bryn took the bag from William and told him that they would handle it from there. He bowed graciouslyand said he’d have lunch brought up for them shortly.
“Add a premium bottle of red wine—make that two of them—and lots and lots of desserts,” Bryn said.
Katie smiled mildly. Bryn was glad that made her new sister happy.
“I’m only skinny because I have a fast metabolism. One day, my eating is going to catch up to me, and I don’t give a fuck.” Bryn set Katie’s bag on top ofthe dresser, sat on one of the blue-velvet wing chairs, and pointed to the one across from her. “Would you join me?”
Katie took the seat, and they began their no-holds-barred conversation.
Bryn learnedthat Katie had grown up in a house with other girls in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Katie had never attended school and couldn’t read hardly at all until she escaped to New York City. Once she got a taste of learning, she never stopped.
The twins took a pause while lunch, desserts, and wine with glasses were set up around them. Beef Wellingtonwith a Cobb salad and fresh vegetable soup were served.
When they were alone again, Bryn asked the question that had been burning in her brain. “How did you get out of that house for good?”
As they ate, Katie told the story of how the girl across the street, Alexia, had become her only friend and the only person who knew she would sneak out into the woods. The girl would bring hercigarettes and food. However, Alexia would do all sorts of drugs. Katie never touched drugs because if she went back into the house high, they would have known she had been sneaking out.
One day, Katie went to the woods and found Alexia gagging, eyes rolling back in her head, and frothing at the mouth. Katie knew to call 911 because she had heard Bam tell Sissy—the woman he relied on torun all his errands and talk to the others when problems arose—to drop a girl off at the bus stop and dial that number if something happened and the girl was either close to death or dead.
“Shit,” Bryn said. “That’s awful.”
