Page 82 of Callum
“It’s not your fault.”
She studied his eyes before asking the question she needed to ask. “Did you find any information on her?”
Something passed over his face, giving her an answer before he spoke.
“Yes.” The way his eyes darkened almost made her not want to know. “Her name is Olivia Cohls, and she’s your twin.”
Fiona nodded, a slow, trying-to-take-it-in nod. Callum’s fingers tightened on her ribs. She’d known as much, but hearing it confirmed…it made it so much more devastating. “Identical?”
“I saw a few photos of her and, apart from her eyes, she didn’t look much like you, but that could be because of the bleached hair and the ton of makeup.”
“You saw photos?”
He paused before saying, “Mug shots.”
Her heart dropped. So she had an identical sister who was a criminal.
“Olivia grew up in foster care,” he said slowly. “She was bounced around the system until she aged out. She was charged with a few misdemeanors, but as of a few months ago, I haven’t been able to find any more information on her.”
Fiona’s mind raced, piecing the information together. “Maybe she got left with another family, but unlike my parents, they didn’t take her in?”
“That’s what I’m thinking.”
A tightness seized her chest before she whispered, “That could have been me.”
“What?”
“My mother leaving me with my parents was no doubt random. So, me having the life I lived rather than growing up in the system was completely by chance. As simple as her grabbing me to leave with Edna instead of Olivia.” Her next breath was more of a gasp of air. “That’s probably why Olivia’s doing this. She found out about me. Knows I got a better life. And now hates me for it.”
The realization was like a kick in the gut. Could she even blame the other woman for that? Maybe she’d hate her twin too, if the situation was reversed? “If I’d grown up like her and realized what she’d been given and I hadn’t, I could be doing exactly the same thing.”
He shook his head. “You wouldn’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I know you.”
She held his gaze for a full five seconds, letting the intensity in that look anchor her. Then she dipped her head to his chest. “You always have all the right words, Callum.”
But even though he said the right things, she wasn’t sure she believed him.
CHAPTER26
Callum leaned against Aidan’s kitchen island. His team stood around him, pizza and beer in hand, while the women sat in the living room with cocktails. Everyone was here tonight bar Tyler, who was in Salinas, California, searching for any information he could get on Olivia. It was the last town where Callum had found a record of Fiona’s twin living. Tyler was there to ask questions. Find out what they could about the woman.
As for him, he just wanted to be present with the rest of his friends and have a night off the threats. And more than that, give Fiona a night off.
“It was fine,” Liam said, giving them a recount of his date. “There were definitely lulls in the conversation during dinner, but she was nice.”
“How’d you say you met her?” Logan asked.
Liam lifted his beer to his mouth. “Grocery store. She bumped me from behind. We started talking, she asked me out, she was cute and sweet, so I said yes.”
“Second date?” Callum asked.
“I don’t think so.”
Not a surprise. Liam rarely dated, and when he did, the relationships didn’t last long. Callum wasn’t sure what kind of woman it would take to lock the guy down, but whoever it was, he hadn’t found her.
