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Out of our entire family, my cousin is definitely the most sheltered. As a matter of fact, she thinks my father runs an international freight company, and Uncle Damon, as well as Roman, are part owners. At least some of that is technically true.
“Hi, Quinton, how is school? Learning anything yet?” Damon greets.
“A few useful things, but mostly stuff I already know.” I shrug.
“I looked up Corium University. It looks beautiful online. Maybe I can see it in person one day,” Tessa asks hopefully.
Of course, the Corium website is a complete fake, a front so students have something to show to keep appearances up for instances just like this.
“It looks nice, but it’s fucking cold up there.”
“Quinton, no cussing,” my father warns, and I almost laugh.
“Sorry,” I mumble before I continue talking. “Seriously, though, they make it look much nicer in the pictures than it is. You’re not missing anything.”
“I must be missing something if you, Ren, and Scarlet get to go there. I’m sure Luna will too. Basically, I’m the only one not going.”
“You’re not missing anything,” Ren chimes in.
“Really, I’ve been there once, and it’s not that great,” Luna agrees.
“And I don’t even know if I’ll go there.” Scarlet shrugs. “Where are you planning to go? Maybe I’ll join you.”
“Well, it depends on where I get in. Of course, I’d love to go to MIT and get an engineering degree, but I’m not sure if I’ll make it.”
“Are you kidding? They’ll be crazy not to have you.” My sister beams.
Of course, Tessa will get into MIT. Not only is she ridiculously smart, but we also have the money and contacts to get her into any college she wants.
The rest of the dinner goes over rather smoothly. We mostly talk about generic stuff like sports and movies, never straying too far from the fluffy things with Tessa around.
After dinner, our dads go to smoke a cigar on the balcony while our moms set up the living room for us to exchange presents. As soon as our parents leave, Tessa slides her dessert plate away and throws her napkin on top like she is about to storm out of the room. Instead, she scowls at us.
“Why is everyone lying to me about Corium? I’m not stupid. Corium University does not exist.”
Well, shit. I didn’t expect that. I guess I should have, since I wasn’t exaggerating about her being ridiculously smart.
“What makes you say that?” I ask carefully.
“The website has an image of a different university with the Corium name photoshopped on it. None of the staff has social media profiles, and there is no forum or groups either. Why are you going to a made-up university?”
“We’re not—” Ren and I answer at the same time.
“Why are you lying?” Tessa glares at us.
“They are not going to school at all,” Scarlet chimes in. “Quinton, Ren, and I don’t want to study, but you know how our parents are. They would never be okay with either one of us not going to get a degree, so we made up this school.”
I’m equally impressed and worried about how smoothly Scarlet delivers this intricate lie.
Playing right along, I add, “We use the money they think is going to tuition to build our own business. By the time they catch on, we will hopefully be large enough to show them we can do it on our own.”
“Wow… Jesus.” Tessa stares at us wide-eyed.
“Please don’t tell them. They haven’t suspected anything so far,” Scarlet pleas. “We don’t want them to find out until the business takes off.”
“Okay.” Tessa nods, pulling her lip between her teeth. “What kind of business are you—”
“Guys,” my mom interrupts just in the nick of time. “We’re ready for you to open your presents.”
“Coming!” Scarlet jumps up and speed walks away.
I give Tessa a hopeful smile, and she returns it with a slight nod. Hopefully, that means she’ll drop the subject because I honestly don’t know what else to tell her… sorry, Tess, your entire life has been a lie, and you are part of one of the largest crime families in the US.
Yeah, I’m sure that would go over well.
I excused myself and went back to my room the first chance I got. If it wasn’t for Scarlet and Mom, I would have probably skipped out on today altogether.
Sitting down at my desk, I flip my laptop open and pull up the camera feed from Aspen’s room. The light is turned off, but the night vision camera is able to give me a clear black-and-white image.
Aspen is curled up in her bed, wrapped up in her blanket tightly. Her lips are slightly parted, and her face is relaxed, giving her a child-like appearance. I smirk. Aspen is anything but a child.
A knock at my door has me shutting my laptop quickly.
“Come in,” I call, expecting one of my parents to check on me after I left abruptly. Instead, Uncle Damon steps into my room. “Oh, hey. What’s up?”
