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Caden placed a hand on Luke’s shoulder. “She will. And when she does, we’ll be ready.”
Chapter 27
Orly woke to the sound of a plane engine humming somewhere behind her. She was propped up in an old office chair, but when she tried to move, she realized there was a rope at her chest, tying her to the back of the chair. Her arms were bound at her sides, and her legs were tied to the chair, rendering her completely immobile. A warm breeze lifted the ends of her hair. She squinted at the bright overhead light. It had been dark for hours by now, but she was definitely outside. A small aircraft was parked several yards away, and she could just make out the nose of a second plane beyond it. Best she could tell, this was a small regional airport, and she had been left smack dab in the middle of the tarmac.
“Hey there,” a familiar voice said. Orly couldn’t quite place where she’d heard it before as the man walked up to her. He loomed over her, and Orly wondered if he was there to free her or kill her. They stared at each other for a long moment. He was obviously taking her in, just as she was studying him. He had to be over six feet tall, with sandy blonde hair and brown eyes that had flecks of green around the pupils. There was something familiar about him, but with her drugged mind, Orly couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Though she had to admit, with his rugged good looks, high cheekbones, full lips, and deep set eyes, he had something akin to a brooding movie star appearance. He actually reminded her of some of the surfers she’d seen on the beaches in Los Angeles the few times she’d gone to the coast. It wasn’t until he kneeled in front of her that her brain finally clicked, and she recognized him as the man she’d bumped into at the grocery store.He looked so different now.
“You…” She started to say, her voice cracking. Her mouth felt like it had a wad of cotton stuck in it. Her first instinct was to reach out to Luke, but her mind was still too fuzzy. She wasn’t strong enough to make the connection.
“We should’ve done this sooner, but the timing wasn’t right, and then you hooked up with that cop. Anyway, I want to properly introduce myself before Russell’s men get here. We only have a minute or so. My name is Nelson Kinkade, and I’m the one that’s been in that pretty little head of yours.”
Orly swallowed hard at his admission. She tried to look away, but he grabbed her by the chin and jerked her face back until their eyes met again. “Don’t look away from me when I’m talking to you. We’re not going to get a second chance to do this.”
She shuddered at the thought of what this could mean. “Why have you been in my head?” She asked, pushing down the nausea brought on by her fear of this monster. “What do you want from me?” She hated that he was showing her his face, that he wasn’t even trying to hide his identity from her anymore. Did he plan to kill her? Did Russell?
He brushed a finger down her cheek, cocking his head slightly. His eyes widened a bit, as if he suddenly knew a secret and was about to share it. “I’m sure Russell will tell you the full story, but I wanted to see your face when you found out. See, after you became a thorn in Russell’s side, he went digging into your past. And boy did he have to dig deep. I mean he had to go all the way back to your birth. Actually, our birth.” Nelson’s smile made the hairs on the back of her neck stand. “I’m your twin brother.”
Orly stared at him in confusion and disbelief. She couldn’t have heard him right.
“I was born six minutes before you to our alcoholic, drug addicted mother who couldn’t wait to get rid of us. So, when a family approached her, only wanting the boy, she apparently couldn’t say yes fast enough, not giving a rat’s ass what happened to you. And before you think I got the better end of the deal, I got stuck with rich assholes who made me feel inadequate, and sent me to the looney bin more times than I could count. So, I guess luck wasn’t on either of our sides.”
Orly was hyperventilating at this point, unable to fill her lungs with enough air. She had a brother? A twin brother who had the same gift as her? That would explain - everything. “You’re my twin brother?” She asked in disbelief. “My brother?! How long have you known? How could you do this to me knowing I’m your sister?”
Nelson straightened and took a step back. “My sister’s name is Laurel, and she spent most of our childhood teasing me relentlessly for all my shortcomings. Do you want to know what I do to sisters?”
Orly shook her head, regretting she’d said anything at all to this man who had the face of an angel and the heart of a monster.
“I didn’t think so,” he smirked. “You see, when I look at you, I see nothing but trash. The kind of people my family looked down upon. The ones my father would give his loose change to. Homeless scum of the earth who had no place to go, but the rotting streets. That’s what he called them. And do you know what? I was jealous of them. They were free to talk to themselves, to hear whatever they wanted to hear, and to do whatever they wanted to do. While I had to be the perfect son. The perfect brother. The perfect Kinkade heir.”
Orly bit her tongue to keep silent. She had no idea what it was like to grow up rich, but it couldn’t be nearly as bad as Nelson made it sound. Though after the way she had been treated most of her life because of her ability, she imagined it hadn’t been easy for him. “I was rejected too,” she said. “No one wanted me. Not even the foster parents who were being paid by the government to keep me.”
Nelson smirked. “At least you served a purpose for them. Perhaps if someone had paid my father to endure my relentless issues, he would’ve found a use for me besides treating me like a wild animal that had to be caged at all times.”
Orly didn’t know if she wanted to hug the man in front of her, or strangle him for becoming the monster that stood before her today. “I didn’t even know about you,” she said softly. She’d spent her life wishing she had a sibling. Someone she could talk to when she felt all alone. “How did you find me at just the right time? I mean, it seems like you found me right when Russell needed you to.”
Nelson shrugged. “I’ve been in your head most of our lives. I could always hear your thoughts, all your endless whining about your poor and unfortunate little life. I just never had a good reason to respond until your boyfriend came along.”
Orly swallowed hard. He’d been in her head all along? Even when she was seven, and that boy in school was teasing her mercilessly? Even when her date stood her up at homecoming because he found out she was just a poor, dumb foster kid? Even when Russell tracked her down to Las Vegas, and the first time he hit her, and…” It was getting hard to breathe thinking of all the times she could’ve used a brother, a friend, in her life, even if he was just in her head.
Nelson smirked, like he’d been privy to all her thoughts. Of course he was. “I don’t do the friend slash big brother thing. Trust me. You were better off without me interfering in that pretty little head of yours.”
Something in Orly shifted at his words. Was there a part of him that cared? Had he stayed away because he thought he was protecting her from himself? Before she could say anything more, the sound of a car engine sounded in the distance. Orly looked up in time to see Nelson turn toward the noise, but before he even took a step, there was a loud pop. He dropped to the ground, lifeless, blood pooling from a hole in the side of his head. “Nelson!” She screamed. Then a hand came over her mouth from behind, gagging her scream to a muffled noise.
“Easy, Darling, not your time yet. But he’s served his purpose,” the man said. His voice was low and rumbly. She tried to fight him, but she was still tied to the damn chair. Then she felt the prick of a needle in her neck, and everything got fuzzy fast.
No, this couldn’t be happening again. She had only just started to feel like herself. She fought to keep her eyes open, staring at the body lying on the floor not three feet away. Her brother.
***
Orly woke in complete darkness. She was lying on her back, but when she tried to sit up, her head hit a hard surface. She wasn’t entirely uncomfortable, except for not being able to see anything. Her hands happened upon something hard and spherical laying on her belly, and she closed her fingers around it, feeling its grooves and edges. A flashlight! She found the sliding switch and turned it on, blinding herself for a moment. And that’s when she saw it. She was locked inside a coffin.
“Nooooo!” She screamed. “Help me!” Panic clawed at her as she dropped the flashlight and started banging her fists against the padded top. She didn’t stop until her hands ached. “Please, someone! Help me!”
Something outside of her locked enclosure shifted, and then it was like the ground was coming out from under her. Was that turbulence? Was she on a plane? No, no, no, no…. Unable to reign in her panic, her breaths came out in ragged and uneven pants as sweat drenched her neck and forehead. Luke. Luke! Help me! She had no idea if her pleas would reach him but then -
Orly, thank God. I’ve been waiting for you to answer me. Where are you? What’s the last -
They killed him, Luke. The murderer in my head, they killed him. His name was Nelson Kinkade, and he was my brother. My twin brother, and they killed him right in front of me. A torrent of tears streamed down her cheeks and down the side of her neck into the material under her.
