Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 49114 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 246(@200wpm)___ 196(@250wpm)___ 164(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49114 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 246(@200wpm)___ 196(@250wpm)___ 164(@300wpm)
“I hope you don’t mind if I beg off tonight son. I’m not feeling quite myself.” I bit my tongue to hold back my true feelings and knelt by her side. Even though I expected it, it pissed me off nonetheless.
“It’s okay mom, we’ll go another time.” I didn’t leave her alone for the rest of the evening, but stayed close by until I put her to bed and returned to my own home.
I should’ve known the girl would plague me, that she would follow me into sleep. But I didn’t expect to have the most erotic dream since my youth.
Elaina
All through dinner I was a nervous wreck and things didn’t get any better after mom followed me to my assigned room under the pretense of tucking me in. Something she hasn’t done since … well ever.
“So, what do you think?” Is your skin supposed to crawl when in the presence of the woman who gave birth to you? I busied myself unpacking so that maybe she’d make this quick and be on her way soon.
“What do I think about what?” She rolled her eyes and sighed, that same put upon sound I’ve been hearing all my life. It only made my tummy hurt more. That and the look on her face.
“About this place, this whole setup of course. And what about that Luke? What a dish. Sometimes I wish I’d ran into him before meeting the old man.”
Oh, that’s a new low even for her. Of course I didn’t share that thought out loud. “The house is nice they seem nice.”
“Must you be so droll? And what was that at dinner? Lucas had to practically drag every word out of you.”
“Sorry, I’m still a little tired after the trip.” And my mind has been taken over by a pair of mesmerizing blue eyes. Eyes that seem to hide more than they were saying.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that he posed some sort of threat. It may not be against me personally, but her. And she’d dragged me into the middle of whatever mess she’d created.
“This is it, this is the big fish I’ve been trying to hook all my life. If you play your cards right you might get something out of this too.” I hated that smug sickening smile on her face. And felt almost sorry for the poor old man who’d been caught in her web.
“Oh by the way, I think you may have to put off going away to college for now. It’s not like you have the money for it anyway. And besides, I never finished high school and I can’t see where it’s hurt me none.”
“I don’t understand, why do you need me to stick around after the wedding?”
“Because silly, Lucas thinks we’re going to be one big happy family. You’ll be the daughter he never had. Plus I think I can talk him into giving you an inheritance.”
Did I really come from her? Please let me have been switched at birth. Unlikely, since I looked just enough like her for it to be noticeable. I could only hope that there’s where the similarities ended, and that we were indeed different.
“So you see, sticking around here might be more worth your while than going off to some college that’s just going to take your money with no guarantee that you’d land a job afterwards.” I was glad when she left after imparting those enlightening words.
Elaina
“Mom, what are you doing? What is that?” She jumped and hid her hand behind her back until she realized that it was I, walking into the room. “Oh, it’s you.” She went back to dripping whatever she had in the vial into the coffee cup.
“This my dear, is how I landed me the richest man in the state.” She stirred the coffee mixing it with what I was becoming to suspect was a drug of some sort.
“You…you drugged him?” She wore that same shameless smile I’d seen a million times before. It’s just as nauseating as the smirk and never bodes well for anyone within her path.
“Yes, of course. How do you think I got him to leave that stupid wife of his? Soon, all this will be mine.” I swallowed the saliva that pooled in my mouth and looked away as I walked deeper into the room.
She’d sunk even lower than I remembered if she was into drugging old men for their fortune these days. I looked at her now for the first time since she picked me up at the airport.
She was still as beautiful as I remembered from the last time I saw her, five years ago. All those expensive spa days and Botox were doing their jobs. So why did she have to go to such lengths? Maybe without them he’d have seen the real her? That was a thought.