Page 61 of Lust & Lies

NOELANI

MY STOMACH TWISTED, and bile rose to the back of my throat. My hands trembled as I touched my face. Her face. The face of the woman Aiden had married. This wasn’t a nightmare. It wasn’t some bad dream.

This horror story was my life. My sister was Ellie, the woman who’d taken Aiden from me. And when she’d gotten tired of him, tired of playing wife, she’d handed me over to him like a fucking gift so she could run off and start her life with someone else.

And Aiden... he’d accepted me, wanting a second chance with the woman he’d already discarded. I guess since we looked so much alike, we were interchangeable in his eyes.

Tears spilled down my cheeks before I could stop them. Hot, bitter tears that burned as they slid down my face. I yanked the covers off and climbed out of bed, body trembling with rage, heart pounding so hard I thought it might stop altogether.

All I could think about was all the bullshit lies he’d fed me about loving me, about loving only me. Every whispered word had been a lie. Every sweet romantic gesture had been an act. It was all fake. A scheme to make me fall in love with him all over again.

And that wedding picture. That fucking wedding picture! It wasn’t fake. Of course, it wasn’t fake. It was real. Real in the worst possible way. It was a snapshot of their betrayal. A moment, frozen in time, that proved Aiden had married my sister, my twin.

My sister was the real Noelle Park. I was just her stand-in. Her temporary replacement until they decided they wanted to switch things up again. I shook my head, barely believing this was happening to me.

Aiden had really married my twin sister. I thought back to a previous dream I’d had, the one where I’d caught them in bed together. I’d actually caught the two of them in the act. They’d screwed around behind my back.

And when they grew tired of each other, my sister and her bitch ass boyfriend had drugged me and tried to give me to Aiden. What kind of people had I let into my life? Was I just a toy to them?

Something they could use when needed, discard when they didn’t want me, then pick me back up when they felt like playing with me.

No more. I was done being a part of their twisted game.

I was done having my heart broken by two people who should have wanted to protect me the same way I’d always wanted to protect them.

A sob ripped from my throat, and I dropped to the floor in front of the bed. My knees hit the ground hard, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t feel anything beyond the pain slicing through my chest. I’d lost everything.

My parents.

I remembered them now. And I hated that remembering them caused me pain. I touched my hand to the side of my head as an ache formed behind my eyes. I fought through the pain, letting the memories flood my mind.

My mother... I’d only seen pictures of her and heard stories about how sweet she was. She’d died when I was a baby, murdered by my father’s enemies. The Park’s enemies. They’d thought they killed me, too.

Along with Layla Hatfield, Gertrude’s daughter, her and Samuel’s only child. Layla had been at our house that night because she’d wanted to play with the babies. She often stayed nights with us while my dad and her parents worked missions.

That night, the men had broken in with the goal to kill three people, since my father and his Watchdog team had killed three of their people. Gertrude and Samuel had been members of his team. And they’d lost their daughter the night I lost my mother.

The only reason I’d survived was because my mother fell to the ground with me, and smeared her blood over my face, making the intruders think the sleeping baby was dead. I’d heard all of this from Grandpa Park, and Gertrude had confirmed it.

According to them, my father had been out for a drive with Noelle the night the intruders broke into our home. She was a fussy baby, and sometimes a drive helped put her to sleep. Noelle should’ve appreciated such a caring father. She didn’t.

Overnight, he’d become a single dad of twin girls who’d lost his wife because he’d been the leader of the Watchdogs. Because he’d taken out three of the Park’s enemies, all of whom were the adult sons of their rival.

That mission had started a blood feud. Enraged, the rival leader sent hitmen after my father, retaliating by taking three of his people.

Feeling bad for him and also feeling responsible for what happened, Grandpa Park helped my dad out with his girls, even allowing Noelle to live with his daughter, Ji-an, who didn’t have a child of her own.

As she got older, Noelle clung to Ji-an because my sister despised our father’s occupation. Not because he was a killer, but because we hadn’t been able to afford a mansion like the Parks. She hadn’t wanted to live a normal life, in a normal house.

Even as a child, she’d wanted the life the Parks had. So she’d clung to them, even choosing to be the honorary daughter of Aiden’s aunt after our father died. Our sweet father. He’d died when I was only ten.

He’d died while out on a mission for the Park family, prompting Grandpa Park to take me in and let me live with him. And my sister, she’d always loved living with Aiden’s aunt because she was treated like a princess there.

She’d always been embarrassed by our father. Had even started acting like she wasn’t related to him at all before he died. And when he’d died, she hadn’t cried for him. All these years, I’d been forced to hide so that my father’s enemies, the Park’s enemies, wouldn’t come back to finish the job.

If they’d learned that someone had survived that night, the blood feud would’ve been reignited, and they’d come looking for another life to claim. Grandpa Park told me I had to live as a boy so that his rival didn’t know that baby Noelani had survived.

However, as I got older, I realized that it wasn’t just me he was trying to protect. The rival wanted blood for blood. If he felt he was still owed a life, there was a chance he’d come after Grandpa Park’s grandsons.

Ethan. Tristan. Aiden.

My hiding was more to protect them than to protect me. And while I’d been existing as a ghost, my sister had been thriving. She’d had everything, while I’d had nothing after my father passed.

Yet, that hadn’t been enough for her. She’d wanted more. She’d fought to take everything from me. Did she not realize that life had already been so fucking unfair to me? I’d lost everything.

The man I loved. My identity. My past. My fucking present, and they were trying to take my future and my dignity too. They’d made me into a joke. They’d treated me like I was nothing.

My hands balled into fists against the floor as I cried for the little girl I never got to be, the woman I was supposed to be, and the woman I would become if I didn’t get away from this place. I had to leave. I had to leave right now!

I rose from the floor, legs wobbly, hands trembling. My breaths came in ragged gasps, chest tight, the aftershocks of the dream still ricocheting through me. Aiden was asleep in the guest room, too exhausted to do much of anything.

His tiredness was the only reason I had a shot at escaping tonight. I had to move fast. Had to move quietly. I changed into black leggings, a T-shirt, and tennis shoes. No socks. No bag. No plan.

Just the desperate need to get away from this place before I lost the last piece of myself. I slipped out of the room, careful not to let the door creak as I pulled it shut behind me. My heartbeat pounded in my ears, and for a second, I thought it might give me away.

Downstairs, I crept toward the security panel. I entered the code I’d seen Aiden use the day before. The panel beeped. A soft click followed. The screen lit up: MODE: Security Unarmed.

It worked. I opened the door, slipped outside, and closed it behind me. I didn’t stop to think. I rushed across the yard toward the black van. But when I reached it, I realized I’d forgotten something important. I didn’t have the keys.

“Damn it,” I whispered, turning to stare around me.

Going back inside wasn’t an option. If Aiden woke up and caught me... I didn’t want to think about what would happen if he caught me. I looked toward the shed. The four-wheelers were in there. They were my only shot now.

I sprinted across the yard, praying that Aiden was still sleeping peacefully, the lying bastard. I reached the shed door and tugged. Locked. Of. Fucking. Course. My eyes dropped to the security panel mounted beside the door.

Should I try the same code I’d used at the house?

If I got it wrong and it triggered an alarm, everything would be over.

But if I didn’t try, I’d be escaping on foot with no destination, no supplies, only a partial memory, so I didn’t know who was friend and who was foe.

I wasn’t sure how far I could make it like that.

I had to take the risk. Damn it. This was nerve-wracking, but I couldn’t keep wasting time. I took a deep breath and entered the code. The panel beeped. A green light flashed. A soft click followed. The lock released. It worked!

Thank you, sweet baby Jesus.

I pulled the door open. The lights flickered on when I stepped into the shed. They must have been motion detection lights. I smiled as I stared at two four-wheelers sitting side by side in the center of the room. Perfect.

They were my ticket out of here. I glanced around the space. Aiden, you lying motherfucker! There was no clutter, nothing that could fall on me or hurt me if I came in here. This place was clean and well-organized.

Rolling my eyes, I stepped toward the four-wheelers, relief mixing with the adrenaline still rushing through me. But then... I saw it. A steel door at the back of the shed that had a black security panel mounted in the center of it.

I should’ve kept moving. I needed to keep moving. But something about that door... it called to me. My mind was trying to form a memory, but it just wouldn’t come. It was the most infuriating feeling I've ever experienced.