Beyond The Veil

Chapter 1 — Sister-zilla

“What does she mean by she cannot do this anymore?” Benedict Jones growled, sweat on his brow as he faced his wife Dorothea Hudges Jones who looked even more nervous than him.

“I don't know! How was I to know she would run away on the day of her wedding?” She exclaimed.

A guard rushed in dressed in a secret service type of way and gave a slight nod to Benedict.

“Mr Jones, we found footage from the cameras in the garage. Ms Jones left in her vehicle and on her own accord. Seems she was prepared to.”

Dorothea blanched, gripping her fancy dress a little tighter as she asked, “What do you mean?”

“Miss Jones escaped the premises with two duffel bags in tow, ma'am.”

Benedict found a chair and sat on it leaning back and clutching his chest. “Penny. Penny. How could you do this to me?” He muttered. Dorothea rushed to his side patting his back gently before nodding at the guard.

Silence reigned in the room for a few minutes after the door shut behind him. Dorothea watched her husband before she turned.

“Kallie.” She whispered. 

Then she repeated loudly. “Kallista!” Enough to startle Kallista Hudges Jones, her daughter from another marriage before she met Benedict, who sat on the bride’s chair in the room. 

When Kallista looked up, her mother had a conspiratory smile on her face. She dropped the paper she had been staring blankly at for several minutes. It was the one Penelope had left behind.

“What do you mean by Kallista?” Benedict was on his feet at this point.

“Penelope took off which is so out of character but we will find her and talk some sense into her until then, Kallie you need to fill her space.”

“What?” Kallista nearly screamed in horror. “I can't! I will not. This is Penelope’s mess, not mine.” She cried. She leaned in closer to her mother and pleaded. “I will not always be used as clean up.”

“But we can't do this without you.” Her mother whined. “The Hawthorne's didn't ask for a specific daughter. We only chose Penelope because she was available.”

But Kallista knew what her mother didn't want to say out loud. “I couldn't choose you because it would have displeased my new family.”

As always since her mother married Benedict Jones she was being put in yet another tight spot. Used as clean up for another one of Penelope’s mistakes.

“Mom, no. Please don't make me do this. Who knows if Penelope was scared of going through with the wedding because of that jerk out there?”

“You will.” Her mother stated in finality. She stepped forward and grabbed her hands into a painful grip. “Benedict has done everything to raise you as his child, you ungrateful girl. The least you can do is save him, save us from losing his business, from public humiliation. Save the man who took you in when your father would not.”

She dropped her hands harshly and Kallista stepped backward until she hit the wall, her eyes wide and brimming with unshed tears. She stared at her mother like she had never seen her before.

Her mother's eyes were narrowed into slits and the daggers in them were pointed in her direction ready to launch if she made the wrong move or said the wrong thing.

Benedict stepped forward, his face expressionless at first then the corner of his lips tilted into a small smirk when her mother wasn't looking.

Kallista’s hands fisted in response. Then she realized that Penelope’s letter was still in her hand.

“I realized I can't do this. Don't bother looking for me. I'm fine.”

—Penelope.

If she thought her life couldn't get any worse than her misfortune weeks back, she was in for a treat.