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Laura pushed the door to Alex's bedroom open and stopped frozen in shock.
Alex, her boyfriend, was busy making out with cassie her best friend. They were in a compromising position. The image seared itself into her brain, and Laura felt like she had been punched in the gut. "Alex!!!" She yelled, her voice shaking as tears started welling up in her eyes. The both of them quickly slid under the sheets, and Alex faced her with cold eyes. "Surprised?" He raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by surprised ?" She asked. "Isn't it obvious? You no longer have my time. You're always busy with your brother and work. Honestly, George is going to die anyway. So, stop trying, " Alex snapped. Aurora's anger boiled over. She felt a surge of adrenaline coursing through her veins. She was trying her best to be optimistic about George's health, but Alex's words cut deep. She stormed to the side of his bed. Before he could react, her hand flew out and slapped him across the cheeks, sending his head tilting sideways. "You can say all you want about me, but don't you ever dare open your filthy mouth and talk about my brother," she snarled. With that, she turned and ran out of the apartment. The tears she was holding back had started streaming down her cheeks freely. She was late for work and couldn't find a cab. She quickly wiped her tears and took off on foot. After about 30 minutes of running, she arrived at the restaurant, gasping for breath. She quickly wiped her tears and composed herself before pushing the door open. The restaurant was meant for elites only. And the atmosphere was calm as usual. She spotted John her colleague, coming out from the kitchen, and she ran to him. "Is Mrs Miller around?" She asked. "Ehm... she came about an hour ago," John replied. "Oh God, I'm doomed," She muttered. "Quickly get dressed in your uniform before she comes out," John said as he glanced at the door leading to Mrs Miller office to see if she was coming. "Ok," Laura nodded, running into the staff's changing room. She quickly changed and emerged only to find Mrs Miller waiting for her, a Stern expression on her face. "And what's your excuse for today ?" Mrs Miller asked. "I'm... I'm sorry, please. I couldn't find a ride here," Aurora quickly apologized. "Sorry? Be sorry for yourself. You're fired!" Mrs Miller half yelled. Laura's eyes widened in horror. She couldn't lose this job. George's medical bills are there, and her rent was almost due. She lost her other jobs last week, and this was the only one she had left. "Please don't do this, Ma'am. I really need the money for my brother's hospital bills, please, I'm begging you," Aurora fell on her knees pleading. "I don't care. I won't have you coming to my restaurant late every single time and always trying to cook up an excuse or an apology. That's it. Take off my uniform and leave these premises now!" Mrs Miller yelled. Aurora searched her face to see if it held a single remorse, but she saw none. All she saw was anger and hate. Right from the start, Mrs Miller didn't like her, but she tried her best to please the old witch but couldn't. Fresh tears start rolling down her cheeks as she grabs Mrs Miller's legs. "Please don't do this to me. Please ma'am. My brother's life is in your hands, I need this job, please," Aurora cried. "Get those filthy hands of me. Your freaking brother's life isn't in my hands," Mrs Miller snapped, shaking Aurora off her leg. "Leave for the last time, or I'll call the cops," She threatened. Laura knew that was it for her. She was officially jobless and heartbroken. She changed back into her casual clothes and left the restaurant reluctantly. Her mind was messed up as different thoughts ran through it. She didn't even know whether to go home or to the hospital to check on George. His cancer was surely eating him up. She was already owing the hospital, and his medication bills were the only thing she was able to clear. Her phone rang from her pocket, disrupting her thoughts. Without checking the caller's ID, she brought the phone out and answered the call before placing it on her ear. "Hello," she whispered. "Hello, Miss Jacobs, this is Doctor Connor speaking," the caller said. Her eyes widened as she regretted picking the call. She was trying to avoid any call from the hospital lately because of the bills. "Ehm...Doc... Doctor... Connor. How may I help you?"Aurora stuttered. "You have not been picking up my calls, but thank goodness you did today. George's condition has taken a turn for the worst, and we need to perform an urgent transplant. One of his organs is down," Doctor Connor informed. "How much will it cost," Aurora asked, knowing fully well they'll ask for money. "$7,000" Doctor Connor replied. Her eyes instantly widened. Where was she going to get that amount from, she bearly had $2,000 on her. She quickly ended the call and shoved her phone back into her pocket. This was it. She was finally hopeless. She couldn't watch George die, but on second thought, she couldn't do anything currently. A thought suddenly crossed her mind, and she stared at the story building ahead of her. "If I can't watch you die, I might as well die before you," she muttered, proceeding into the building. She cried as she ran up the stairs leading to the rooftop. All the memories she had with George came playing back in her head in vivid flashes. More tears fell from her eyes as she got to the rooftop. The night breeze was cold as it blew by, pushing her hair forward, making it cover her face. She quickly tucked her hair behind her ears, approaching the edge. "I'm sorry, George," she mumbled, closing her eyes. Just as was about to jump, a muscular hand encircled around her waist, pulling her back. "Ahhhhh!" She screamed as they both fell backward, with she landing on top of him.She continued reading.“Margaret told us that Lily had been placed into the foster care system and that she was being cared for by the state until a new adoptive family could be found,” Scott continued.“Your father and I immediately tried to get Lily back, but Margaret told us that we had signed away our parental rights and that there was nothing we could do. We hired a lawyer, but he said the adoption contract we signed was ironclad and that we had no legal way to get Lilyback.”Scott turned to the last page. “We spent years trying to find out where Lily was and how she was doing, but the adoption agency wouldn’t tell us anything. Eventually, Margaret Sullivan disappeared and the agency closed down. We never found out what happened to Lily or if she ever got the medical treatment she needed.”Laura was sobbing now because her parents hadn’t deliberately abandoned Lily, they had been tricked into giving her up, then blocked from getting her back.“Every day of my
They went inside and found the storage unit. When Scott opened it, Laura saw boxes and boxes stacked up against the walls full of her parents’ stuff that George had saved after theydied.“Where do we start?” Laura asked because there were so many boxes she didn’t know which ones might have the information they needed.“Let’s look for anything that says documents or important papers,” Scott suggested. “That’s most likely where your parents would have kept anything about your birth.”They spent the next hour going through boxes, and Laura felt like she was violating her parents’ privacy by looking through all their stuff, but she needed answers more than she needed to respect their privacy.Scott found a box labeled “Important Documents” and pulled it down from a high shelf andset it on the floor between them.Laura opened the box and started looking through the papers inside, which were mostly tax returns, insurance documents, and other boring adult stuff. But then
Laura and Scott had been at the mountain house for three days when Detective Chen called, saying he had important news and needed to meet with them. They drove back to the city, even though Laura didn’t really want to leave the safety of the mountains where Lily couldn’tfind her.They met Detective Chen in Scott’s office at the mansion, and Laura could tell from the look on his face that whatever news he had wasn’t going to be good. She grabbed Scott’s hand before they even sat down.“Thank you for meeting with me,” Detective Chen said as he sat down across from Scott’s desk. “I’ve made some significant discoveries in my investigation.”“What did you find?” Scott asked, squeezing Laura’s hand.Detective Chen pulled out a folder from his briefcase and opened it on the desk. “I was able to obtain DNA samples from Laura’s medical records and compared them with DNA from Lily Jacobs, who is in the system from a previous arrest for shoplifting when she was nineteen.”La
Two days after the incident with Lily outside the gate, Laura was having breakfast in the kitchen when Amelia came in holding a white envelope and looking concerned.“This just came for you, Miss Laura,” Amelia said as she handed the envelope to Laura.“There’s no return address on it.”Laura took the envelope and immediately felt her stomach drop because who would send her a letter with no return address? She had a bad feeling she already knew who it wasfrom.“Thank you, Amelia,” Laura said, and she waited until Amelia left the kitchen before she opened the envelope with shaking hands.Inside was a single piece of white paper with just one sentence written in neat handwriting that said, “You stole my life.”Laura stared at the words and felt like she couldn’t breathe because this was from Lily and it confirmed what Laura had been afraid of which was that Lily blamed her for something thatwasn’t her fault.“What’s wrong?” Scott’s voice came from behind her and Lau
Laura’s hands shook as she grabbed her phone from the nightstand. She thought aboutcalling Scott but instead opened the app Scott gave her to control the security system afterthe threatening text.She pulled up the camera feed from the front gate and zoomed in on the woman’s face.Laura felt sick to her stomach because it was like looking in a mirror, only this woman’s hairwas a bit messier, and she wore different clothes, but the face was exactly the same.The woman wore dark jeans and a black hoodie, her hands stuck in her pockets. She juststood there looking up at Laura’s window like she knew exactly which room Laura was in.Laura watched the screen for a minute trying to decide what to do. Then the woman raisedone hand and waved at the camera like she knew Laura was watching. That made Laurafeel cold because how did this woman know about the cameras?Without thinking, Laura ran out of her room and down the hall to Scott’s room. She neededto tell him now, even if
“Need me? You don’t need me,” Laura said but her voice wasn’t very strong. “You just think you do because of the woman who looks like me.”“No,” Scott said, cupping her face. “I needed you before that. I just didn’t realize it until you were threatened and I thought about what it would be like if something happened to you.”Laura didn’t know what to say, so she just looked at him, trying to tell if he was honest or if this was just some stress reaction.“Eat your breakfast,” Scott said, pulling back. “It’s getting cold.”Laura picked up her fork and started eating while Scott sat next to her on the bed. She could feel the tension but it felt different—like they reached some kind of understanding.“This is really good,” Laura said after a few bites. “Thank you.”“You’re welcome,” Scott said, almost smiling, which was rare.They sat in comfortable silence while Laura finished and Scott just watched. It wasn’t creepy or obsessive now, it was like he just wanted to be near her, which was







