‘Oh my God! Sweetie, you’re Carmen, and you’re alive. Oh my God!’ Sam started crying while she hugged Clara. ‘Your mom wept for you for months and is still weeping for your death. Oh my God, this is going to be good news,’ as Sam pulls away, ‘You better tell them right away, right John?’ and looks at her husband. John sat in his chair in a contemplative mood. ‘Clara is here because she thinks she should not shock her parents with her news. There will be a lot of explaining to do, and she’s scared that they would not readily accept her, given the circumstances that she has been gone for 20 years.’ Sebastian spoke on behalf of Clara while she cried with his mom. ‘So you wanted our help so we can invite them over for you and help you break the news to them?’ asks John. He was perceptive, and now Clara knows where Sebastian got his cunning mind.

Friday It had been a long week. One Clara did not imagine she was going to have. It was supposed to be an installation of the new security system for Navio, but now, she had also gained a sister. Who would have thought that revealing the truth by accident would be a good thing? She was still on pins and needles when it came to her parents, but she promised herself to take it one day at a time. No use worrying about it when it hasn’t even happened yet. Celine was going to call her and let her know what her parent’s schedule looked like so she could let Sebastian’s mom know in advance when they could have brunch at their house.  But today, it was going to be goodbye for now. The past few days, having lunch with Nathan, her father, was just as she always imagined it would be like if they were together. Having d

Clara started opening up to Jeremy about her fears. He would usually let her talk and then give his opinion, but this situation seemed like she just needed to dump her unfounded fears onto him. For a loud, opinionated, over-confident, feisty petite woman, there were a lot of things that scared her. Doubts and insecurities always wormed their way into her active mind. Growing up in an orphanage will do that to you. That feeling of being left behind just never leaves you. The weight on her shoulders was just too much for her to bear, but she had not cried this time, which was good because it meant Clara had solutions to her problems and did not feel very helpless about the situation. Voicing them out helped her realize that she was in control. Sebastian, her parents, these were people she could talk to and voice her concerns. Jeremy had slowly turned off the li

‘I’m not sure,’ Clara said, moisture gathering in her eyes. ‘She called out my old name… Why don’t you go ahead and see what happened? I’ll be outside the bathroom, listening.’ It was not the way Clara planned this revelation. She wanted to do it slowly, but she did not count on her mom recognizing her, and this brought tears to her eyes. Her mom knew who she was. She stood outside the bathroom door, sniffling as she listened in on their conversation. Sebastian had his arms around her. ‘Mom, are you okay? What happened?’ Celine asked as she left the door ajar, so Clara could hear. Emelia was inconsolable, ‘Carmen... oh Carmen, it’s my baby... oh Carmen, I know it’s her. Tell me it’s my baby.’ ‘Shh… Honey, it’s going to be okay,’ Nathan said as he rubbed his wife’s ba

Boss and Spike have been together since they were kids. Living in the unsavory parts of the city, where kids get born to teenage, drug-addled parents out of wedlock. They usually get taken away by social services to get stuck in a system that doesn’t care about them. If they do survive, then they fall back to where their parents originated from, continuing the never-ending cycle of drugs and violence. They start out as drug runners, lookouts for unsavory characters, and sources of information for their kind. They do not know any other way of life other than being a thug and a criminal. But that one million dollar windfall 20 years ago was the break they needed to start their business. They built a casino as a front for their drug business, and until recently, they had been successful. Their sources got busted by the cops. Millions of dollars went down the drain when their items were confiscated. All becau