Miranda Fontaine never thought that her parents would look her in the eye and lie to her. It's been eighteen years since the disappearance of her twin brother. Eighteen long years since her parents said that her brother went on a trip and never returned. She knew they were lying. And so she dedicated her entire life to finding out the truth behind her brother's disappearance. What she didn't expect to run into was a web of lies of deception more than thirty years in the making. A once renowned surgeon turned mafia lord, a secret from her mother's past that was buried twice. Secrets her father held that not even her mother knew of. She suddenly finds herself at the centre of the burning family feud. Maybe her brother wasn't dead after all. Maybe he did die. And maybe she will lose her life trying to uncover the full truth of the matter.
Miranda's POV:
I glanced at the street before us. Pine street, with its quaint mom and pop shops. It used to be lively, especially along this time of the year as winter approached. But today it was dark and gloomy. Residents had shut themselves indoors, windows and doors bolted shut. They had gotten wind about the officers that disappeared her last night, and everyone was on edge.
"lets start by questioning." I said to Ferdinand. His hand went to his pistol at his hip holster, a sign that he was feeling threatened.
we headed to the bakery where they had been last spotted before they vanished.
"Yes, they were here. Kind men, both of them." The owner of the bakery, a middle aged woman in leopard print said.
"Did you notice anything strange after they left?"
She adjusted her glasses on her nose bridge. "No, nothing at all. They bought their usual doughnut and coffee, and they left."
I turned and glanced at Ferdinand. His hand was still on his gun. I gently tapped his hand and motioned for him to calm down, he was scaring the old lady.
"Thank you ma'am, we'll be sure to ask around more. And if you notice anything more, don't be scared to give us a call."
She nodded, and her wrinkled face lit up with a smile. Just as we turned to leave, she called us back.
"There was something! Oh dear me, my memory isn't the best."
A spark of hope lit up in my chest. "What was it? What do you remember?"
"There was a bike. And a man on the bike, he followed the officers. Ah yes! I remember now!"
"A bike? What did it look like?" Ferdinand asked.
"Ah, I can't tell, young man, it was big, and oddly silent."
I smiled gratefully. "Thank you, ma'am, you've been helpful."
"Please, I hope you find them. They're our regular and most cherished customers."
"I and my partner will do our best." We bade her goodbyes and left.
"A silent bike." Ferdinand said once we were outside of the bakery.
"There was no bike on the traffic cams."
"Or maybe we missed it. We'll have to go back and --"
"Officers!" a loud shout tore through the air. We both turned to see a boy running up to us. His eyes held fear. He raced up to us and slowed down, breathing heavily and sweating.
"What is the matter?" I asked.
He pointed a shaky hand down the street. "T-the kids! They found something in the back! Oh thank the heavens you're here!"
Ferdinand and I exchanged a tense look. "Show us," he said.
He nodded and ran off in the direction he had pointed in. we followed behind him and got to the backyard of a shop. The place was clustered up with bags of trash and broken furniture. But that wasn't what caught my eye. A few parents stood around, cradling crying kids. We walked up to one of them.
"Ma'am, Officer Fontaine here. What happened here?"
The woman looked at us, her eyes holding the same fear I had seen on the boy's face. She pointed at a pile of trash. "The kids found it. They saw..."
Ferdinand headed over to the pile of trash.
"Everything is going to be okay ma'am. Please step back." I did my best to move them all out of there. My heart thumped furiously. I could almost guess what was happening.
Ferdinand made a call to headquarters. Our eyes met and he confirmed my fears.
**
Bars weren't my thing.
But today called for it.
Ferdinand, myself and his girlfriend sat at the bar, drinks in hand and faraway looks in our eyes. I swirled my straw in my glass of mojito, toying with the mint leaves insdie. I had drank half of it and then my stomach closed up. The music thumped through the walls, vibrating everything. I hardly heard it.
I could still see them, officers Stuart and Kevin. Their faces bleached of all colour, eyes dull and glassy. I could still see the flies that swarmed around their bodies, heavy and loud, as if they had ben dead weeks when it was only likely a day.
Their bodies bore signs of torture. The fingers on each their right hands had been cut off, and it wasn't clean. Same with their toes. There were signs of strangulation, and rope marks all over their bodies. The looks of horror etched onto their faces indicated that they had suffered a lot before they died.
A clean kidnap. Severed fingers and toes. Body horror.
This wasn't just any kind of homicide. This was targeted. This was palnned. And it was effective.
I sipped my drink and sighed. No matter how many times I come across a dead body in this line of work, it doesn't make it any easier. And I am reminded that humans have capacity for great evil.
The three of us sighed at once. I turned to them and we shared a tense smile.
"How are you?" Erica, Ferdinand's girlfriend asked with a kind smile. She was a stunning supermodel. She and Ferdinand had been together since high school, and they were inseparable. She also knew about our current tasks and assignments. One of the kindest and sweetest people I had ever met.
"A bit shaken," I said. "it's hard to believe they're gone. We saw each other last week."
"Oh well, its out of our hands now." Ferdinand said with a sigh. "FBI has stepped in, they're gonna handle this."
"I knew it was related to the underground." I replied. Ferdinand met my eyes, a silent warning not to continue. I pretended I didn't see it. "It's probably one of the bigger families. Probably Federico and his goons."
Morgan loved him with her entire heart. She sacrificed everything for him, her life, her family, her career, her dignity, all in the hope that he would love her back. "What are these?" Morgan whispered her voice shaky, staring at the papers tossed on the table. She looked up at her husband of three years. "Dante, what is this?" "Sign the papers. We're getting divorced." He said with a straight face. Just like that, all the years of her life spent loving him and pining after him wasted like that. The baby in her stomach she had planned to tell him about weighed heavily on her mind. But a divorce? She hadn't seen that coming. "I was with you only because you looked like her." He proceeded to say. "Sign the papers and get out of my house." Once his first love returned, he was quick to cast her away like used trash. Morgan, determined to move on with her life, left him. He had no idea who she was. It was time for her to come back home. After the breakup, fate brought them back together. But the Morgan of now was no longer the sad girl in love with him. Now the CEO is the Rosewood Enterprises, she vows to reclaim her life back. Dante realized he was in love with her, and tries to get her back. But there's a new man in her life now. Will she forgive Dante, or will she move on from him completely? How will she handle the challenges thrown at her? How will she continue to rise to the top and overthrow her enemies? Or will she succumb to the voices? Read to find out.
Rosalynn's marriage to Brian wasn't what she envisioned it to be. Her husband, Brian, barely came home. He avoided her like a plague. Worse still, he was always in the news for dating numerous celebrities. Rosalynn persevered until she couldn't take it anymore. She upped and left after filing for a divorce. Everything changed days later. Brian took interest in a designer that worked for his company anonymously. From her profile, he could tell that she was brilliant and dazzling. He pulled the stops to find out her true identity. Little did he know that he was going to receive the greatest shocker of his life. Brian bit his finger with regret when he recalled his past actions and the woman he foolishly let go.
"Please trust me, I didn't do anything." "I don't believe you. I am rejecting you as my Queen and giving you the punishment of death." Alina was living outside her pack for five years. Her parents didn't try to contact her and always ignored her. Her best friend convinced her to go back to their pack and she agreed. But she had never imagined what was waiting there for her. She never thought she would meet her mate and had to face betrayal from everywhere. She had to pay for the crime which she never committed. Aaron Robertson is the king of Lycans. He is a very dominant and powerful King who not only rules Lycans but also rules other ranks of werewolves. Everyone is afraid of Lycans and he is the king of them. But who knew that he would get a mate who was just a simple Omega with no powers and strengths? He called her weak all the time but little did he know that his weak Omega would give him the biggest betrayal of his life for which he had to give her the sentence of death.
Janet was adopted when she was a kid -- a dream come true for orphans. However, her life was anything but happy. Her adoptive mother taunted and bullied her all her life. Janet got the love and affection of a parent from the old maid who raised her. Unfortunately, the old woman fell ill, and Janet had to marry a worthless man in place of her parents' biological daughter to meet the maid's medical expenses. Could this be a Cinderella's tale? But the man was far from a prince, except for his handsome appearance. Ethan was the illegitimate son of a wealthy family who lived a reckless life and barely made ends meet. He got married to fulfill his mother's last wish. However, on his wedding night, he had an inkling that his wife was different from what he had heard about her. Fate had united the two people with deep secrets. Was Ethan truly the man we thought he was? Surprisingly, he bore an uncanny resemblance to the impenetrable wealthiest man in the city. Would he find out that Janet married him in place of her sister? Would their marriage be a romantic tale or an utter disaster? Read on to unravel Janet and Ethan's journey.
It was supposed to be a marriage of convenience, but Carrie made the mistake of falling in love with Kristopher. When the time came that she needed him the most, her husband was in the company of another woman. Enough was enough. Carrie chose to divorce Kristopher and move on with her life. Only when she left did Kristopher realize how important she was to him. In the face of his ex-wife’s countless admirers, Kristopher offered her 20 million dollars and proposed a new deal. “Let’s get married again.”
Kaelyn devoted three years tending to her husband after a terrible accident. But once he was fully recovered, he cast her aside and brought his first love back from abroad. Devastated, Kaelyn decided on a divorce as people mocked her for being discarded. She went on to reinvent herself, becoming a highly sought-after doctor, a champion racer, and an internationally renowned architectural designer. Even then, the traitors sneered in disdain, believing Kaelyn would never find someone. But then the ex-husband’s uncle, a powerful warlord, returned with his army to ask for Kaelyn’s hand in marriage.
In her previous life, Kimberly endured the betrayal of her husband, the cruel machinations of an evil woman, and the endless tyranny of her in-laws. It culminated in the bankruptcy of her family, and ultimately, her death. After being reborn, she resolved to seek retribution against those who had wronged her, and ensure her family's prosperity. To her shock, the most unattainable man from her past suddenly set his sights on her. "You may have overlooked me before, but I shall capture your heart this time around."