A Secret Fate (29 page)

“And you can hardly blame me,” Caitlin scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

“What about the company you work for? What is it they do and why did they take my sister?”

“They are a weapons development company, well, extraordinarily different kinds of weapons. They do a lot of research, and lately they’ve been using humans as their subjects for their experiments. They are trying to create the ultimate ‘killing machine.’ They’ve been keeping tabs on the crystal for years now. They believe it will increase the possibility of reaching their goal. They have people, spies if you will, all over the world,” Eric supplied while Cael and Addison gave him an incredulous stare. “They were holding Carly in exchange for the crystal. They’ve assured me she is safe. I’ve even seen her via video and she was fine. At first she was there of her own accord, working as a lab technician. Once she discovered what they were doing to some of the subjects, she contacted me immediately. Until then, I had no idea they’d started doing such horrible experiments or I never would have agreed to let her work there.”

“So this is about the crystal?” Addison asked, touching her fingertips to the spot on her neck where the pendant used to hang.

“I’m sorry, Addison, I hope I didn’t hurt you too badly when I took the crystal from you,” Caitlin said and Addison glared at her.

“It was you? You hit me over the head and took my necklace?”

“I said I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were my brother’s girlfriend. Hell, I didn’t even know he was my brother. I assure you, if I had known, I never would have done that. Please forgive me.”

From the look on Addison’s face, Cael didn’t think she’d forgive and forget too easily. He really couldn’t blame her. The blow to the back of her head had been brutal. Man, he guessed his little sis had some mad combat skills and he secretly held a new admiration for her, even though she did use them on the wrong person.

Addison touched the back of her head. “It might take some time.”

“Understandable. I’m so, so sorry.”

“Mom,” Cael glared at Siana. “Did you know about this?”

“No. Not until just now. Caitlin, I am shocked. Why would you do such a reckless thing?”

“Sorry, mom. Dad said not to alarm you, so I didn’t mention it.”

“Eric, you know I would have helped. We could have simply asked Addison and Cael to help us.”

“We … well, at the time, I didn’t know he was my brother.” Caitlin pointed her finger at Cael. “And I certainly didn’t know they were a couple. Sheesh.”

“Okay, gang, let’s get back on track here. You said they
were
holding Carly. What do you mean, ‘
were
?’ Do they still have her? Did you give them the crystal?” Cael had a dozen questions, but these were the most pertinent and at the forefront of his mind.

“Yes, they have the crystal,” Eric said and Addison gasped.

“So they released her … Carly?” The woman was his sister. He needed to come to terms with that, but it was difficult having never met her, even though her twin was standing right in front of him. It was just too bizarre.

“No. They won’t release her. They can’t get the crystal to do whatever it is they want it to do. That’s why we are here now. We need your help.” Eric turned to Addison. “Yours specifically, Addison.”

“How? Why me?”

“Well, if I’m not mistaken you seem to be the only one who can control the crystal or in layman’s terms, make it work magically.”

“Not true.” Cael knew the crystal had powers beyond anything imaginable, especially when paired with the sacred book still hidden in his safe, which he was not about to mention. Anyone could tap into its abilities to perform God knows what sort of good deeds or bad. “There’s the book that would make it extremely dangerous in anyone’s hands, but no one knows where it is.”

Addison glanced at him, as did Siana. They both remained quiet and he hoped they’d pick up on his feigning ignorance as to the book’s whereabouts. Of course, Siana knew where it was. When it came to Addison though, he wasn’t sure. There were still so many details about their relationship missing from his memories, including exactly how they’d met. She’d filled him in on some things, like the fact that she’d almost killed him with her truck, and how they’d destroyed Eidolon. She’d left out a good many of the details, claiming it was better if he learned them on his own, but he didn’t know if she knew where the book was hidden.

“Then I repeat, Addison is the only one who can make the crystal work.” His father’s irritated tone made his skin crawl. In fact, this whole fucking situation grated against every one of his nerves and the old man had no right to sound so chafed—not after all these years. Fuck, why couldn’t they have told him about his sisters?

“What exactly are you expecting Addison to do,
Dad
?” Cael asked, the Dad reference sounding awfully biting, but, hell, he didn’t give a shit. “I won’t let you put her in danger over this.”

“If she is the only one who can control the crystal, then we need her as bait,” Eric said.

“What the fuck are you talking about? You want to use my …” he glanced at Addison briefly, realizing he didn’t know exactly what to call her—girlfriend, fiancée? “… girlfriend,” he decided on for now, “in place of my sister? How can you even suggest such a …”

“No, not in place of Carly, just to help rescue her.”

“I don’t see how Addison can …”

“Wait, Cael,” Addison’s sweet but confident voice interrupted him. “I think it will be okay. I think together, you and me, I mean …” she blushed,
Christ, what was that about?
“I think you and I can make the crystal come to us.”

“Really?” was all he could utter. He sounded like a fool as he stared at her, entranced by her beauty. There was something more she wasn’t saying, but the color of her cheeks suggested it had something to do with an intimate moment they must have shared that he’d forgotten. The mere idea ignited a small flame in his heart.
This woman was like a sparkling diamond held against the sun with so many mysteriously brilliant facets working within its crystal structure.
He blinked, clearing his thoughts so he could get back to the part about not wanting to put her life in danger to save his sister.

“Look, you’re just going to have to trust me on this,” she said, moving close to him, gently placing her hand on his upper arm. “I think we can come up with a plan.”

***

While Addison, Siana, and his father all went back to mingling among the guests of the overblown get-together, thanks to Darcy and Jared, Cael noticed Caitlin sitting at a table by herself. The full moon, now high in the night sky, illuminated a luster in her dark hair that was so much like his own. He grabbed two beers from the cooler and walked toward her. She looked so much like him and he stopped walking, remembering there was another one, possibly just like her. Beautiful sisters, yet he knew nothing about them. He sneered down at the beers in his hands. She was his sister and he had no idea if she even liked beer, but he wanted to know so he ventured on. Sitting down on a chair next to hers, he popped the top off the beer and held it out to her. Caitlin looked up, her blue eyes sparkling back at his as she smiled.

“Thanks.” Caitlin accepted the beer and took a short sip. “This party is for you, right? Something about disappearing and losing your memory?”

He chuckled. “Something like that, yeah. Physically I’m back.”

“But not your memory?”

“No.”

‘How much did you lose?”

“Pretty much the last five years.”

She nodded and took another swig of the beer. Cael took a long pull on his own brew, keeping his eyes set on hers. She glanced around the yard. “I can’t imagine how that must feel.”

“It’s not the ideal situation, that’s for sure, but at least I never forgot who I was or anything about my childhood. Although, there are some things I wish I could forget.”

“Like Dad leaving you?”

“Humph, yeah. That would be one.”

“You seem to be taking it all pretty well. Mom told me how you lost your memory. I think I’d be very angry at the guy who caused it.”

“Apparently it wasn’t meant for me. There were extenuating circumstances.” Cael thought of Finn and how much he’d grown to like the guy during their time in Bora Bora. He had to admit; finding out Finn killed Careen and then tried to kill Maia to get back at Gerry took some time to accept. Bringing his focus back to the present, he looked at Caitlin and wondered how she was coping with all this. Up until now, he’d been thinking of only himself without even a fleeting thought about how well she seemed to accept the fact that she had a brother. On top of that, there was a world of people with abilities right under her nose, some of whom she had no idea even existed until tonight. In the same moment, he thought of Addison and how she must have reacted when she found out about her own history and abilities. Apparently, he’d helped her with that. She’d told him a little about it, but he wished to Christ, he could recall it on his own. There were so many things he wanted to remember, like the very first time they made love together. It dawned on him how right she’d been not to tell him everything. Here he was with his little sister and the circumstances were so much different. He began to grow angry again with his parents for keeping them apart. “How are you doing with all this? It must be a shock, learning about me and what I can do.”

“Ha, yeah. Not to mention what Mom can do.”

“Right. God, Caitlin, I wish …”

“I know.” She smiled, the warmth in her eyes showing him what a forgiving and understanding woman his little sister was. He supposed he should give kudos to his parents for that.

“Are you two identical?” he asked, wanting to know the other sister, fearing for her life as he thought of her being held hostage or killed before he would have the chance to know her.

“In looks only. Carly and I used to have fun in school with teachers. There are times, if we wear our hair alike and the same outfit, it is difficult to tell us apart.” She looked at Cael. “I bet we would have had fun fooling you when we were little.”

“Wish I’d been around to be fooled.”

She placed her hand on top of his. “Me too. Our looks though, are where the ‘identical’ in identical twins stops. So, if you study us closely, there are always signs to give us away. You would have learned them.”

“What are they?” He desperately wanted to know.

“Well, I think I tend to take more risks. I like to jump in with both feet and learn how to swim afterwards.” Cael smiled at her metaphorical reference, thinking she was a lot like him. “Carly’s quiet. Shy, I suppose. I think she has always taken on the role of the younger sister, allowing me to take the lead most of the time. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure I played my big sister role to the hilt in dominating her. I am six and a half minutes older, after all.” She laughed. “It must be hard for you, learning all this, I mean about me and Carly, in addition to the memory thing.”

“I don’t think it would be any different. I mean, I don’t think my feelings about you and Carly or Mom and Dad would be any different even if I remembered the last five years of my life. After all, it’s the years before then that we’ve been deprived of.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what are your feelings?”

“No, I don’t. You have a right to know, just as much as I want to know about you and your feelings about all this. I won’t lie and tell you I’m happy with Mom and Dad. It’s going to take me a long time to come to terms with the way they handled us. Don’t misunderstand, I’m thrilled to know I have sisters and I plan on spending a lot of hours in the future getting to know
both
of them.” She lowered her gaze to the beer bottle in her hand. “Caitlin, we will get Carly back.” Caitlin looked up at him. “I have abilities and so does Addison. She is the guardian of the crystal and although I don’t remember much about her or exactly what she is capable of doing, in the past several weeks I’ve grown to trust her. I’ve seen things she can do and believe me; you don’t want to get on her bad side.”

Chapter 26

Addie sighed, desperately trying to relax her shoulders after Siana explained everything about Cael and his family. Standing among the small group of people in her life, people she loved, was comforting. Knowing there was hope of getting the crystal back also played a big part in her relief, but she realized she shouldn’t get too excited about the prospect of securing it just yet. There was a girl’s life at stake. Well, not just any girl, Cael’s sister. She glanced across the large span of green lawn and smiled when she saw Cael sitting with Caitlin. She tried to contain her anger at all the secrets their families had kept from them over the years. Necessary secrets? Maybe. She hadn’t agreed with the truth being kept from her about her abilities or her stillborn twin brother, but she understood why it had been handled that way; a promise to a woman her father and Cael’s mother both loved—Addie’s mother. She must have been a very special person to warrant such great respect. For them to keep the secrets she’d asked of them had to have been difficult. With this new revelation about Cael’s sisters, Addie had to believe that keeping secrets, no matter how big or small, to protect one’s loved ones was just another part of their existence.

With the full moon and the lights Cael strung across the yard, it almost seemed like daytime, except when she looked out over the cliff at the spray of foam barely hitting the side of the rocks. With the light dancing along with the effervescence, she knew the water would soon be taking its journey out, exposing the enormous area of wet sand. The familiarity of the phenomenon helped ease her mind. She smiled, thankful that Cael was back in his house that sat so close to the magnificence of it all. The house he’d purchased for them to live in together. A house he loved.

“So that’s Cael’s sister.” Aiden came up and stood beside her, his blue-gray eyes turning a darker shade of blue as they stayed focused on Caitlin. Addie found herself smiling at that and wondered if anything would become of it. She truly liked Aiden and only wanted the best for him. Somehow though, she didn’t think Cael would be so accepting of any type of relationship between his little sister and Aiden, considering how Aiden had tried to move in on her when Cael had been gone. Addie chuckled to herself. Couldn’t blame a guy for trying and now that she thought about it, she had been flattered. She and Aiden were better friends now, though. He no longer acted hurt or tried to pursue her and now she couldn’t help but tease him just a bit as she watched his eyes grow a little deeper blue while he stared at Caitlin.