Chapter One

As soon as Emerson stepped into the country club dining room, she spotted her parents waiting at their usual table by the window. Bunny and McBride Adinson had an excellent view over the golf course that allowed them the opportunity to not speak to one another. Why talk to your spouse when you can watch little round balls go flying while drinking endless mimosas? She sighed and dragged her feet, not wanting to sit with the toxic people she called Mom and Dad.

“One day, I’m going to bring a man to one of these fuck-awful brunches and tell them he’s my lover,” Jacoby muttered.

Emerson glanced at her twin brother. “I dare you to do that.”

He cracked his knuckles. “Oh, it’s on. Never dare a darer.”

She chuckled, unable to stay stern with him. “I’m surprised you’re here. I haven’t seen you for weeks. Been hiding?”

He shrugged and slid his arm across her shoulders. “Needed a break from this fucking place. Bunny told me if I didn’t come, they’d cut me off. I’m not meant to look this good just to do menial labor and get paid minimum wage.”

She pushed his arm off her. “God forbid you have to work.”

“Snark isn’t a good look on you,” he admonished.

“Every time you piss them off, they come after me,” she grumbled, as she turned to him to straighten his tie. “They’ve been forcing me to go on dates with men they deem worthy of the Adinson name.”

“Oh, shit,” he said. “They spotted us. Too late to run now.”

Emerson glanced over her shoulder and saw their mother’s frowning, disapproving face staring at them. Beside her, their father held up his wrist and tapped his expensive Patek Philippe watch, pointing out they were late. Jacoby grabbed her hand as he pulled her along.

“Mamacita,” Jacoby greeted. He saluted their father. “Papacita.”

“Sit down, Jacoby,” McBride snapped.

Her brother held out her chair and pushed it in as she sat, before sitting himself. Immediately, Jacoby raised his finger for the server.

“Stop summoning the help,” Bunny ordered. “It’s vulgar.”

“How else am I going to get enough alcohol to deal with whatever bullshit you both are going to sling my way?”

Emerson lowered her face to hide her smile. Her brother made pissing their parents off seem effortless. Predictably, they glossed over Jacoby’s sarcasm. Instead, they laid down a gossip news rag that sold papers by lying. She and Jacoby were front and center on the cover.

“This was brought to our attention,” Bunny said, her tone nothing short of Antarctica.

The picture was grainy in the low lighting, but Emerson remembered that party very well. At least, most of it. It was right before Jacoby disappeared for a month. She had gotten shitfaced and took some pills her friends had, and didn’t remember much after that.

“Oh, yeah.” Jacoby mumbled as he leaned closer to her. “That’s the party where you flashed everyone your tits.”

“Great,” she muttered.

“Enough!” McBride barked. “Both of you are a disgrace. In order to salvage the Adinson name, at the spring formal in April, I will announce your engagement.”

That statement stole all the oxygen in the room.

Jacoby blinked. “Come again?”

“We’ve found you a wife,” Bunny told him. “A decent woman. One who has been trained to be a CEO wife. She’s perfect stock.”

“What, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, the fuck?”

Bunny’s jaw hardened so much it looked like she could crack diamonds between her teeth. “Language, Jacoby. Don’t talk like a Section 8 trash eater.”

Emerson’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Mother, that’s an awful thing to say.”

Bunny’s cold gaze flickered to her. “I’m not talking to you.”

Rebuked, Emerson dropped her gaze.

“Don’t talk to my sister like that, Bunny ,” Jacoby snapped as he stood up. “You’re both pathetic assholes, you know?”

Their father slapped his hand down onto the table, making Emerson jump. “Sit down! Unless you no longer want access to your trust fund.”

Emerson blinked. “You can’t do that. Grandmother gave us that—”

“We can hold it up in litigation until there’s not a single cent in that account,” her mother threatened, cutting her off.

Emerson looked at Jacoby and mentally asked him if they could do that. He raised an eyebrow, giving her an uncertain answer, then he sat back down. Running a hand through his hair, he glared at both parents.

“Just so you know, I sat back down for Emmie’s sake. As for me, you can take my trust fund and shove it up your ass. But that might lead to some uncomfortable questions by your so-called society, especially if your children end up living in squalor.”

“Language,” Bunny ground out. “Why do you always act like this, Jacoby? We gave you everything, and all we ask is that you marry a small slip of a girl—”

“My life is mine. Why can’t you let me live it?”

“Jacoby, being born into one of the wealthiest families in America means you don’t get to live a normal life,” McBride explained. “Your life belongs to the name. You have appearances to uphold, just like your mother. Just like your sister.”

“What if we don’t want to be a part of your fucking name?”

“What are you going to do?” McBride taunted. “You have no life skills. No knowledge how to do anything but be a spoiled brat. You will marry the girl we chose and you will finish college. One day you will lead the company.”

Emerson kept her gaze on her him, willing him to shut up. She’d always been the one to cave to their parents’ demands. Didn’t want to rock the boat and make them turn their vitriol on her. The Adinson family got rich during the Gilded Age, gobbling up land and reselling it at exorbitant inflated prices. They made their money walking across the backs of the working class.

“Do you really want to live your life having to work in fast food?” Bunny asked. The server came over with two plates and sat them down in front of Bunny and McBride. “Be some nobody like this woman?”

Emerson glanced at the server, whose mouth had thinned, and felt absolutely horrified at what her mother just said. How could she be related to such an awful person? Maybe she and Jacoby were adopted? Or maybe Bunny and McBride Adinson paid off their real parents. She mouthed sorry to the server, but the woman only turned and marched away, head bowed.

“I’m not going to marry some airheaded socialite just to further your business interests,” Jacoby said angrily. “And I refuse to go to college.”

“You will do as I say,” McBride said, a hard edge to his voice. “Because if you don’t, since you don’t seem to care for yourself, your sister will pay for your stubbornness. Her little animal project will be gone. Her money dried up. She’ll have to live on the street.”

What he said just got worse and worse. Tears welled up in her eyes and she stared at Jacoby, unable to look anywhere else. Her animal “project” was going to the shelter to volunteer. Cleaning out cages, walking the dogs, cuddling the cats, and helping the animals get adopted. Would her father get the shelter shut down? She couldn’t let that happen, but she was too afraid of her parents to speak up. So, she did the only thing she could think of, and that was silently beg Jacoby. She couldn’t lose the shelter. She just … couldn’t.

Jacoby stood so forcefully his chair toppled back. Every eye in the place turned toward them.

“Sit down,” McBride snapped.

“What’re you gonna do, Dad? Take away my charge cards? Get me banned from this fucking country club? Oh, please! That’ll do me a favor!”

McBride stood up and grabbed Jacoby’s arm.

“I can have you admitted for drug addiction,” their father hissed in a very low tone.

Shock filled Emerson. What? Was Jacoby doing drugs? Why didn’t she know this? Her father had to be wrong. He looked clear-eyed. Didn’t look like he needed a fix. She was his twin. Surely, she’d know if he was falling into the hole of addiction.

Jacoby rolled his eyes “Try again, McBride . I don’t give a rat’s ass about fitting in with all these snooty, stuck-up sonsabitches.”

A round of gasps echoed. Emerson saw the ma?tre d’ hurrying their way and wished the floor would open up so she could disappear into the ground.

“You’re all a bunch of fucking hypocrites!” he yelled, looking at the people gawking at them. “You’re all sheep! Hear me?” His gaze fell on Emerson. “You coming with me, Emmie?”

If she went with him, would her parents follow through on their threat to take away the only thing she cared about? She couldn’t lose the animals. At the same time, she agreed with her brother and wanted to go with him. As she hesitated, trying to figure everything out in her head, an ugly sneer twisted his face.

“Seems like you made your bed,” he spat, then turned on his heel and marched out.

Emerson watched him, feeling miserable. She would have to beg her brother’s forgiveness, once he calmed down. Her father sat back down and picked up his silverware as if his son hadn’t just had a meltdown. Her appetite fled, and she spent the rest of the luncheon sipping the mimosa that had been brought to her.

****

The next day, Emerson called Jacoby, but he didn’t answer. She hated when he ignored her. She called every hour but he still didn’t pick up. Part of her sulked and wanted to hide her head under the covers. However, this was her twin. When he hurt, she hurt. So, when he still hadn’t picked up the phone by the evening, she decided to go over to his condo and hash it out.

Driving over to his condo, she waved at the concierge before entering the elevator that whisked her up to the penthouse. She unlocked his door, confused when silence greeted her. The alarm wasn’t on, which meant he had to be home. More confusing were the boxes stacked up in the living room. It almost felt like he was getting ready to move.

“Jacoby?” she called out, heading to the kitchen and turning on the light. “Are you ignoring me? Jacoby?”

She headed toward the bedroom but he wasn’t there. Not in the bathroom. He wasn’t anywhere, which really perplexed her. As she passed by the window, she happened to glance over toward the large hot tub spa, and saw Jacoby facedown in the water.

“No!” she screamed. “Jacoby!”

Fear. Panic. Denial. She rushed toward the door, threw it open, and jumped in the tub. Turning him over, she ignored the fact his eyes were open but unseeing.

“No, no, no!” she sobbed, trying to push him from the water to the decking. “Jacoby, please. Please don’t do this. Wake up. Wake up, damn you!”

He was dead weight, already stiff from rigor mortis, a fact she tried desperately not to think about. It might have only taken a few minutes to get him out of the water, but it seemed like a lifetime. She had to get help, but she didn’t want to leave him. Her mind fractured with different decisions. Did she leave him to call for help? Start CPR? Running, she headed back to the kitchen where she threw her purse and yanked out her phone, placing a call to 911 as she ran back.

“What is your emergency?”

“My brother! Please, he’s not breathing!”

“Okay, I’m here for you. Tell me the address so I can get first responders on the way.”

Emerson rattled off the information, then the dispatcher walked her through checking his vitals before starting CPR.

“Please don’t leave me, Jacoby,” she cried, tears streaming down her face. “You’re my twin. You’re supposed to grow old with me.”

Finally, the first responders arrived, escorted by police and the building manager. The EMT took over from her, and the police led her away. Sobs poured out, and she half collapsed into the policeman’s arms. After that, everything became one big blur. People came in and out, a million questions were asked, and she did her best to answer them. At some point, her parents arrived and she stared hollowly at them. They didn’t even come over to console her. Instead, they stood in the corner, talking with the detective. At one point, her mother even grinned.

She hated them. They lost their son, and yet they were grinning. She didn’t want to be related to such horrible people. Then the gurney went past her with a black body bag strapped on it, and she knew what was in that bag.

Her brother was dead.

Her twin.

Life was never going to be the same.