The Billionaire Who Stole My Life and the Secret Brother Who Kept It
Behind them lay a vast, wooded estate bordering a gray ocean.
They had the same dark hair, the same sharp jawline, and the same gray eyes.
I turned the photograph over.
Written in blue ink was a single line of text.
*Alexander and Julian. Maine, 2012.*
The floorboard creaked behind me.
I spun around, pressing my back against the dusty drying rack.
A stray cat darted out from the shadows near the broken window, its claws scratching against the concrete before it vanished into the alley.
My chest rose and fell as I clutched the envelope against my ribs.
I didn’t stay to turn on the lights.
I slipped the keycard, the receipt, and the photograph into my inner coat pocket and left the building through the fire escape.
The N train to Queens was nearly empty, the fluorescent lights overhead flickering as the car rattled over the East River.
I kept my hand pressed against my chest, feeling the hard edges of the keycard through the fabric of my coat.
The address on the receipt led me to a windowless concrete warehouse near the industrial canal in Long Island City.