What Lies in Paradise by Leah Cupps

Author:Leah Cupps [Cupps, Leah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780578603537
Publisher: Vision Forty Press
Published: 2020-01-04T16:00:00+00:00

Twenty

Sydney

As a fashion influencer, Sydney’s job had required her to travel all over the world, sometimes to places where she had found herself in what she had considered danger. There was a dark alley in Prague where she thought she was being followed, or the time she ended up in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. But never is there a moment so intense or dangerous as when there is a gun pointed directly at you. For Sydney, this was a first.

“Sydney?” said Alice. She faltered slightly but kept the the gun aimed at her. “What are you doing in my closet?”

Sydney’s mind screamed for her to turn and run, but she stayed put. “I…um…I just needed to talk to you, privately.”

Alice cocked her head, considering this. After several terrifying moments, she lowered the gun. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I should have lowered my gun as soon as I saw you.” Her eyes went to the floor. “I’ve been a little on edge lately.”

“I know the feeling,” Sydney said, finally allowing herself to exhale. “Would you mind if we sat down for a moment?”

“Sure,” said Alice. She tightened the robe around her waist, and the women took a seat across from each other. Alice placed the gun on the table between them. “What can I do for you, Sydney?”

Sydney considered her options. Did she just come out and ask her if she killed Lizzy? Did she ask her why she was hiding the twins’ identities? Did she play a cat-and-mouse game of questions, or just go for the truth? As the options ran across her mind like ticker tape, Alice watched her, waiting silently.

“I know about the twins’ true identities,” she said finally. “And the house fire.”

She expected Alice to looked shocked or gasp. But the woman kept her green eyes on Sydney, barely moving. She finally took a deep breath and let her shoulders drop.

“I’ve been carrying that secret for a long time,” she said.

Sydney felt the pain and the anger that surrounded Jack’s death resurface. “Why didn’t Jack tell me about his real name? Or how his parents died?”

“It happened a long time ago,” Alice said, looking past Sydney. “When the boys were just teenagers. I worked as a school counselor at their high school in New Hampshire. I had spoken with them on several occasions and knew there was trouble at home. Domestic violence. Verbal abuse. It broke my heart,” she said. Sydney could see her eyes become slightly glassy. “So, when they came to me, after the fire, I helped them escape. Start a new life. Finish school. They were finally free of a difficult childhood.”

“Jack never told me,” she said as the pain burned in her throat.

“I know, Sydney. He wanted to, and he may have one day, if…” She didn’t finish the sentence. Sydney didn’t need her to, she had been living with what-if’s ever since he died. But he’s gone. She shifted her thoughts back to the more urgent reason for her visit. Lizzy.

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