CHAPTER ONE

Chloe stood frozen in her spot as she tried to comprehend the words that just came out of Derek’s mouth. Why couldn’t she just find a guy that she could trust! “You’re wife!” She yelled as her entire body trembled and she walked closer to him.

She took a deep breath and was almost ready to lung at him but instead stared him down with such haste. “You’re a fucking asshole, just like the rest of the men in my life! Don’t ever contact me again.” She yelled turning around.

“She’s dead!” He whispered.

Chloe didn’t even flinch. Not turning she asked. “What the fuck did you say?”

“She’s dead, alright!” Derek yelled in a harsh tone.

Chloe whipped around facing him, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Why does she look exactly like me Derek?” Chloe felt like she was in shock. The woman in the picture looked exactly like her, except for the big brown eyes and blonde hair. She looked identical to Kelly Ward! What the hell was going on? Screaming, needing an answer right now she said again, “Derek! Why does she look just like me?”

“I don’t know.” He yelled.

“Are you seriously going to try and tell me that you didn’t see it? You sick bastard! I was just some kind of cheap substitute for your dead wife?”

“No Chloe. Please listen to me. That colleague of mine took that picture of you because you looked so much like Sarah. When he showed it to me, I had to see you for myself. I was flabbergasted. You could have been her twin if you had blonde hair and brown eyes.”

Chloe suddenly grabbed another photo off the dresser. The one of an older couple, “Blonde hair and brown eyes…like her mother. Are these her parents?”

“Yes.”

Chloe dragged her hand through her hair. “Oh Jesus, oh God!” She felt like she was going to be sick. The room was spinning, and she needed to sit down. Derek came towards her again and tried to help her, but she jerked away from him, throwing herself back into the dresser.

“Chloe please calm down. Let me explain…”

“Explain? You can explain this?”

“You weren’t a substitute; it wasn’t like that.”

“Stop it! You’re a liar like every other man I ever met! You used me for some sick, cheap thrill. You wanted to fuck your late wife one more time. You’re sick!” She had tears flowing down her cheeks. She was pissed, and she wanted to scratch Derek’s pretty eyes right out of his face, but she wasn’t even sure what she was most upset about right now.

She let her eyes fall back to the photo of Sarah. She had to be related. She had burned all of her old photos of herself when she started her life over, but if she had a picture of Kelly Ward…they would be identical. The people in the other picture had to be her parents— her biological parents.

In a calmer voice, she said, “How old was she when she died, Derek?”

Walking over to the bed, he grabbed the photo and placed it back on the dresser, this time not hiding it. “22. She would have turned 25 this coming September.”

Chloe’s eyes were wide as she stared at him. “What?”

“What’s wrong?” Derek asked frowning.

Chloe took a deep breath. “What is her full birth date?”

“September 28, 1988,” he replied. He sounded like a robot, void of all emotion.

Chloe’s legs felt like jello; her mind started to race as she ran a trembling hand through her hair. No, it couldn’t be. This was not happening! The room started to spin, and she thought she was about to fall when she ran into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her as realization set in.

She was a twin, and Derek Stark had been married to her sister, and now that sister was dead. Kelly Ward’s entire life had been unnecessary. She’d had parents and a sister.

Why did they abandon her? Why was she left out in the world to suffer while her sister was kept? She put her back to the door and slid down to the floor. She could feel the panic attack building like a snowball rolling down a mountain. There was nothing she could do to stop it, and she didn’t even have the energy to try. Her heart was already pounding against the walls of her chest as if it was trying to escape. Her brain was busy firing off thought after thought, some of them didn’t make sense, and the ones that did were all self-depreciative.

She wasn’t good enough to keep. They had thrown her away. Her skin felt like it was on fire and she could feel the sweat beginning to form on her brow as her respirations tried to speed up to match her heartrate. Her chest hurt. It felt like it might explode and her fingers and toes were beginning to tingle because of lack of oxygen. She had put herself right back in this place. She had come here willingly and what she had discovered was worse than anything she ever could have imagined. Her stomach could suddenly no longer hold its contents, and as she heaved into the toilet she wondered, what the hell did she get herself into this time?