Remember by Evangeline Hart (ready to read books txt) 📕

Two weeks earlier . . .

He was in the middle of filing yet another death certificate when his phone vibrated with an incoming call. Irritated at the interruption, he picked up his phone to see who it was. When he read the name, he paled. With shaking hands, he answered the call, bringing the phone up to his ear.

                “Hello,” he said, slightly surprised that his voice came out steady.

                “I have a job for you,” the woman on the other end of the line said.

                He sucked in a deep breath, wondering what it was going to be this time. “Yes?”

                The woman briefly related to him all the information he needed to know, along with his job. He kept silent until the end, knowing that there would be no questions, no complaints, and no say in the matter. It didn’t matter if he was busy with another mission at the moment, or if he didn’t want to do as she asked. He couldn’t say no.

                He didn’t have the power to.

                Or the courage.

“Is it done?” she asked impatiently. He stifled an irritated groan, knowing it would only lead to a lecture about being respectful to his elders. But it had only been two weeks since she had last contacted him. She had witnessed failure after failure for over fifteen years now. What were a few more weeks to her?

                “Not yet,” he replied curtly. “I have contacted some of our colleagues in preparation, but we have to be patient. I need to do this carefully. I already have two innocent deaths; I don’t want any more.”

                “I’ll give you two more months,” she said. He knew her well enough to realize that she was holding herself back from snapping at him. She had expected everything to be over by now. After all, he had a reputation for getting things done quickly. But he knew that, for this situation, he needed to tread lightly. There were too many unstable factors, and any misstep could spell disaster. “If you have to, kill both the boy and the girl.”

                He narrowed his eyes at that last sentence. She wanted this done with minimal bloodshed, but she was willing to kill to get this done.

                “I thought you wanted to get this done with as few deaths as possible,” he said in a low voice.

                “I do,” she snapped. “It’s either two deaths or fifty. It’s about time someone got serious and taught them a lesson. And if taking out those two gets it done, then so be it.”

                He was silent for a minute, mulling this over. Everyone knew he had no qualms about killing. After all, that was his job. He was paid to kill. The best he could do, if he didn’t have someone else do the dirty work, was plan a setup and pull the trigger. He didn’t have the patience to snoop around for weeks on end trying to end everything peacefully.

                But he knew someone who did. And he knew that person was perfectly capable of doing whatever task she was assigned, and perfectly willing to do it if asked at the right time, by the right person.

                He didn’t want to kill the boy and the girl. It was too risky, given the circumstances. He would try the peaceful way first. But if it was necessary, he would kill them.

                “Their deaths won’t solve any problems,” he told her. “But don’t worry. I’ll sort this out.”

                “You better. If you value your life . . .” She hung up, leaving the unfinished threat hanging in the air.

Nina dragged her bags behind her, looking around the crowded airport for a family she had never before met in her life. All she knew was that her parents had said, if anything should happen to them, Nina would be sent to live with some family friends. Thomas and Brenda Sutton were supposedly good friends with Nina’s parents, yet Nina had not once heard of them before her parents’ deaths.

                The Suttons lived in Alamande Beach, Florida, a place Nina had never been to before. The people were unfamiliar to her, but so was the entire atmosphere. Here, there was no looming threat endangering Nina’s life, and no people who hated her for who she was.

                Nina didn’t really mind the move. She had few friends back at home in New Jersey. All of her classmates hated her, or at least ignored her, and the feeling was mutual. The one true friend she had rejoiced at the fact that Nina was leaving. He knew the difficulties school had presented for her and was glad that she was leaving them behind.

                Lost in her thoughts, Nina ran into a girl who looked to be a year or two younger than she.

                “Sorry!” Nina cried. “I didn’t see you there.”

                The girl just grinned brightly at her. The huge smile, along with her long blonde hair and bright blue eyes, made her the ideal cheerleader—the exact type of people Nina tried to avoid. “That’s okay!” she said enthusiastically. “Hi, Nina!”

                Nina blinked, taking another look at the girl. At first glance, she had just been another stranger. But on closer inspection, Nina recognized her from a photograph she had seen the week before. “Are you . . . Emma?” Nina asked.

                “Yup!” she chirped, still giving Nina the beaming smile that was starting to frighten her just the tiniest bit. Nina had never known anyone to be as happy as Emma was.

                Suddenly, three people materialized behind Emma. They all had blonde hair and blue eyes, and it didn’t take long for Nina to recognize the family.

                “You found her, Emma!” Brenda exclaimed, rushing towards Nina to engulf her in a bone-crushing hug, squeezing her bruised ribs that hadn’t quite healed yet. “Oh, it’s so good to see you, honey!”

                Awkwardly, Nina patted the older woman on the back. “Hi,” she managed to choke out, trying not to wince from the pain and trying to convince herself that throwing Brenda off of her would not make a good first impression.

                 Thomas spoke up. “Brenda, don’t suffocate the poor child,” he admonished his wife. He gave Nina a considering look that immediately put her on edge. There was a hidden meaning behind the glance, as if Thomas knew something that she didn’t.

                “Of course!” Brenda said and instantly released her. Nina sucked in a deep breath, glad to have oxygen back in her lungs and the pressure gone from her ribs.

                Josh stepped towards her, looking her up and down critically. “So this is my little sister?” he drawled contemptuously.

                “Technically, no,” Nina answered, irritated by the arrogance that was practically rolling off of him in waves. “Your parents are only my guardians until I turn eighteen.”

                “Nina, this is Josh,” Thomas introduced. “And this is Emma.” Emma was still bouncing in excitement, and if possible, she gave Nina an even bigger grin that before. “And you can call us Thomas and Brenda.”

                Nina gave the family a small smile. “Hey.”

                “So, Nina,” Josh said. “How old are you?”

                “Seventeen,” she replied. “I’m a senior.”

                Josh scowled and opened his mouth to say something, but Brenda interrupted him. “That’s great!” she said. “Josh is a senior, too! And Emma’s a sophomore!”

                Finally, after a bit more rambling from Brenda, they left the airport and piled into the Suttons’ minivan. Despite Brenda’s protests that she shouldn’t be excluded, Nina opted to sit in the very back row by herself, insisting that she liked sitting alone. And looking at them now, Nina wondered how she was ever going to fit in with this family. Aside from the fact that they were blonde-haired and blue-eyed—much in contrast with her plain brown hair and brown eyes—their personalities just didn’t seem to be compatible with hers. Brenda and Emma seemed to be perpetually excited; Josh appeared to hate her; and Thomas . . . well, he hadn’t really given Nina an impression yet—except for that look he had given her earlier. Nina couldn’t fathom what he could have meant by it, and decided to put it aside for later.

                Her attention was pulled away from her thoughts as they turned onto a long driveway—one of several on the street. Nina took in the house in awe. There were three floors and a four-car garage; the garden was humongous, stretching all the way around the house; and Nina noticed the edge of a stone wall that was only just visible from the front of the house. What was that?

                Thomas pulled up in front of the house and parked. Instantly, Emma was up, grabbing Nina’s arm and dragging her out of the minivan and up to the house, saying, “Come on!”

                “My stuff—” Nina started to say.

                “I’ve got it,” Thomas said.

                Nina only had time to nod thanks, and then Emma was racing towards the house. Nina just barely managed to stay on her feet as she followed the petite blonde into the house. Upon entering, she stopped in wonder and amazement. The inside was even more beautiful than the outside. There was a grand staircase that wound up to the second and third floors, and light flooded in from the many windows, lighting up the entire space with golden rays of sunlight.

                Emma was already halfway up the stairs. “Hurry up!” she called down to Nina.

                Kicking off her shoes, Nina walked up the stairs towards where Emma was waiting impatiently for her. Once she reached the top, Emma grabbed her arm again.

                Going down the long hallway, she pointed at the doors and told Nina what was on the other side. Her room was all the way down the hall near the end. Nina’s was at this end. Josh’s room was in between theirs. At the very end of the hall was a fourth room that Emma said belonged to Lola, their housekeeper and chef. Each bedroom had its own walk-in closet and bathroom, and the four bedrooms took up the entire second floor.

                Emma didn’t take Nina up to the third floor, warning her that it was off-limits to everyone. The third floor was the master bedroom, and also Thomas’s office when he worked at home. Nina didn’t know how a bedroom and an office could take up an entire floor, but she didn’t question the girl.

                After that, Emma took her down to the ground floor and showed her the kitchen, the living room, the dining room, and the music room. All the rooms were bright and airy and lavishly furnished.

                “No one really uses this room anymore,” Emma said about the music room. “It was for when we were younger. Mom made both me and Josh learn an instrument. He played guitar and I played piano. But we’ve both quit now.”

                Emma then led Nina down to the basement. This was where the games were. They had every gaming station and video game known to man, along with a large supply of