Twin Deception(2)

The wedding was only weeks away. Sadi hated herself for not having the courage to do what was right and break off the engagement, but going back to her old life- in debt and living in a dank apartment- filled her with fear. When she had moved in with Luke it had been the first time in Sadi’s life that she felt safe.

Her mother had been a single mom, working hard to make sure that Sadi had enough to eat and clothes to wear, yet no matter how hard her mother worked, it always seemed like they were being evicted and that Sadi was going to school with hunger pains in her belly and wearing tattered old clothing that no longer fit.

Sadi knew that her mother loved her. At least, she thought she had. She had always been a good mother and had always tried so hard to make ends meet. When Sadi turned eighteen, her mother must have figured she was now old enough to fend for herself. Sadi had come home from school one afternoon to find the apartment stripped of her mother’s belongings. After eighteen years, her mother had finally broken. She had left to find the freedom she craved. Sadi hadn’t heard from her since. Part of her wanted to know if her mother was still alive, and yet part of her was still too wounded over being left alone to imagine tracking her mother down.

At least that was something she and Luke still had in common. His parents had left Luke and his twin brother, Connor, with an established business, an education, and more money than they could ever spend. The boys had been raised by one nanny after another.

Luke hardly had any memories of his parents. If pressed, Sadi knew that he didn’t even know what they looked like, then or now. Like Sadi, Luke had no idea where his mother and father were now. They hadn’t contacted him in years.

Sadi couldn’t imagine having a child and leaving. Never reaching out and caring about what happened to them. The thought broke her heart and brought a lump to her throat.

She had wondered for years what she had done to make her mother abandon her until she finally realized that she herself couldn’t imagine being so broken she would do such a thing. She knew there were depths of emotion, sorrow, pain and blackness that she had no idea how to comprehend. Sadi preferred to think there was something wrong with her mother that had made her leave. She needed to believe it. It hurt so much less that way.

She had worked two jobs and finished high school. She had kept the wretched apartment where she and her mother had survived and lived there for another eight years after her mother left. She had applied at Pearson and Pearson for an admin assistant position on a whim. She never thought she would get the job, even though she had experience. But she didn’t have any post-secondary to back it up. She was surprised when she got the phone call the next day, offering her the position. Sadi never guessed how her life would change.

She had started at Pearson and Pearson, unsure what to expect. It was a prestigious company, though it sounded more like a law firm. She had heard of Luke and Connor Pearson, the identical twin brothers who were taking the business world by storm. She had heard they were kind and caring people who cared deeply about bettering the communities in which they did business.

Sadi wasn’t sure whether it was Luke or Connor she had first seen. She still couldn’t tell them apart, even after years of dating Luke. She remembered thinking that whichever brother it was, he was handsome. Both brothers were tall, with sandy blonde hair and eyes the colour of the sea on a cloudy day; a storm tossed blue that sparkled with all the emotion of life. The brothers were tall, yet not tall enough to be intimidating. It was clear they worked out, judging from their broad shoulders and trim waists.

Sadi could tell they were still in the prime of their youth, their skin bronzed with tans from the outdoor activities they loved. It was beyond Sadi how two brothers, even twins, could look so alike as adults. It blew her mind that not only did they have similar features but they had the same physique as well.

She had asked after Luke, as he was the brother she thought she had seen first. The other girls in her department had trouble telling the brothers apart as well, but the first name Sadi had heard had been Luke's. She had stared at him from across the way when she thought he wasn’t looking. She had found him attractive. More than attractive actually. Sadi had observed the way Luke carried himself, his poise and his athletic grace. She thought he looked like a god. A bolt of desire had shivered through her stomach at the thought of what it would be like to be seduced by him. At what it would be like to press her lips against his perfectly shaped ones, to feel the rigid muscles she knew were hidden under the polo shirts he wore to work.

One girl had mentioned that Luke only dated blondes. Sadi had immediately been turned off at the suggestion. She knew the kind of women men such as Luke liked. She was so far from that she knew she wouldn’t even be on his radar. Though Sadi told herself she found fake, ditsy women distasteful, it didn’t stop her from dying her hair blonde a week later and making changes to her wardrobe and her diet. She had hoped Luke would notice. And he had. She had been lucky enough to be asked out to dinner a week later.