Bound By Wrath

He had a sister?

Ashley kept drying her body with the napkin Luca handed to her.

Luca cleared his throat from behind her. “Hey, I'm sorry for the way she yelled at you earlier. I couldn't stand it that's why I had to—”

“It's fine,” She dropped the towel and picked up her phone, her voice dripping with a kind of sadness that made Luca's stomach tighten.

“Uhmm, Miss Ashley, do you mind if I bring your food up to your room?” Luca asked calmly.

“No, I'm good.” Ashley shook her head and pushed the plate. “I already lost my appetite.”

“But Miss Ashley—”

Then the ringing of Luca’s phone cut him off.

He checked and it was an unknown number. He didn't recognize it from anywhere. But something about the timing made his chest tighten.

“I've got to take this.” He said and went to the window side to answer it.

But the voice that came through from the other end made him freeze.

“Oh, ma cherié,” An unfamiliar young female voice came through the phone. He pulled the phone from his ear and stared at the screen. It was an unknown number—then he put it back slowly.

“I'm sorry?” Luca said, confusion spreading over his face.

“Où étais-tu Luca?”(Where have you been Luca?). The woman replied in French and Luca's brow furrowed tightly. He looked at the caller ID again and almost hung up but something made him wait.

She continued. “Nous étions si inquiets, Luca, oh, je suis si heureuse d'entendre ta voix!”(We were so worried Luca, Oh, I'm so happy to hear your voice). The woman's voice was dripping with excitement.

He walked to the farthest corner of the house, where he was sure Ashley wouldn’t hear him

“Who's this?” Luca asked in english, although he heard what she had said in french.

The woman replied on the other end of the phone, “It's me Luca, Camille Morin, your sister, or had two years away made you to forget about me?” She finally replied in English, her voice laced with heavy French accent.

His grip tightened on the phone. A sister?

The word landed in his chest like something cold. Marco had been clear—Luca Morin had no living relatives, a clean record with no loose ends.

He turned around slowly. Ashley was already heading up to her room now.

He pressed the phone back to his ear and kept his voice steady. “Miss Camille, There's been a misunderstanding. I am not Luca Morin, this must be some kind of mix-up.”

“Please Luca, know we had a fight before you left, but you didn't give me the opportunity to apologize, you just…disappeared.”

Luca's mouth pressed into a thin line.

“Luca dear, everyone tried to convince me that you were gone. But I still held up to hope.” She said, her voice hoarse from crying. “I didn’t give up on you Luca, I kept searching. I found an employment record last month in a household registry under your name and social security number.”

She sighed, “I've booked my flight to Orlando, you know it's almost a nine hour journey from Paris. I'll be there tomorrow. Oh, my I'm so happy that I'll finally see you I might start crying again.” Camille said and sniffed hard.

His grip tightened on the phone still against his ear and he understood the full weight of what he had done. Camille was coming Orlando, and probably, she would have gotten his address from the household registry she claimed she got his information from.

What if she realized he was not actually ‘Luca Morin? His cover would be blown instantly!

“Uhm, Camille, you must be mistaken. I—I'm not Luca, and I don't have a sister.” He said trying to convince the woman at the other end of the line who seemed sure that she just found her lost brother.

Camille paused for a while, “We'll see tomorrow Luca, I'm just hoping for the best.” Her voice turned serious. “See you then. Au revoir.”

“Wait, wh—” The loud beeping from the phone made him realize that she hung up without even listening to anything.

He removed the phone from his ear and looked at the blank screen for a full minute. He just sighed and went back to the kitchen. He was going to deal with that later because he had to take care of the present one first—so he just arranged a few toasts and a glass of juice on a tray and headed up to Ashley's room.

When he got there, he knocked on the door.

“Come in.” She replied calmly from inside the room.

Luca turned the knob and went in. He met Ashley, sitting on her bed, with so many papers scattered around.

“Uhmm, can I help with something?” He said as he dropped the tray on the bed.

“Thanks, I'm good.” Ashley squinted her eyes on the screen of her laptop, trying to understand the format of the names that were displayed.

Luca sat on the bed beside her, “ Let me see that.” And then he collected the laptop from her. Within three clicks, everything was arranged alphabetically.

She smiled, taking her lower lip slightly in between her teeth, and using one of her fingers to scratch her forehead.

“So much for not needing my help,” he returned the laptop. “You're welcome.” He sing-songed.

She chuckled and continued from where he stopped.

“Uhm, Miss Ashley, I brought something up for you.” He handed her the tray.

“Luca, I told you I'm fine, you didn't have to do this.”

“Yeah, I know, but I had to. I couldn't let you do all these in hunger.” He flashed her a smile.

She smiled back at him, something stirring slightly in her chest. Maybe she was wrong about Luca from the first day. He was actually a kind hearted person, and she had just been overthinking because of the way the last few days had been.

“Thanks.” She collected the tray from him, and their gaze locked.

It lasted for a minute before Ashley looked away and faced her laptop.

“Okay Miss Ashley, I'll be downstairs—in the kitchen if you need anything.” Luca stood up.

“Uhmm, please, can you stop calling me Miss Ashley?” She looked up at him. “Ashley is fine by me.”

He pressed his lips together, nodded and walked out.

Then he went to his room, locked the door and dialed Marco's number.

He answered on the second ring.

“How could you make such a mistake? You told me Luca Morin had no family.”

Marco paused for a while, and Luca had thought the call had been disconnected. “Yes he didn't.” He said finally. “Both of his parents are deceased and no sibling on record.”

Luca frowned. “But his sister just called me.”

“His sister?” Marco's voice dropped.

“Yes, and she's coming to Orlando tomorrow.”

Marco was quiet.

Luca sighed and then he explained everything to Marco.

“How did she find the employment registry?” Luca asked.

“That—I don't know yet.”

“Okay, that's a problem.” Luca said.

“What are we going to do about this? Luca what if—she gets to the estate and realizes you're not him. Everything we've built for six years…”

Luca looked outside the window, and his mind began to race. He had to do something about this… and then it clicked.

What he was going to do was to pick up a stranger from the airport tomorrow—a woman who believed she was about to see her brother.

Then he replied, “I'll handle it.”

“You can’t just—”

“Don't worry Marco, I'll take care of it.”

Then he hung up.

He dropped his phone on the counter, staring into space, his mind drifting into other possibilities of his well orchestrated plan dismantling because of a single mistake—he couldn’t let that happen.

The screen lit up.

“How did you like my surprise, Angelo Martinez?”