Twin From Hell

Poking the beast

"I hope you're okay! I've been so worried about you! You have no idea how frantic I've been, trying to reach you. You really scared me Raine. You said you'd be gone for just a day, and then—poof! You just vanished. I've been losing my mind, trying to figure out what happened. You promised you'd get back to me as soon as you settled in, and now... well, it feels like you've pulled a disappearing act on me."

My head spun as I listened to Diane's worried words. Everything felt hazy—had I really been unreachable for days? That couldn't be right.

I had only stepped away for a day, and even with Reign drugging me, I couldn't have possibly been out for more than a few hours.

Unless...

"Diane, wait a second! Can you repeat what you just said? Please?"

Diane hesitated, clearly confused, but obliged. "Uh, you promised to get back to me?"

I shook my head, my frustration bubbling over. "No, not that part! You mentioned I'd been out of reach for days. How many days, exactly?"

"Raine, are you okay? Are you safe?" Diane's voice became with concern. "You're really starting to worry me."

A flicker of warmth ignited in my chest. It was comforting to know someone still cared. Maybe I wasn't a total failure after all.

I let out a little laugh meant to reassure her, trying to lighten the mood. "I'm okay, aren't I speaking to you now, I just ran into a little hiccup, I didn't notice so much time had passed, but don't worry, it's okay, I am okay." I stressed, more to myself than her.

"Are you sure, cause if you need help, I do believe I have a Glock lying around here somewhere." She joked in her usual manner, obviously catching on to my lack of interest on the current topic, bringing a smile to my face.

"I won't be needing that just yet."

"You sure? You just need to say the word and I will be at your doorstep any minute. Speaking of doorsteps, where exactly are you? Are you still at... you know where?"

I didn't know how to respond to that, I didn't even know where I was, but my saying that would only send her spiraling. "Uh... here, there, just around I guess." I said nonsensically, trying to deflect the question.

I couldn't even begin to explain my current predicament. And did I mention my brain was fuggy as hell, so I couldn't even begin to formulate lies, a convincing one at least.

"What the hell was that, was that suppose to be a location, Raine?" uh oh, she sounded serious, I must be doing a terrible job at hiding my emotions more than I thought. "I need you to be honest. Are. You. Okay?"

I took in a deep steadying breath, I couldn't drag her into this s**t, she wouldn't be able to help me even if I did tell her, I'd only burden her. "Seriously Diane, I'm fine, I just won't be able to get back as early as I had planned. Can I call you back, I need to quickly attend to something." I didn't wait for her before ending the call, I couldn't risk her asking me anymore questions I didn't have answers to.

I was just so tired of it all.

Just as I was about to check the date, my phone buzzed with an incoming call, pulling me back into reality. I frowned instinctively when I saw the name flashing on the screen: Charles. What could he want? Charles wasn't just my financial advisor, he also served as my right hand when it came to managing my investments and businesses. We typically only connected at the end of each month when he delivered routine business reports.

I was mostly a hands-off boss, preferring to let him handle the day-to-day. So, his call now felt unexpected and a little unsettling. What could possibly be so urgent?

"Hey Charles, speak to me." I was curt and direct, my banging head pushed aside, my inner boss taking over. I couldn't help it, it was second nature to me now.

"Oh thank God, I don't want to just dump this on you like this but something happened at one of the gyms, somehow a few of the weight lifting equipments we were just supplied were faulty leading to the injury of ten patrons, with one ending up in a comma. Everything has gone to s**t, and it's now trending on all the blogs. Its becoming harder to contain the news as time goes by, I've been trying to get in touch with Samuel to try and mitigate some of the damage to our brand image but the son of a b***h suddenly went off the grid. I told you that guy was a snake but you still insisted on letting him on board, our competitors must have gotten to him and bribed him..." he rambled on, his words becoming incoherent the more he spoke.

I could barely think at the moment, I just felt very nauseous, I had to puke.

I stumbled off the bed, my legs giving up halfway, I felt so dizzy and nauseous, I didn't even notice when I lost grip of my phone.

"Eugh!" I gagged, my hand flew up my mouth, an attempt to keep myself from puking then and there. I tried taking deep shuddering breaths to keep from loosing control over the contents of my stomach.

Once again summoning the strength to lift myself off the floor, my weakened limbs buckling but holding up nonetheless, I refused to make a fool of myself.

I stumbled towards the door that looked to be the restroom and I'm ashamed to say I gasped as I took in the sheer size of the elaborately decorated restroom.

Damn! What a waste, even the bathroom screamed luxury.

Everything just set my teeth on edge, it all was just too much.

I love extravagance as much as the next girl but this was too much, it was that in your face, no apologies kind of opulence, it disgusted me.

Or maybe it was just the traces of that b***h Reign that permeated the whole space.

I clattered to the fancy toilet, barely allowing the toilet cover lift before bending over to release the contents of my belly.

For a full minute sounds of puking resounded in the huge space.

I finally stopped after I felt my stomach settle, that felt much better. Pressing down on the button to flush. In the end I had been unable to to puke up anything but bile.

My head still pounded but at least my stomach was no longer doing the flip flops.

I sat down on the floor feeling defeated.

I know Reign would go to any length to get what she wants but I never thought she would be so vicious as to involve other people's lives just to force me into submission.

I'd always known she was crazy but now it appears she had somehow gotten worse.

I hated this, I really should have never come back, getting involved with Reign again sickened me to the core.

I don't want to be a callous b***h but if she thought her little display of power would make me collapse in fear, giving in to her every whim, she was highly mistaken.

I am not going to engage in her games.

My mind made up, I rose up from my position on the floor making my way to the exit of the restroom but a glance at the massive mirror stopped me short.

"The hell!"