“No need. I bought both of you some things to get you started.” Drake strolled across the room and opened double doors, revealing an enormous closet. “I guessed your sizes based on the photos from CPS. I wasn’t sure what you liked. We have an appointment tomorrow with the stylist.”
I slid off the bed, mouth open in surprise at the floor-to-ceiling clothing and shoes. “You did this for us?” I glanced at Drake. “Why? You don’t know us.”
He flashed one of his boyish smiles that went straight to his pretty blue eyes. “We’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other better.”
“Yeah, man,” Tate said. “Why are you doing this? You don’t owe us anything.”
Drake scrubbed a hand at his jaw. “I have my reasons.”
“Way to evade the question,” Tate shot back.
“Someone asked me to take care of you,” Drake said in a clipped tone.
Tate narrowed his eyes. “Who?”
Drake took a deep breath and blew it out. “My dad.”
“Are we…” My brother scratched his head, at a loss for words. “Are you…”
“I don’t know.” Drake spun on his heels, and as he reached the door, he said, “Make yourselves at home. Dinner is at seven.”
After Drake shut the door, Tate stared at me, wordless for several minutes. Neither of us could comprehend our new lifestyle. Overnight, we went from poor street urchins to the wards of a hot billionaire.
“Pinch me,” Tate said with a strange expression. “This is a dream.”
I gripped the skin on his forearm and tugged.
“Definitely real,” he mumbled. “Mom wouldn’t tell us the name of our dad. What if…” He shook his head. “There’s no way. Right? Someone would have tracked us down before now.”
“Drake said his dad died recently,” I pointed out. “Maybe his dad listed us in his will.”
“Liv,” he whispered. “Do you know what this means? If our dad were this rich, it would explain the apartment we lived in growing up. Mom couldn’t afford it with her salary. Do you remember the one in the city with all the windows? It reminds me of this house. And there was a man who visited us. He always wore a suit and a lot of cologne.”
My brother had a good point. The second we drove onto the property, I had a moment of recognition, transported to a better time and place. We had dozens of windows in the apartment. At night, I’d sit with Tate by the fireplace and watch the city’s lights twinkle. Those were among my best memories.
But if Drake were our sibling, then that meant… All the fantasies I’d conjured in my mind needed to stop immediately.
The following morning,I woke up with the sun on my face and the curtains sliding open on their own. I sat up, glanced around the room, but no one else was there.
I slept like the dead last night. After a shower and a feast fit for a king, I crashed hard on my super soft mattress. Months of living on the street had taken a toll on my back. It was the first morning I hadn’t woken up in pain for a long time.
I headed into the bathroom to pee and brush my teeth. In the mirror, I didn’t recognize the person staring back at me. Growing up, most people called me curvy or even a little thick. My mother used to say I had big bones.
My body had lost its curvy shape from living on the streets. My once full cheeks had sunken in, making my cheekbones seem higher, more pronounced.
I washed my face and rubbed the dark circles under my eyes. A few more nights of good sleep and solid meals would do the trick. The IV fluids Drake gave us last night helped take away the weakness in my muscles and joints. My head also stopped throbbing, which was a relief.
As I exited the bathroom, a female voice said, “Olivia.”
I glanced around the room in search of a woman.
“Please join Master Battle downstairs for breakfast in the dining room.”
This time, I looked up at the ceiling and found the source. A speaker. Everything in the house was digital or motion-detected. Cameras followed me almost everywhere.
Drake said it was for our protection. Battle Industries manufactured weapons for the military and foreign governments. And he had a lot of enemies.
Dressed in pink pajama shorts, a matching tank top, and plush slippers, I headed downstairs. I still couldn’t get over the fact that I lived in a house with an elevator.
