In downtown L.A., I travel down a sidewalk made of squares of cement and come upon a building that looks similar to the surface I’m walking on. The windows of the ten-story building are tinted deep blue and green to minimize the light that pours through them during the day. Important-looking people stroll in and out of the double doors with their noses buried in smartphones or talking into a device in their ear.
Swallowing down my nerves, I head into the building and when I stop at the information desk in the lobby, I’m sent up to the top floor, which is where Jerica’s lawyer’s office is. After a long, smooth ride up an elevator, I find my way down to a door that has a sign on it that reads:
Charles Benson, Attorney at Law
When I enter the small yet stately office, I’m greeted by a small woman with mousy brown hair and a big pair of wired eighties glasses perched on her beak of a nose. She directs me to the back of the office, where Charles Benson is sitting at an ornately-carved oak desk inside a smaller, private office with his frosted glass door ajar.
The middle aged, graying man smiles when he lifts his head and catches sight of me. “Well, hello. You must be Miss Daley. Miss Valrey said you’d be coming in today.
I cross the plush scarlet rug and extend my hand over his desk as he stands to his feet. “Yes, I’m Madison Daley. Nice to meet you, Mr. Benson.”
“It’s my pleasure. Please, sit down.” He gestures to a brown cushioned chair that matches the red ones in the waiting area. After I sit down, he asks, “So what can I help you with today?”
It still sounds crazy whenever I say the words out loud. “My twin sister stole my identity.”
Nevertheless, that’s what happened, so I explain everything to him in minimal detail, all the way back from when Raven plotted against me with Gio in the first place.
Charles touches his fingertips together as he rests his elbows on his desk. At appropriate times, he nods and mutters, “I see.” His lips are pursed, and his eye contact is intense. The steel gray eyes buried beneath bushy gray eyebrows calm me somehow. His experience and prowess as Jerica’s lawyer is sure to get me far. I gain confidence by the time I’m done with my speech.
“Tell me, Madison—do you mind if I call you Madison?”
“Not at all.”
“All right. Madison, I’ll be frank—I’ve seen some of your history in the news, all the way back to the incident in the pool last summer. You’re known as a bit of a wild card.”
I snicker. Me, a wild card?
“You’ve got a case, but we’re going to need proof if we’re going to convince the court you’re innocent and Raven stole your identity. Do you have any copies of your previous, unaltered diary you could bring to court?”
My stomach falls. “No. I don’t.”
He clicks his tongue. “That’s a shame. No photos of it?”
“No. Not that I know of.”
Charles leans back in his reclining desk chair and rubs his bristled chin with his left hand, tucking the right under his elbow. “This is going to be a tough case. I hope you have some witnesses who can testify to your innocence.”
“I do. I have a recording of something that proves Raven’s malicious intent against me.”
“Ah, good. That’s something to start with. I’ll handle the paperwork, scheduling, and everything else on my end. What I need you to do is gather your evidence and alert your witnesses that they’re going to be asked to appear in court. It’ll take some doing, but I think we might get you a settlement even if your sister isn’t convicted.”
My lips tick up and down. A settlement? That might help me survive on my own once I leave Dad’s house for good, but it won’t be a satisfying end to this battle. My bad side wants to see Raven crushed. Destroyed. Brought low, and begging for my forgiveness. I know it’s a long shot, but I want more than a settlement. I want justice, not just for me, but for all the girls Raven has wronged during her time at Wilcox.
“Thank you, Mr. Benson. I appreciate you taking on my case.”
“It’s been a while since I went to court, so you’re doing me a favor. I’ve got to stay sharp.” He winks, standing, and extends his hand. “Thank you for coming by, Madison. We’ll meet again soon. I’m going to push for an early court date.”
“Thanks again.” I stand, shake his hand, and turn to go on my way.
My chest is taut with anxiety as I approach the front door of Kiki Nyugen’s modestly luxurious home. The old world charm of the Vietnamese architecture is not lost on me. Asian culture has always fascinated me from a distance. I’ve never been up close and personal with it. Kiki’s family obviously values their heritage, though clearly they’re not out of touch with the times, as can be observed by the douche-y hybrid car parked proudly in their driveway.
I ring the doorbell and Kiki greets me personally. She was expecting me based on a text I sent her earlier in the day. A smile lights up her narrow dark eyes.
“Come in.”
I gingerly step over the threshold and into Kiki’s house, and she leads me through her entryway into her living room. She invites me to sit down, but I cut her off with a hand in the air.
“Listen, I’m here strictly on business. I don’t know what your involvement was with the diary hack, and I don’t care. All I want is that recording you promised me.”
Kiki takes a seat on her sleek, modern black sofa in spite of my stubbornness. “Well, I know you say you don’t care, but you might be interested to know that Liza and Celeste were the ones who got your password, not me.”
I sink into a chair across from her, my eyes widening as she goes on.
“I’ll admit, I knew what they were going to do, but there’s a reason I didn’t stop them. You see, Raven filled me in on her plans a long time ago. She trusts me and has no idea I’ve been working to stop her. I’ve been waiting to catch her in something, but so far have not been successful. When I met you, I knew you were going to be my ticket out of my deal with Raven. I recorded her voice and took screenshots of your diary because I wanted enough evidence to convict her—”
“You took screenshots of my diary?” My voice wobbles with equal parts anticipation and fury.
“Yes. Not every post, mind you, but the most important ones she changed. I wanted to preserve evidence of your innocence as well as her guilt.”
I mumble a “thanks.” She’s obviously in this for herself, holding me up like a bullseye for Raven’s target practice, but at least I get something out of the deal.
“You’re welcome. The pictures were actually taken on my phone, and I have two, so you’re welcome to take this phone as evidence.” Kiki digs in her back pocket and hands me her iPhone. Then she tells me the security code to get in. “Go get her, Mads. Bring her down once and for all so no one has to suffer at her hand ever again.”
“I will.” I test the security code. To my surprise, it’s legit.
“I know you must be upset about what I did, but whether you believe it or not, my loyalty lies with you. If there’s anything else I can do for you, please let me know. I can also go on the witness stand if you want me to. Screw Raven and her threats. She’s going down.”
That snags my attention. “Are you sure you want to go on the witness stand?”
She nods. “Anything I can do to make this up to you. Someday, you’re going to be the new queen at Wilcox. We can all feel it. I want to be on the winning side.”
Scoffing, I laugh at her. “Good luck with that. There’s only one semester left, and if it goes anything like the last one, I’ll be lucky to survive the year.”
Her full lips widen with a smirk. “Just wait and see.”
After an informative visit with Kiki, I glance down at the phone full of evidence in my hand and chuckle darkly.
Gotcha, sis. Got you red-handed this time.
I spin with glee on the way to my car and almost slam into the side of it, giggling like a fool. This is my chance. Raven has dealt so many blows against me, and now it’s my turn to land a
few well-placed punches.
Court.
A record.
Fines, maybe even jail time?
Who knows? The possibilities are endless, and I don’t feel guilty for wishing all of the above on that heartless piece of scum some people have the audacity to call my twin. Before finding out I was one, I used to think twins were always the same. They were in sync. Creepy. The most disturbing part of any horror movie, hands down. But now I realize that doesn’t have to be the case at all. Raven and I are opposites, a prime example of yin and yang, except we don’t work together to order the universe. We bring chaos to it.
I fling my car door open, jump in, and crank the ignition. A ding goes off on my own iPhone before I pull out of the driveway. I pick it up, a knot growing in my stomach at the thought of it being from Dad. Dad has sent me countless texts and called me dozens of times over the past few days, and I haven’t answered anything. However, this time it’s not from him.
Logan: Hey, sweets…I’m such a moron. I miss you, all of you, every little piece, and I feel empty without you. I love you so much. Please don’t be mad at me anymore. I can’t take this distance between us.
An uninvited tear glides down my cheek. I want to get what we had back, too, but if I go to him now, as-is, will we fall apart again? Everything sucks without him, but it will be even worse if we get back together and he decides this isn’t right.
Something about having your private thoughts blasted all over the globe makes you a little more cautious. I decide to give it some time, just a little bit, and then I’ll go find him and try this again.
Three days later, when I knock on the door of apartment 327, I hear Logan groan and get up from the couch. It takes him a second to get to the door, but then he opens it a crack with the chain lock still in place.
When he sees me, as if by magic, his eyes spring open. He fumbles with the locks. “Hold on.”
I smile when he shuts the door. The locks clatter as he scurries to get them open as fast as he can. Seeing him eager to see me, even after our awful fights and this hellish past week, is the cutest thing ever. He loves me so much. I hope I’m worthy of him.
When Logan opens the door, he immediately wraps me in his arms, pulls me off the floor, and carries me inside. My legs go up to hook around his waist as he shuts the door behind us. Panting, we let our foreheads touch and he leans me against the door for balance.
“Baby, I don’t need proof, I just need you.” Logan closes the distance between our lips, filling me with his warmth. I wrap my arms around his neck and squeeze him into me, feeling like even an inch of distance between us is too much.
“I missed you so much,” I mumble against his lips.
“I missed you, too.” Logan devours my lips, sucking my lower one in between his teeth and making me moan.
“Wait…” I pull back from him, gasping for breath. “Before this gets too intense, I need to show you a few things, and we need to talk.”
“Right…talk.” He forces a smile, and I smile back knowingly. Talking is the last thing on his male mind right now, but he’ll do it for me.
“Come here.” He lets me down and takes me by the hand over to the couch. After we sit down, I take out Kiki’s phone from my clutch.
“This is a phone one of Raven’s girls gave me. It has screenshots of my original, unedited diary. I wrote a lot of good things in it about you, so I thought you might want to see it.”
“One of Raven’s girls gave you this?” he asks as he reaches out for the phone.
I type in the security code and hand it to him with the first of the screenshots open. “Yes. She’s a double agent of sorts. Turns out she was working for me the whole time.”
I watch in nervous anticipation as Logan scans through the screenshots. At first, hardness enters his features when he reads the account of me hiding Dalton’s kiss from him. Then he softens after he reads on.
“You wanted to tell me, and he told you not to?” Logan’s hopeful eyes meet mine.
“Yes. I felt terrible about hiding it from you. It felt so wrong, but…” I shrug.
Logan simply nods and keeps reading. As he flicks through the screenshots, a smile takes over his face, and it gets wider and wider. When he gets to the posts where I was gushing over our relationship, laughter builds in his chest, but it’s not from amusement. He’s so incredulous about the things I wrote about him that the only thing he can do is laugh. Then I show him the video that was taken at my slumber party…the one my ungracious friends took while I was drunkenly confessing my love for him. That’s when Logan breaks out in a full belly laugh.
“Wow, you really do love me.”
I move off the couch to kneel down in front of him and rest my hands on his knees. He looks into my eyes, and love ripples between us.
“Please believe me. I’m so sorry you got caught in the crossfire. I know I’m a lot of trouble, some even call me a ‘wild card’…” I chuckle and it dies in my throat. I swallow hard. “But believe me when I say there is no one else and there will be no one else as long as you love me.”
Logan joins me on his knees on the floor. Cupping my jaw, he bores deeply into my soul with his amazing green eyes.
“I’m so sorry for not letting you explain…for not listening to you. I was a horrible boyfriend when you needed me most.”
I finger his wrist as he holds my jaw. “You’ve never been a horrible boyfriend. Forgive me?”
“Forgive me?”
Smiling, we fall into each other’s lips, even more exhilarated by our kiss than we’ve ever been before. Affection flows between us like a river. After a long time of whispering between kisses how much we love each other, Logan scoops me up in his arms and holds me on top of him on the couch. Not for the first time, I feel the proof of his arousal beneath me. Something inside me responds and settles into place.
“Take me to the bedroom,” I whisper, thumbing over his lower lip.
His arms go rigid with surprise, and he pulls back to look at me. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” I breathe. I lean in to kiss him again, but Logan pulls back, shaking his head.
“No. No, this isn’t right.”
My heart plunges into my stomach. After all we just said and felt, I thought we were back to where we were.
“Why not?” I feel a pounding sensation in my head as I wait on his response. Did he change his mind this quickly?
Logan holds me like a priceless porcelain doll and lands a chaste kiss on the tip of my nose. “Just trust me. I’ve got a plan.”
Covered by Logan’s arms and his stuffed down comforter, I feel tucked away into my own perfect haven where nothing can touch me. His lips trail kisses over my shoulder and collarbone, cherishing me.
“This is nice, babe,” I whisper, relaxing into him. Last night was so quiet and peaceful. I stayed with him overnight and got the perfect amount of sleep. Nothing happened even though I invited it several times. He just kept saying “Patience, love,” and kissing me.
“You staying here with me again tonight?” Logan asks.
“I still don’t want to go back to Dad, so I guess I will.”
“You can stay here as long as you want,” he offers.
I turn around in his arms and grin. “Are you sure you want to live with me? I make a huge mess, and there’s one week a month where I turn into a total helpless baby. My cramps are horrible. I usually have to eat breakfast in bed.”
Logan brushes his lips across the tip of my nose. “Just gives me even more excuses to spoil you.”
I smile. How did I get so lucky?
“Well, I guess I’d better let Ana know she’s helping me move out tonight.”
“I’ll help too, and then I’ll make dinner for us when we get home.”
Home…
Here in Logan’s arms, for the first time in a while, I do feel like I’m home. Dad’s mansion felt like home to me six months ago, but now I realize the high life comes with a lot of pain and struggle. The anon
ymity and peace I have here with Logan is much better suited for me. I wish Logan and I could stay in our own little paradise forever. Unfortunately, there’s still the matter of my evil twin to take care of.
January 3
Let’s Try This Again
No more public diaries for me. This time, I’m making my diary a password-protected Word document that’s hidden in a top-secret folder. Also, I’m not leaving my laptop unattended anywhere but Logan’s apartment. If people come over, I’m making sure it’s hidden under the bed. I’m not taking any chances. This diary thing nearly cost me everything, and I’m going to make sure no one ever finds it again.
I can’t wait to win the court case against Raven and out her as the identity thief she is.
My sole mission now that I’ve won Logan back is to bring down Raven Redinger once and for all. Chandler told me once that I could be my own superhero. No one else can save me from Raven’s attacks. Only I can defeat her. I’m not fighting just for myself—Kiki, Skyler, and the other girls all deserve to be free. I doubted at first that I had what it takes to go against her, but truthfully there’s no one better suited than me to do the job. After all, I’m the one who has the most to lose.
Dad has stopped calling me. I ignored his calls and a myriad of texts, so I guess I can’t blame him for giving up. Still, it stings that the one person I thought would always have my back doesn’t care enough to truly fight for me. When I moved in with Ana and Jerica for a couple days, all of a sudden, he stopped trying. Maybe Ana told him I was staying there, and he stopped worrying. Or maybe he doesn’t care.
Whatever. I’m going to succeed whether dear old Dad is on my side or not. My court date is set for January fifteenth, four days after school starts back up again. I hope they give her more than a fee to pay. Money won’t mean anything to Jess and Raven. She needs to serve some kind of real sentence.
I wish I didn’t have the sinking feeling she’s going to get off from this scot-free…
D.O.R.K. Series Box Set Page 56