THIRTEEN

I was mopping the large living room—which the servants had to do as a group—alone.

Oleh was sitting on the couch with her legs crossed and looking at herself through a powder mirror.

I frowned as I moved the hairy stick, left to right then she said,"Chop chop, you better make the place squeaky clean since my girlfriends will be here soon."

"Girlfriends? For what?"

"What else? To hang out."

"Do you have permission from Mark?"

"That is why he's not going to know."

I was a little hungry so went to take an apple from the fruit basket when she said,"What are you doing?"

"Going to get a snack, I'm done mopping."

"You are not eating any of the fruit for decoration, are you?"

Wow, she figured it out, gold star...

"No, I'm not."

"Good."

I opened the fridge and she stopped me.

"That food is for my girlfriends."

"Then what am I supposed to eat?!"

"I thought rats should know what foods they eat, shoes, leftovers, clothes and others."

"I am not a rat."

"You act like one, you have much to say yet the people with the biggest hearts set traps for you."

"Mark will never set a trap for me, unlike you."

"You're right, he would never set a trap for his brother, but he will lie to him."

"What are you talking about?"

"You don't know? Of course, Marcus would never tell you that he's not really your brother."

"You're lying."

"Actually, it's Marcus who is. Haven't you wondered why your parents never told you about him? Or how he got a company this big? It's because he isn't your brother. Your parents fostered him after his billionaire parents died, never adopting him. Because of that, he had this inheritance, but not you."

"I don't believe you!"

"Oh really? Then why don't you look at this D.N.A. test I conducted on you two."

I didn't want to believe her, i knew that the paper could easily have been forged but I still went forward to look at it.

It was negative.

Tears stated streaming down my eyes as I looked at the paper, my vision got blurry and my heart was racing.

I burst into tears and ran away, as Oleh chuckled to herself.

I squatted in a corner, crying silently.

A few minutes later, Mark came into the house. Oleh told him something was wrong with me, but I didn't tell her what and for once, I didn't care.

Mark came to tap me but I said in a quivering voice,"Don't touch me."

"Tommy, what's going on?"

"When we're you going to tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"When we're you going to tell me that we aren't brothers?!"

He was silent and said,"Who told you that?"

"It doesn't matter, please just tell me they were lying, that it wasn't true."

He was silent for some seconds then sighed and said,"It's true, Tommy."

The words felt like arrows to my heart.

"How could you?!"

"Tommy, I..."

"How could you lie to me like that?! You made me think I had a friend in the world, not knowing you were even worse than Oleh!"

"...did she tell you this?"

"Yes! And I can't stand being around you, I hate you!"

I ran up the stairs and Mark called after me but I didn't respond. He looked furiously at Oleh, then followed me.

He realized my room door was locked and he said,"Tommy, I'm sorry, what I did was not wrong but terrible. I am a liar, I lied to Lucy, I lied to you, I have lied to many people and for the company, I can't say I worked hard for it, because that would also be a lie. Tommy, please open the door."

I remained silent.

He sighed and used his spare key to open it and called for me but he didn't see me.

He looked around but still couldn't find me, he looked at the bed and saw the sheets were gone.

He looked out the window and turned pale...

"Tommy!!"

He quickly descended the stairs and Oleh came to him and asked,"What happened? I heard you scream for Tommy."

"How could you do this?"He asked in a low tone.

"What?"

"How could you do this to him?!"

"I- I ..."

"Shut up! If I don't find my brother, you'll regret being born."He said and left.

Oleh fell on her knees and held his hand, begging him but he pulled it so hard, she lost balance and fell.

He stormed out of the room.

I was running as fast as I could as the rain pelted down. I had tears, streaming from my face more than the rain that was on me.

I ran and didn't pay attention to the street I was running on. I ran till I heard a car horn, I screamed as the person stopped, but it was too late...