Chapter 7 - JAKE KNEWI found Jake in the garage.
He was twenty-seven now.
Bigger.
Older.
But still wearing the same expression he had worn when we were kids.
Like the world owed him an explanation for every inconvenience.
He looked at me.
“You came back.”
I stared at him.
“Did you know?”
“Know what?”
“About the money.”
He looked away.
That was enough.
“You knew.”
“No.”
“Don't lie.”
“I didn't know everything.”
“How much did you know?”
Jake sighed.
“Dad told me things.”
“Like?”
“That your leaving caused problems.”
“What kind?”
He rubbed his face.
“Debt.”
“Whose debt?”
He hesitated.
“Everyone's.”
I stepped closer.
“Did you know someone was pretending to be me?”
He looked at me.
“Yes.”
My heart sank.
“How long?”
“A while.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“The second year.”
“You never contacted me.”
“I sent a message.”
“To my old number.”
“You changed it.”
“I changed it because nobody contacted me.”
He looked guilty.
“I didn't know how to reach you.”
“You knew my workplace.”
Silence.
“You knew where I lived.”
“I didn't.”
“Then why did you know about the letters?”
His face changed.
“Because Hailey showed me.”
I frowned.
“Hailey?”
Jake nodded.
“She was the one receiving them.”
A cold feeling moved through me.
“Why was Hailey getting letters supposedly from me?”
“I don't know.”
“What do you mean you don't know?”
“Because she wasn't the one they were intended for.”
I stared.
“Then who?”
Jake opened a box in the garage.
Inside were dozens of envelopes.
Photographs.
Receipts.
Bank records.
And newspaper clippings.
“They've been tracking all of us.”
“Who?”
“Northbridge.”
“Why you?”
“Because I borrowed money.”
“How much?”
He looked ashamed.
“Forty thousand.”
I almost laughed.
“Dad said eighty-seven.”
“That was only the beginning.”
My chest tightened.
“How much do you owe?”
Jake didn't answer.
“Jake.”
“Two hundred and sixteen thousand.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
“Football betting.”
Of course.
But there was more.
He pulled out a folder.
“I thought I could fix it.”
“How?”
“Someone offered me a deal.”
“What deal?”
“If I helped locate you, they would erase my debt.”
My stomach dropped.
“You gave them my location.”
“No.”
“You just said—”
“I didn't know they already had it.”
“So you betrayed me without knowing you were betraying me.”
He looked at me.
“I was desperate.”
I turned away.
I didn't recognize my own family anymore.
Then Jake said,
“There’s something else.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“The woman pretending to be you isn't Maya Hart.”
“What?”
“I know her.”
“Who is she?”
Jake swallowed.
“She used to work at my college.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It does if you know who her father was.”
“Who?”
He looked toward the door.
Then whispered,
“Thomas Hayes.”
My heart stopped.
“My father?”
Jake nodded.
“The woman at the bank isn't a stranger.”
I stared at him.
“She’s our sister.”
I laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because my brain couldn't process it.
“I only have one sister.”
“That's what we were told.”
Jake pulled out a birth certificate.
Another name.
Another child.
Another date.
And under “Father”:
Thomas Hayes.
I looked up.
“Who is she?”
May you like
Jake whispered,
“Her name is Maya Hayes.”
