Page 1 of The Revenge Plan

Prologue

Gone. Even as I stared at the coffin in the grave, I expected him to come up behind me and jostle me forward with his gangly frame. But he was no more. My brother was gone and for the first time in seventeen years, I felt alone. Is this how people feel when they lose their twin?

I felt a squeeze on my shoulder and gazed at my mother. She held me as if she would fall at any moment. Her eyes were dry. She had cried out all her tears. What was left was a sadness I wasn’t sure would leave her.

I held her close to me as we staggered away from the grave and back to the cars. I had been oblivious of my surroundings until a familiar figure in the distance caught my eye.

“What is she doing here?” I had said it more to myself than to anyone, but my mother said, “She came? I’m glad.”

“I’m not. She is the reason he’s no longer here.”

“Caiden.” Her weak hand squeezed me again. “It was an accident. She’s grieving like you.” I scoffed. “You should be consoling each other and not…”

I didn’t hear the rest of the sentence. I was already making a beeline towards her. She was standing a little further away from the crowd. No doubt it was because she didn’t want to be seen. When she saw me coming over to her, she turned and started making her way out of the cemetery. I picked up my pace. She would not run away from me.

I grabbed her by the shoulder as she neared the exit.

“Aren’t you a long way from home,” I said. She slowly turned to face me. Her eyes were red and blotchy. I refused to believe that she was feeling what I was feeling. I hated seeing her like this. It made me want to do something so wrong and so off base that it only intensified the hate. I wanted to console her. The irony!

“Your fake tears aren’t necessary.”

“I’m sorry.” She sniffed. “Caiden I’m so sorry.”

“Turn yourself in if you’re so remorseful.”

Her mouth opened in shock. “You know I can’t do that. My father--”

“What about me? Can you at least tell me the truth?”

She shuffled on her feet, casting her gaze down. “I can’t remember.”

“What?”

“I don’t know what happened. One minute I was getting into the car, the next I woke up in a hospital.”

“Bullshit. I don’t want to hear your fucking excuses if you can’t even attempt to tell me the truth.”

“It’s true!” Her hand went to mine, and I swiped it away as she was about to take hold of me. She flinched.

“Did he mean nothing to you?”

Her big eyes were glassy with tears. Ignore them, I told myself. She probably put eye drops before she came here. Her lies were so transparent. And to think I used to see her as the good one. At the end of the day Hailey was like the rest of them. A Lyndell. Putting herself first, damn everyone else.

“He saw you as his best friend. You were his favorite person.” And his first love.

“He was mine too!”

“No, he wasn’t!” I was done with her. “If I ever see you again, I will kill you with my bare hands. Go back to your palace.”

“Caiden.” She reached for my hand again.

“Hailey.” My voice was shaky with anger. She stiffened, and at last she turned and walked away. I watched as she got into her car.

They will pay. The entire family will pay for what they did to my brother. But her? Her, I will leave my revenge for last.

1

13 years later

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