A Dark Kind of Hope by Aria Myst (best mystery novels of all time TXT) 📖

question.
“Oak, the brakes on the car were cut. We can show you if you’d like,” he said. When I nodded, he opened the folder. There was a picture of the brake cables and they were very clearly cut in half. It was a clean cut. “Is there anyone, anyone at all, that you can think of that might want to hurt you or your sister?” he said, softer this time.
I racked my brain for any kind of enemy that my sister or me had made. I could think of none. I shook my head no and started wringing my hands. It was killing me emotionally not to know who did this.
“Well Oak, this is all we are going to need for now. If there’s anything you need to tell us just call us. Now if whoever did this is targeting you tell us immediately. In the meantime, one of the officers is going undercover. You are going to pretend he is your boyfriend and he will be your bodyguard. His name is Charlie.”
I walked out of the room and ran into Raul’s arms and explained everything.
“Oak, it’s going to be okay. We can get through this. We will get through this. We are getting through this. I promise that we will be okay and someday we will be together again/ I love you,” he said, choking up.
“I love you too, Raul,” I sobbed.
I turned around to see a tall man around my age with curly dark brown hair. His eyes were a clear blue, and unlike many blue-eyed people there was no dark ring on the outside of his irises. In them I saw that he, too was in emotional pain. I wondered briefly if our scene would upset him, but as far as I knew he was a cold-hearted jerk.
“Um, hello. My name is Charlie, but I guess you already knew that. I’m really sorry. I don’t want to break you and your boyfriend up. You have to walk out of here as if you and him are nothing more than siblings. You and I though, are going to look like a couple,” he said, nervously.
There was some dark, alluring air about him that made me thing that something in his past had affected him deeply, and that he was hiding a big secret from the rest of the world. I didn’t know that I really wanted to find out what it was.
I sniffled and wiped my face. “Okay,” I said, still wary of this stranger that I was supposed to pretend to love. I couldn’t bring myself to look at either Raul or Charlie. I hugged Raul once more and then went over to stand next to Charlie, and he held my hand. He squeezed it once, and I thought that meant he was sorry. But I would never know.

Chapter 2

We walked out to the car and Raul got in the driver’s seat. I watched as Charlie sat in the front seat so I resorted to the back. I sat behind Charlie, just to be safe.
The drive home was awkward; no one spoke for a short while. I just sat there and kept to myself.
“Well where do we sleep? Because they said you guys lived at some kind of orphanage, and I guess I’ll be living there, too.” Charlie inquired. I was nervous about him moving in with all of us. He wouldn’t understand the way that things were.
“You’ll probably be in the East wing, were Raul and I are. I haven’t been sleeping in my room lately, because I shared it with my sister; we’ve been sleeping in the library. I might be moving back to my room soon…” I trailed off. I realized that I had said something that bothered him, because he, ever so slightly, stiffened in his seat.
Raul glanced at me, puzzled, in the mirror. He knew I didn’t trust Charlie, but for some irrational reason I was telling him things. I didn’t usually open up to people this way. Sometimes I said less than a sentence to strangers. I shrugged at Raul.
We got back to the house and met Maria at the door.
“Now this has to be Charlie,” she said in a loving yet slightly skeptical way. He nodded. “All three of you, follow me,” she said, a little more solemnly. She led us up to our father’s study, and knocked on the door,
“Come in,” his familiar, gruff voice sounded.
Maria opened the door for us. Raul walked in first, I walked in second, and Charlie followed close behind.
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Publication Date: 06-09-2011

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