Born to Lie by Brianna Jones (latest books to read TXT) 📖

Everyone could have a twin, and not even know about it. The reasons for that are endless. It could be that they were seperated at birth. Or one twin died, leaving the other one alone. For Amber Claws, the reason was not either of those. She had a twin. She knew about her twin. But her twin didn't know about her. It was a mystery she'd tried to solve ever since running across a picture of someone who looked exactly like her, relaxing on the beach. Amber had never been to the beach, so she knew something was up. At the time she was thirteen, someone who's just gotten a facebook account despite what her foster mother had told her about the internet. Amber remembered finding a picture of her under the name Gemini Tamsyn. Only, the more she looked, the more she realized that the girl was not her. It was only someone who looked very identical to her. So she did what any other person would do. She researched.

Now, Amber sat at the foot of her bed, scrolling down Gemini's page. She was known as 'Gemma' by her friends. Amber smiled, realizing her twin was certainly a party girl. Already, in this one week, she's been to three parties, all of which her parents knew nothing about. She couldn't believe how different they both were, yet looked completely the same. Which was why she had to set her plan to action. There was a chance it would end in disaster, but from everything she knew...It was criminal to just sit on the couch and forget about it.

"Amber." The door to her room opened and Amber wheeled around to face her foster brother, Preston. He held a phone in his hands and a ketchup bottle in the other. Half a hotdog dangled from his lips and he stepped inside Amber's room.

"What do you want?" Amber shut the labtop and slid it under her pillow, fully aware that Preston had already seen it. Still, she wished for the best and hoped that he knew how to keep his mouth shut.

"Some guy's on the phone for you. Says his name is...Ivan?" Amber's eyes went wide and she grabbed the phone away from Preston. But before she could get away, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. She struggled to move out of his grasp but it was impossible. Preston was far more stronger than she was.

""Let go !"

"And why would I do that?" Amber was about to say something back, when the sound of someone's voice on the phone caught her attention. It really was Ivan, and Amber knew by now, he'd be getting impatient. She didn't need her last hope of freedom to hang up on her.

"Hi Ivan." She said, elbowing Preston in the chest, and running to the far corner of the room.

"Amber?" Ivan began. "What's up, I've been here for ten minutes already. Where are you?"

"Uhh." Amber looked away from Preston's looks and dragged her duffel bag from under the bed. Preston seemed interested by this, and he began walking towards her.

"I'm just packing up. Give me another five minutes or so."  Ivan groaned just as Preston snatched the bag away from Amber. He unzipped it and dropped the items onto her bed. Amber's clothes scattered all over the bed, along with her toothbrush, and some cash she'd "borrowed" from her foster mother, Janice. Preston rasied his eyebrows and picked up the money.

"Ivan, I'm gonna have to call you later."

Am-" Amber turned off the phone and took back the duffel bag from Preston.

"So this is where her money went, huh? Wait 'till she hears about it, you little thief." With the cash still in his hands, Preston walked out the door, and Amber closed it behind him. With or without money, she was still not going to stay in the house. Quickly, she picked up everything that had fallen out of the bag, and stuffed them back inside. She could hear Preston's voice from across the hall, along with Janice's. She needed to leave before her whole plan went down the drain.

"Amber!" Amber swung her bag over her shoulder and opened the window. It wasn't a long jump, but she decided the tree was the best way down. Biting her lips, she reached out one hand and wrapped it around a tree branch. It was the same tree that tapped at her window every night, causing her to lose sleep. She never knew it would be a big part in her plan.

Wrapping the other arm around the branch, she then jumped, and pulled herself up, so that she could sit on the branch. From her spot, she could see the door to her room open and her foster mother barging in. She had an angry expression on her face, and Amber realized that it wouldn't end well if she got caught. she leaned back, and slowly turned her body around, so that her stomach made contact with the tree bark. It wasn't easy especially with the bag hanging from her shoulders. Still, she continued to crawl towards the trunk of the tree. She then finally threw her bag on the floor, and jumped down, herself.

Her plan was going okay so far, but with her foster brother yelling out her name, it would soon end in disaster. She started running, towards the lake where she and Ivan had planned to meet. Behind her, she could hear footsteps, and they were getting awfully close. Turning a corner, she hid behind a tree and held her breath. The sound of heavy breathing got closer and closer, frightening Amber. She just realized how much she didn't want to go back to the house.

Her foster mother was a total bitch. Preston was a disgusting pervert, and her younger foster sister, Amanda, really knew how to make a person hate her life. But in all, if she had to choose anybody in that house, it'd be Amanda. Apart from always sticking with Preston's side, and making Amber's life a living hell, Amanda had been sort of nice to have around. She was just acting how any other younger sister would act. Like a total brat.

The footsteps and the creepy breathing disapeared. Amber slowly walked out from behind the tree and looked around. It was dark, but light enough for her to see that there was no one around. She breathed out a sigh of relief and began walking down the trail, towards the lake. The cool wind ruffled her hair, and she shivered, hating herself for not wearing something that could cover. All she had on was a pink tank top, and faded jeans. If Preston hadn't messed everything up, then she would have had more time to prepare. Then again, she was the one who wasted ten minutes, staring at her twin sister's facebook page. For the first time in her life, Amber couldn't figure out who the creepier one was. Her or Preston.

" 'Bout time you got here." Amber gasped and turned around as a hand was placed over her mouth. She stared into Ivan's dark blue eyes and calmed down, stopping herself from letting out a blood thirsty scream. He moved his hand away, and Amber smiled, wrapping her arms around him. He hugged her back, not minding the duffel bag that continued to hit his thigh.

"What took you so long! And why are you wearing that?" Amber rolled her eyes, and started walking towards Ivan's car.

"I can sum it up in one word. Preston." Ivan nodded his head, and climbed inside the driver's seat of the car. He waited until Amber threw her duffel bag in the back seat before starting the ignition.

"The foster brother from hell, huh?" He asked. He focused his eyes on Amber and she looked away. Things have been extremely awkward between them ever since they broke up last week. It's a wonder she's sitting in his car, only two inches away from him.  With shaggy brown hair, sea blue eyes, and such amazing cheekbones, Ivan was certainly a looker. Three days after the big break-up, Amber had wondered what the hell was wrong with her, since it was her idea for them to split. Now she sat across from him, and mentally tortured herself for her stupid idea. Maybe he'd take her back if she asked. Ivan was nice enough. And he didn't hate her..She groaned and leaned back in the seat.

"What's up?" Ivan said, turning his head from the road to look at her.

"I-It's...Do you have my flashdrive?" Ivan turned a corner and focused his eyes back on the road.

"Yeah." He said, digging around in his his pocket. "What do you need it for anyway?"

"I can't tell you right now." Ivan handed her the dark red flashdrive.

"Amber, you're making me drive you to Monterey. The least you coan do is tell me what's going on." Amber closed her eyes, and turned her head towards Ivan. Whether or not they were dating, he'd always been a good friend. Anyone else would've said no after being left out in the dark. The truth was..She didn't even know that much about the whole mystery herself. All she knows is that she has a twin, and that she was kidnapped.

A year after finding out about Gemma, Amber had seen an article about how a child had been kidnapped from a hospitol. She checked the date of the kidnapping, and it matched with the day she and Gemma were born. December fifteenth. The parents of the kidnapped child were called William and Jane Tamsyn. Those were the names of Gemma's parents.

"You didn't look at the flashdrive, did you?" 

"No. I would never break one of your rules. God knows whether little demon Amber would come out and attack me." Amber scoffed and hit him on the arm, playfully.

Ivan laughed and shook his head. Amber laughed too, after awhile. She was seriously thinking about telling Ivan the truth.  Maybe later she would, but now, she was just too not in the mood to trust people. After everything she found out about her life, and her sister...It was kind of hard to trust herself.

 Ivan turned a corner once agin. It would be a long ride to where they were headed. Right now, they were still in Fresno. Gemma lived in Monterey. To Amber, it didn't seem like the type of place a spoiled rich girl would live. Gemma sounded like a Los Angelas type, or even Santa Barbara. Still, Monterey sounded a lot better than Fresno. And hours later, when they pulled up to Gemma's house, Amber realized why they ditched LA for Monterey.

The house was...Far too amazing for words. Bright lights shone from the inside. Flowers of every color decorated it's floors. It was a two-story, or maybe a three. Amber couldn't tell from where she was sitting. What she could tell, was that Gemma was certainly the luckier twin. It made her angry to even think about it. Why was she the one kidnapped. How come the hospitol she was born in was careless enough to let someone pick up a baby and just walk out? There were just way too many questions and not enough answers. Which is the whole reason she's on this trip. To get some answers.

"Well." She began. "My friend lives here. I'm gonna be living with her."

"I never knew you had a rich friend."

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me, Ivan." Ivan stared at her for awhile until he finally looked away. They muttered awkward goodbyes and Amber grabbed her bag, then stepped out of the car. It wasn't until she took one step that she realized she had no idea what to do. That, and her butt was really stiff.

She didn't know if she should just go up and