Recondite

Chapter 1

Being on the run with her little sister wasn't all it was cracked up to be, at least not in Luciana's book. Thea did everything in her power to drive Luciana up a wall and there were times she thought about shoving little sister out of the moving vehicle into oncoming traffic. Then, her temper would simmer and realize she couldn't live without Thea, needing to protect her at all costs. Luciana had always been that way from the day Thea was born. They were 4 years apart in age, but Luciana remembered the day her baby sister was brought home from the hospital. It was love at first sight. Even though she was only 4, their parents allowed her to hold Thea in her arms, with help, and there'd never been a more beautiful moment. As the years passed and Thea grew, Luciana protected her any way she could, be it from bullies at school, heartbreak from boys…and even their wretched parents.

Finding out their parents had embezzled millions of dollars from the family company, and murdered their clients for trying to speak out, was shocking to both Luciana and Thea. Their family was well-off and always had been, due to how hard they THOUGHT their father worked. The worst part of it was they put all the blame and accusations on their own kids, just to hide behind their crimes! Luciana remembered the night vividly…the night that ultimately changed her and Thea's life forever. She'd walked into the mansion, after a long day at school, and stopped in her tracks at the sight of her father pointing a gun at someone. Luckily, they hadn't seen her, so Luciana quickly pressed against the wall and listened into the conversation, her teal eyes widening.

"You promised, Charles, and didn't live up to your word." Thomas Merlin stated coldly, his eyes narrowed in on his soon-to-be former employee. "And now, you must pay the consequences."

"Tom, please…I have a family and…"

"And I don't?" Thomas scoffed, tightening the hold on the gun in his hand. "Don't worry, it'll be painless, and I promise you'll be buried properly. Just like our daughters will be after they find out they're our scapegoats." He laughed wickedly, eyes flashing. "It's the whole reason we had kids in the first place, Charley boy!"

"H-How could you do that to your beautiful girls?!" Charles demanded, tears filling his eyes while staring at the man he thought he knew. "You're embezzling money from your clients, which is how you've managed to stay afloat financially all these years and now you're gonna pin it on them to save your own asses?! Y-You won't get away with this…"

"I already have." Thomas pulled the trigger, lodging the bullet right in the man's skull and snapped his head when he thought he heard something.

It was a gasp from Luciana, her heart racing rapidly in her chest and she was on the verge of exposing herself in a panic. Her father had killed someone…and would try to pin it on her and Thea?! Luckily, Thomas didn't find her in that spot as Luciana made her way through the mansion to find her little sister, remembering the fear gripping her heart with every step she took. All she kept thinking was 'please don't let Thea be dead already'. A huge sigh of relief escaped her when Luciana found Thea in her bedroom, watching a movie after a hard day at school. 25-years-old with all the ambition in the world and Thea had chosen to go to medical school to become a doctor. Luciana majored in computer and technology, knowing both fields would never die and there would always be jobs.

"Luci, what's wrong?" Thea had asked, watching her sister pace back and forth in front of her. "You're crying…" The mansion was huge, so she didn't hear the gunshot over her music.

"We have to go. I'll explain later, but we HAVE to get out of here, Thea!" Luciana had been in a panic and began tossing her little sister's belongings in a bag, trembling. "P-Please, you have to trust me on this…it's not safe here for us anymore…"

"You need to slow down and breathe…what do you mean it's not safe here anymore?" Thea had been so confused and listened to what her big sister told her, what she'd discovered and witnessed, her own brown eyes widening in shock. Her brown eyes came from their father while the teal came from their mother. "They're WHAT?!"

"Ssshhh keep your damn voice down and start packing!" Luciana hissed, thankful she'd gotten an apartment across town and so far, her parents didn't know she'd come for a visit. "We'll stop at my place on the way out of town…and then try to figure out what the hell is going on."

Thea was confused, stopping for a second. "Why do we have to run though? There's no way they can pin everything on us after what you've seen…"

"Thea, trust me, if Mom and Dad want to pin their crimes on us, they'll find a way to do it. Money talks." They were billionaires with all the money in the world to cover their tracks. "Dad even told Mr. Kemper before he shot him the only reason they had kids in the first place was to cover up what they've done. That means Mom and Dad have been up to no good with the company for YEARS. And they're murderers on top of it. Now hurry up and finish packing, we have to get out of here before-"

"Thea darling, it's Momma and I brought you some tea." Elizabeth Merlin called through the door, smiling softly with a sinister gleam in her eyes.

Luciana had shoved Thea through the window, which was luckily on the first floor of the mansion and into some bushes along with her. There was no place to run and no place to hide, but they had to get away from their psychotic parents if it was the last thing they ever did. She recalled Thea being shaken up, still not fully understanding what was happening to their lives and wondered how they didn't see this sooner.

It'd been one year since it happened and still gave the older sister nightmares, often leaving her sleep-deprived for days at a time. They were living off their trust funds -Luciana made sure to pull them immediately following Charles' murder-, which allowed them to travel from place-to-place, staying in unsafe environments, but it was the only way to survive.

It was all about survival these days for the Merlin sisters.

"You need to pull over and let me drive." Thea ordered flatly, staring holes through Luciana.

Older sister thought she was some superhero, able to go for days and only sleep when her body physically shut down on her. She'd figure, with her pushing age 30 now, she'd know better. Thea had been studying to be a doctor and knew very well what the toll all this was taking on their bodies, on Luciana mentally.

"Come on." She sometimes had to remind big sister that at near 26, she wasn't exactly a baby anymore.

This wasn't the life she envisioned for Thea, knowing she had to give everything up, including her medical schooling. The knowledge stayed with her, but it didn't mean a damn when they had to keep moving from place to place. It was exhausting living life on the run and Luciana had to wonder if they would be doing this for the rest of their lives. There had to be a way to stop their parents, but so far, she hadn't come across anything.

"Alright." Stopping the car, she pulled over and put the vehicle in park, heaving another sigh. "We're almost to our destination…our temporary home." She bitterly muttered, stepping out and swapped places before buckling her seatbelt while Thea drove.

GPS was a beautiful thing, but they didn't have one because Luciana was paranoid that, somehow, their parents would be able to track them. She was right, of course, a GPS was a way of not only finding the way, but broadcasting their location as well. They relied on the old school methods of maps and asking directions, using old school cell phones when they needed to and really old cars; cars that weren't all chipped and on satellites. If they weren't on the run for their lives, Thea would have found this pretty neat, learning how to survive off the grid.

"I got it, try to take a nap." She advised, knowing that was a hopeless cause.

Going to school for technology and computers, Luciana had a vast knowledge on what to use and what NOT to use when it came to running. She hated this life and rested her head against the window, trying to stifle a yawn. If Thea couldn't sleep, she wasn't either. For the past year, all Luciana kept doing was looking over her shoulder and dodging countless authority figures that wanted to drag them back to their parents…and their death. There wasn't a doubt in her mind and heart, if their parents got a hold of them, it would be the very last thing that happened in their lives. Luciana wouldn't let anything happen to Thea, vowing to protect her at all costs. She was the big sister, the protector, and both had enough schooling behind them to keep from falling into a trap set by their parents.

"We need gas." She announced an hour later, looking over at Thea and reached over to touch her sister's shoulder with a tight smile. "I'll pump, you get some snacks and drinks for us." Everything was paid with cash – Luciana wasn't taking any chances.

Drinks and snacks meant energy drinks, water, a few pints of milk and orange juice and, if they were lucky, fresh yet expensive fruit and protein bars. Thea tried to keep them somewhat healthy, but this lifestyle wasn't good for anyone. They were both trim, which was more due to stress than anything else. Eventually, they had to stop this and find a way to just disappear without needing to run all the time. She was worried her sister was on her way to a mental breakdown. Once they were on the road again, Luciana turned the radio down and turned to face her sister, who insisted on driving.

"This next area we're going to is a small town on the outskirts of Houston. Small population and I think…we'll be safe there for a little while. We don't have to get up and leave right away, we can get an apartment or small house if you want."

Thea had been begging her to do this for months, but Luciana hadn't felt safe enough. Hell, she never would, not with a constant target on her and Thea's backs. She could tell the constant driving and running was getting on her sister's nerves and didn't want to make her more miserable.

"What do you think? We can find jobs and hopefully settle down…" It was wishful thinking, but she injected some hope into her tone.

"Yeah, we can do that." Thea said, after a few minutes of silence, considering it. In a city the size of Houston, as long as they stayed low on the radar, they should've been able to disappear quite easily. Houston was… not anything like where they had grown up. "You know, I bet there are seriously low-income areas with clinics…" She had learned quickly places like that didn't care about education as much as ability. That had earned them some money a time or two and let her practice and gain knowledge in the medical field.

"You'll have no problem getting a job in one of them, if that's the case. I'll try to look for a 9-to-5 too, something lowkey and we have to make sure we have our fake IDs on us."

They had changed their names and appearance by dying their hair. Luciana used to have honey blonde and now her hair was inky black while Thea had brown hair and it was now platinum blonde. They were drastic, necessary changes. Their last name was Cagle, but they had kept their first names. It was easier to change the last name, but not so much the first. The only type of technology they had was a laptop, where Luciana did all of her research and made sure the IP address was untraceable. The laptop she did have had been chucked along with anything else her parents had given her, not trusting anything. Thea did the same.

"There's actually a small house for sale right now, if you want to head there today. I can make an appointment for us to look at it."

"Better off renting, Luci." Thea suggested with a heavy sigh. As much as owning a house would be fun, it was easier to rent; less paperwork and, if they paid with cash and something happened where they had to jet, they weren't losing out on money. "If things work out, maybe then buy a house, but… I don't know about doing it just yet."

"It's actually rent to own. The owner wants to make sure we stay put for a year before making any kind of permanent decision. You alright with that?"

Thea nodded, making her crack the barest hint of a smile and pulled her flip phone out to make the call. They were in luck; the house hadn't been taken yet and the owner sounded interested in meeting with them. Sometimes, Luciana couldn't believe how smart Thea was – she often came up with ideas on what to do whenever they were in a jam. It was almost as if she was the older sister while Luciana was the younger one.

An hour later, they arrived in Houston and went straight to the house to meet up with the gentleman. He was a shorter man, plump and had black hair with kind dark eyes. His name was Paul and he seemed nice enough. Luciana liked the house, which was two bedrooms and so did Thea, knowing they wouldn't find anything nicer. It had a few issues, as with any older home, which was perfect since it wasn't directly in the city.

After paying the deposit along with the first couple month's rent, the girls brought their belongings inside and was thankful the place was already pre-furnished. They didn't have to worry about going furniture shopping, just had to buy the essentials such as cookware and whatnot. For the first time in a year, Luciana felt like she could breathe somewhat easily now that they weren't stuck in a car.

Their problem was going to be that one car, unless public transportation ran out this way. She had no idea. Thea wasn't the one who was always freaking out. She knew they were still being searched for most likely, but at the same time, Luciana tended to just stress, panic and try to survive, so one of them had to be calm. After spending basically a year in a car, Thea had learned not to be an annoying little troll because Luciana could smack her whenever she got to be too much of a bitch.

"We're gonna get you a car. Two cars are better than one."

They had the money from their trusts, so why not? The money was untraceable since it was in a huge duffel bag they carted around with them. It wasn't the safest way to do it, but bank accounts could be traced and that wasn't an option. Neither were credit cards…cash only was the only safe way to go. Thea had her reservations, but reluctantly agreed to what Luciana wanted. She had every right to be stressed out and panicked, especially after witnessing her father kill someone. Thea would never have to live with that memory, thankfully.

"That way if you get a job, you'll have transportation and I'll be able to go to work as well."

Thea just shrugged, busy looking around the house. They would need to make an extra set of the house keys and she was taking note of all the windows and potential escape routes. Finally, she halted in front of a window and looked out, taking in the scenery. Idly, she wondered if her sister would agree to taking melatonin or something to help her rest properly for once.

"Why don't we go buy some groceries?" She suggested finally, knowing they both needed proper food and a good night's sleep with the help of a dose of melatonin for big sister.

Grocery shopping…Luciana hadn't done that in a long time and could feel the anxiety building up inside of her, trying to swallow it down. She wanted to have a normal life and normal life included grocery shopping and cooking. Sooner or later, they had to stop looking over their shoulder and just live their lives. Easier said than done, but Luciana would make the effort to do it.

"Alright, lead the way, sissy." She followed Thea out the door, after grabbing some cash out of the bag and shoved it under the bed against the wall. Taking a few deep breaths, Luciana started the ignition and pulled out of the driveway, eyeing the scenery around the small neighborhood they were in.