His Secret [Completed]

Chapter Twenty-Five

The end of the school year was usually celebrated by an elaborate house party hosted by one of the many attendees of the university and this year, it just so happened to fall into Kelly and Jackson's hands as it was also around the same time as their birthday. Being the children of successful lawyers, at first, hadn't caused them an issue at college; they had a small selection of close friends and other than that, they were liked and accepted by everyone. But the twins had kept their true legacy under wraps.

Regardless of their parent's fortune, the twins were wealthy in their own right. For their twenty-first birthday, Kelly and Jackson were gifted 100,000 dollars each by Noah. His business had taken off and he was making more money than he ever thought possible. However, that was not how they earned their fortune. Alan's mother was the first in the family to own a respective business and earn her fortune, which she handed down to her son when she became unable to run the business. Since Alan had his own dynasty to focus on he hired three people to run the business. It was this company that Alan and Sherry decided to split equally, 50/50 shares between their two youngest children on their twenty-first birthdays.

It could be said that the money earned from the business was handed to them on a plate and they haven't had to work hard to build up the empire, but that was untrue. Many evenings after classes they would spend their time at the office making changes, running checks and making sure everything ran smoothly. They kept this a secret even from their friends. Money changes people, and Jackson and Kelly knew this all too well.

Unfortunately that all changed once Kelly posted the photograph of her brother and Sophia on the hill the weekend before. It had been a minor error, a slip up of sorts that the McKenzie manor was ever so slightly visible in the background, and from that moment speculation began and the googling started. Before Kelly had the chance to delete the social media post, the comments flooded with links to newspaper articles about their family, Noah's success and regrettably, there were some who had identified Sophia. It was a rapid response on Kelly's part as she disabled the comments on the post and made the conscious decision to not tell her friend.

It was midway through June, summer had just begun and the announcement of the end of school party being at the McKenzie's house was released. Yet there was one problem; the twins hadn't yet asked their parents if it was okay. They found themselves in a compromising position. The twins were torn, they were excited and hyped about hosting the party but they also didn't feel comfortable asking their parents for permission until a day before. Alan and Sherry were relaxed about most things but a huge house party with drunk young adults was where they drew their line.

"Please Mom, we have to host it, it's tradition," Jackson pleaded with his mother.

"Is someone holding you at gunpoint?" Sherry asked.

"Well, no-"

"Then you don't have to do anything."

"Sophia, a little help?" Kelly spoke up from across the kitchen but she just shrugged, knowing she wasn't really in a place to help.

"It's not my place," she said and continued eating a packet of crisps; she was rather enjoying the show.

"You live here too."

Sophia nodded and shrugged. "To be honest, I'm not really bothered whether you have the party or not. If you do I'll be in the boathouse most likely watching rom-coms alone." She faked a laugh at how pathetic her evening sounded.

"Mom..." Jackson dragged out the word, knowing that Sophia wouldn't be any help.

"Okay." Their faces lit up. "But I have one condition." She turned to Sophia, "I would like you to watch over things, make sure it doesn't get too out of hand and if there are any problems, you call Noah. I'll tell him about the party. Okay?"