The Foster Girls #1: Harper

Prologue: Dante

Fourteen years ago...

Watching as my twin brother threw his desk chair into the wall, I found myself appreciating the sentiment behind the action. Although I also felt like throwing something against the wall, I never allowed myself to give into emotions the way Dom did. It's always been that way, from the time we were toddlers, according to our mother: I was the ice cold twin and Dom was the boiling hot one. 

Right now, he was protesting something that was going to happen no matter how angry he got. Since it directly affected me, I'd reluctantly come to terms with it. As a lamp crashed into the wall, I realized Dom was going to take a little longer to reach acceptance.

"It's not right," he shouted. "They can't ask you to do this. You're only seventeen! It's not fucking fair, Rome."

Although my birth name was Dante, everyone called me Rome, a riff off our last name of Romano. As for the rest of what he said, he wasn't wrong.

"I don't know if they asked so much as demanded," I said grimly. "It's the only way, Dom. If I don't, everybody on both sides loses everything." 

I thought of our twin sisters, Emma and Eliza, a late-in-life shock for our parents four years ago. I thought of our older sister, Emanuelle, in her second year of college. I thought of our younger brother, Donovan, who, at fifteen, was already being groomed to take over the family business since Dominic and I had no interest in it. Given what our parents were pushing, we would never have anything to do with it. "There's no way out of this, Dom. Since Gramps died, the lawyers have been trying to find a way out, a loophole -- anything. There's nothing they can do. The terms are unbreakable."

My backpack flew past me and smashed against the wall, joining the lamp and the chair.

"It doesn't change our plans," I told him calmly. "We sign up for six years after we finish our senior year, get out with some serious skills and work our plan. I told Dad if he tried to force either of us to have anything to do with the business after we get out of the Marines, I'd blow everything up. He's agreed, and I made him put it into writing. I had my own lawyer look at it and it's watertight. So, I do this, and we're free to walk away. Donovan wants to run the business, anyway, so Dad will have him to take over."

Dom stood in front of me, clenching and unclenching his fists. "I don't like it. This is going to fuck with your whole life. You'll never be able to --"

"Yeah," I cut in, knowing where Dom had been headed with his words. "But that's all. It's just a signature on a line, a business necessity, and once that happens, it will not touch my life in any way. We walk away, the business is safe, the family is safe -- and you and I are out of here, free to do what we planned. You with me, brother?"

"Damn straight," he nodded. "I just hate this for you."

"You and me both, brother."