"Sis..sister?" I asked with surprise. I didn't know Aaron has a sister. How come no one ever spoke of her?

Aaron just nodded and looked up at me. He forced a smile and signalled me to sit next to him. I went and sat next to him in my original position.

"Julia..." Aaron took a deep breath and released it slowly.

"Julia's my sister. She's my cousin actually. My father had an older brother. Julia was their daughter. Her mother died at birth and my uncle died in a car accident later. Julia was four when it happened. So, mom and dad adopted her. She was two years younger to me. About a little than a year older than you", Aaron pursed his lips.

"Mom was always worried that Julia might never accept her and dad as her parents after the car accident. Initially, Julia was really quite and didn't talk to anyone. But, eventually, she opened up to us. She started referring to them as mom and dad. She started acting like our home was her home. She turned out to be one lively person. Dan and she would always be fighting. But, all of us knew they loved each other. They'd fight one minute and then stay put the next minute. One day, I found her digging a hole in our backyard. I asked her what she was doing. She had a box in her hand that she was trying to bury there. I asked her what it was. I opened it and found a few pictures of her with my uncle. She said she didn't need those anymore as she had a new family now. I asked her why was she burying them. Why not just throw them away? She said that she may not need them but, they are still her precious memories and she would like to keep it safe for maybe someday in future. I didn't understand her logic but, I still helped her and that was the start of us. I dotted on her. She'd come to me for the slightest issue", Aaron laughed lightly.

"You know, she used to even force me to be the guest at her barbie doll tea parties", he said and I chuckled imagining that.

"I used to hate it but, I'd give the world for her. So, I used to do it nonetheless. Whenever she would be in a fix, she used to stare at the sky with a cute little frown. She would stay like that for two minutes and if she wouldn't get an answer, she'd shout Aaron and run to me and ask me the solution. One would question what possible problems could a kid come up with but, I swear that girl had the smartest head and the most tricky questions ever. She would pester me until I gave her an answer. I swear she was so stubborn. Always doing what she wanted and would never listen to us", Aaron told me.

"She sounds like she is Aaron's sister", I smiled.

"That she was. Yes, definitely. My little sister", Aaron chuckled.

"As we grew up, she grew more and more kind and gentle with each passing day. She would help mom at home, dad at the company, she would ace her studies and yet, get time to take up the small jobs that the neighbours would have just to earn extra dollars. She used to do all of this while Dan and I wasted our years in parties and being...well, being teens", he completed and I smiled.

"Why did she try to earn money?" I asked him. I know that they weren't rich like now but, there were still well off.

"She loved helping people and she wanted to be a doctor. So, she thought that she could start saving up. Mom and dad thought they should teach her to be independent and it was great if she was so thoughtful about it since an early age. So, they supported her as long as it didn't affect her grades", Aaron shrugged.

I nodded and he continued, "She was an extremely kind person. She would always help people who were in need and she thought no profession would be better for her than medicine. We supported her and she was extremely focused. Soon, I graduated high school. I left the city to study in Texas. You know, I was seventeen back then. That's when things changed."

He took a pause and held his hands together, "Julia entered junior year in high school and Dan was in senior year. Dan and I were really busy with our own stuff at the moment. I was adjusting to the new life, juggling with studies and jobs. Dan was busy finding schools for studying business and management. Julia was busy with her stuff. She kept sending emails to me about her days. Some days, I'd reply but, most days I was too busy. It seemed like none of us had time for each other."

Aaron drank a little water and continued, "A year passed before anyone of us knew. I had promised her that I will go home and see her for the summer break but, I ended up getting an internship and I couldn't make it for more than two weeks. I thought she'd be angry but, she was so understanding that she supported me and said that she was really proud of me. Dan got into management course and left to California. Company wasn't facing the best times. Mom and dad were too busy with handling it. Julia didn't have anyone with her for the first time in her life. We tried hard to stay put but, things were changing and we were forcing ourselves to accept it. We were forcing ourselves to not feel hurt when the other person was too busy for us. You understand right? Adolescence issue basically", Aaron laughed and I nodded.

"I felt like we were growing apart with each passing day. Nonetheless, more time passed and Julia turned eighteen. She graduated high school. The day of her graduation, Dan and I went home. We all met after about seven months. It was a really happy day for us but, somehow things seemed off between her and mom. It looked as if they were avoiding each other. Or rather, Julia was avoiding mom. Julia was supposed to fly out to Chicago soon for her studies. So, I thought it might be a mother daughter issue. Teenage problem so, I forgot about it", Aaron shrugged.

"I went back to Texas the next day. My third year had just ended and I had taken up an internship with the best company in the country. I was rooting for a job offer from them so, I had to prepare for it. A few days later mom called me. She was crying miserably on the phone. I didn't understand anything. I was trying to calm her down but, I was scared too. I thought something happened to dad. But, after calming down she told me something that shook my world", Aaron clenched his fist.

"What happened? Julia..", I trailed off not knowing what to say. The look on Aaron's face was scaring me.

"Julia had...Julia had took off", he told me.

"Took off?" I asked confused.

"She..she had ran away. Nobody knew where she had gone. She was not at her university in Chicago and she was nowhere near home", Aaron told me, tears welling in his eyes.

"She just left?" I asked confused.

"I went back home the very next day. Mom and dad told me that they were having an ongoing argument with her since last two months. Julia had met a..a guy. She..thought she was in love with him. She wanted mom and dad to meet him and allow her to...marry him", Aron said glaring at the floor.

"Marry? But, she was only eighteen", I almost yelled.

"Exactly! Mom and dad told her that they would meet the guy but, marriage is too big a call. They thought she should at least complete her education before even thinking about it like that. But, no. She didn't understand anything. She was just admanant on it. That guy had influenced her so much that she was not even ready to give them his name saying that they want to get him arrested. Eventually, when the heat increased, they decided that they should send her away to university just to make her understand better in a new light, but she thought that they were trying to separate her from her one true love", Aaron rolled his eyes.

"So, she just ran away", I completed for him and he nodded.

"Mom and dad never told me or Dan about it because they thought that we would worry for no reason. We had our own studies and jobs to deal with", he told me and I nodded.

"We tried searching for her for months. Everything had come to a standstill for all of us. We had to find her and get her back. I read through all her emails to look for hints but nothing at all. Julia had a habit. She used to write a lot. Whatever she would do in the whole day she would note it down in a diary. But, looked like she had stopped writing six months ago. The police searched every corner of her room. But, nothing. Three months passed and we didn't get anything", Aaron sighed.

I could see that it was hurting Aaron a lot to say all of this to me. My heart was beating faster in anticipation. But, I decided that I should probably stop him as it was hurting him.

But, before I could say anything a tear ran down Aaron's face and he softly said, "Until one day, when the police came home and informed us that she was found. She...she had..."

"Aaron..", I said as tears ran down my face looking at him like that. I had a bad, bad feeling about what he was going to say.

"She had suicided, Mel", Aaron whispered and shut his eyes.

I sniffed as tears fell from both our eyes.

"The..the police said they found her in some motel in the nearby town. She had been staying there all along under a different name. She had...she had...s..slit her wrist a..few days ago", Aaron said between sniffs.

"Aaron...it could be that guy. You never..", I trailed off.

"You think, Mel? We tried. We tried a lot. But, who would have we looked for? There was no name. The motel people gave a statement that she stayed there alone and no one ever visited her. How long could we go? We were so broken as it is", Aaron looked at me sadly.

I stayed quiet for a few minutes.

"The police shut the case in two days. We gave her...a proper funeral. For months, we didn't talk to each other. We were all grieving. Mom was on the verge of depression. Imagine, Mel. Mom, who is always so happy and welcoming, was a walking dead for days. Dad had submerged himself into his work and just stayed in office most of the time. Dan was trying to not fail in his courses and I was trying to deal with the pain by reading all her old mails and remembering our times together", Aaron gulped.

"We finally accepted it about three months later, Mel. Things slowly started falling in place and we started getting back to normal. It felt all like now everything will be okay when....", he trailed off and looked at me.

"When?" I prompted.

"One day, I got a letter. It was posted to my university and was addressed to me. The university office people threw it in trash obviously because they didn't even know who I was. But, there was a friend of mine who was working at the university office. He took it out from the trash and gave it to me. That letter changed it all for me", Aaron said.

"What did it have?" I asked.

"The person who wrote it told me things that we didn't know about those three months. The letter said that Julia didn't suicide on her own. She was pushed to it by her husband. That man abused her everyday. He hit her until she fell unconscious. He raped her, cheated on her, tortured her with cigarette burns and pierced her with...with broken bottle glasses. He tortured her. Every. Single. Day", Aaron said through clenched teeth and I gasped.

"The person also said that her husband stopped her from studying ahead. He imprisoned her in that house and finally, when Julia couldn't take it anymore, she....she decided to end it for herself", Aaron breathed out.

"But, the police..", I cried.

"The letter said that her husband was really rich, Mel. They had bought them all. They had bought the police, the witnesses, the motel guys and had created a false story. Julia didn't die in Tennessee, Mel. She died in Seattle", Aaron looked at me.

"Seattle?" I gasped.

Aaron nodded and said, "There was only one thing I was glad about, Mel. The letter gave me a name. I finally had a name to point a finger at. But, that wasn't enough. For days I kept thinking, Mel. I don't know even today why that man did this? She was eighteen, Mel. Eighteen. What could she have possibly done? What was my sister's fault? Just that she loved a man who was worse than a demon. Who had no heart at all? I felt like killing the man. I felt like..", Aaron threw the glass across the room in anger.

I sobbed as I looked at Aaron's face. I was shaking with anger and grief myself. I didn't even know her and this is how I felt. I can only imagine the grief Aaron and his family must have felt.

How cruel can people be? How can people do such things and still continue with their lives like nothing fucking happened? I was so angry that I felt like finding that bastard out and smashing his head into the wall. I felt like murdering him. I felt like giving him all the bloody pain that he must have given to Julia. To Aaron and this family.

'Except, when the reason behind it is some other person. Then, we want that person to feel it too'

'You are not their daughter. You can never be their daughter.'

'What you have done is not the reason for this. What you have not done might be the reason for this. What happened in the end is definitely the reason for this.'

'You are revenge. My vengeance.'

I gulped as I recalled his words. I finally understood what he meant but, I was praying that it is not what I think it is. My heart sank with fear as the implications set straight in front of me.

Slowly, gulping and forcing myself to hold back the tears that were about to burst, I turned my face to him and asked, "A..Aa...Aaron, w..who was Ju..Julia's h...husband?"

I held my breath as I awaited his answer. One look at me and he already knew what I was thinking. I clenched my fist and my heart skipped a beat when he nodded and said,

"Marcus Lawson."

The world stopped for me. I shivered with fear as my heart skipped a beat. I slid down to the floor from the couch. I couldn't believe my ears. How could he? How could he do such a nasty thing?

"Aa..Aaron, that's not possible. There...there must be some error. It must...it must be some other Marcus. It..is not possible", I told him but, I knew that it couldn't be.

"Mel, I...", Aaron shook his head and slid down next to me.

"Aaron, it can't true. It can't be true. Marcus is almost nine years older than me which makes him eight years older than Julia. How can there be anything between them? Where could they have even met?", I cried.

"It is the truth, Mel", Aaron looked at me sadly.

Aaron removed his wallet and removed a piece of paper from it. He handed it over to me.

It was the letter. It had everything on it. Just like Aaron said. But, there was no name on it.

This handwriting...it looks so familiar.

I gave the letter back to him and he kept it back in its original place.

"Who wrote it, Aaron? It could be possible that...that someone tried to..to frame him", I reason but deep inside I knew that if Aaron is claiming it, it means it is true. Aaron doesn't just believe things.

"Mel, you think I'd believe a nameless letter? I was angry at first but, then after a while I knew I had to confirm it. I tried to read all emails and everything that Julia had send to me to recheck if I missed the name. I called Daniel and told him about it. We both agreed on not telling anything to mom and dad because they just got out of their grief. We decided to fly back home for a few days and search in Julia's old room. We tried for a few days in secret but, we didn't get anything. We racked our brains out when one night...one night I recalled that hole that Julia had dug in her childhood. I realised that she could have repeated it. So, one night Dan and I planned to send mom and dad out for their anniversary. When they weren't home, we dug that place again in the backyard", Aaron took a pause and looked at me.

"Remember I told you we couldn't find the diary of the six months before she disappeared?" he asked me and I nodded.

"We found that diary in that box in that hole", he said softly.

"We flipped through the pages and that is how we found out everything about how that bloody bastard had manipulated her. How they met, how he had promised the world to her, how they dated and how he had proposed to her and even the fact that she...she was going to run away that night and was hiding her diary there so that no one would be able to find her", Aaron looked at me sadly.

"Aaron, how could he? How could he? How could he stoop so low?" I cried more as the hatred took over me.

"Mel...", Aaron hugged me and rubbed my back trying to console me.

"Did...did you tell mom...and dad after that?" I asked pulling away.

"No. Dan and I decided that we will keep it between us. There was no use of it. They were still hurting and as the letter said all witnesses were already bought so, we would have lost anyways", Aaron said.

"Did you find out who wrote the letter, Aaron?" I asked him.

"I don't know. You saw it was nameless. It said that the writer is only writing it because he feels that Julia deserves justice and that he feels that I could find a way to do so. But, there was no way to find out who wrote it. You know what is even surprising, Mel? The postal address of the sender on the envelope was of Lawson Mansion in Seattle", Aaron said making me look at him in shock.

"So, then? What did you and Dan do next?" I asked him still trying to process everything.

"So then, Daniel decided to just let it go and leave it to destiny to punish Marcus Lawson. But, I decided that I had to bring justice to my sister. So, I made a plan. I decided that if he thinks that just because he has money, he can do anything and get away with it, then I will show him what I can do for my sister. So, I worked hard. I worked hard for five years and became the youngest billionaire in the country. All the while, I did my research on him and found out that he has a sister too. So, I decided to do the same thing that he did. I wanted him to feel what I felt when I came to know that he killed my sister. I decided to inflict the same pain on Marcus Lawson. The letter said that he had the support of his father. I assumed you knew about it too and you deserved to be punished too", Aaron told me.

"No, I didn't. I..I sw..swear, Aaron. I didn't. I would have never supported it", I told him shaking my head.

"Mel, I know now that you didn't. But, back then I was just twenty and I thought you knew it too. So, I planned to make you fall in love with me and married you. I thought that he will feel the pain too when you cry to him and tell him about how much I am hurting you. But, I didn't know that the sister of a bastard like him would be a beautiful person like you", Aaron completed.

Sister of a bastard like him.

Marcus Lawson's sister.

I stared at the ground in shock as everything fell into place. My head burst with fright as I finally realised what had happened. I was too shocked to even understand anything. I had thought of a million reasons why Aaron was doing this but, nothing was even slightly close to what I had just realised.

I looked up to Aaron in shock as my heartbeat raised. A shiver ran down my spine as I finally realised that Aaron wanted to marry Marcus Lawson's sister to take revenge for his sister. I realised that Aaron was not really at fault at all. I understood what a game destiny had played with all of us.