The family met Blaire at the back entrance. Blaire took Lena from of Drake’s arms into his. Blaire held Lena very closely and tightly.

Drake looked Blaire straight in the eyes. For Lena’s protection, silence filled the room, but emotions and memories overcame them as they headed for the elevator. Steven, Dalton, Jake and Luke quietly followed. As the elevator doors opened, an eerie feeling came over them. By the second floor beep, Drake spoke. He told them that because of a “twin thing,” he knew of Beth’s passing even before their dad told him because of an empty, hollow feeling that penetrated his heart. The elevator doors opened causing a sterile odor to waft through their noses.
As they stepped out of the elevator, Nurse Ana and Doctor Smeath offered a sorrowful greeting. Both extended sympathy for the family’s painful, sudden and unexpected losses. Although Nurse Ana continued on her way, Doctor Smeath stayed behind to comfort the family. He also directed the family to the room where Pearl and Beth’s bodies lay resting.
With his head held low, Luke reluctantly volunteered to see the women first. Upon entering, Dalton’s gaze focused upon Beth’s husband as he cried on Beth’s motionless hand. Intense emotions crowded the room, and if felt as if a ton of bricks hit them in their stomachs.

Around 10:00 a.m., Blaire took Lena to say her final goodbyes to Pearl and Beth before Marymount Funeral Home came to retrieve their bodies. After Bentley, Drake, Luke, Steven and Beth’s husband left, Blaire moseyed into the room. For Lena’s sake, Blaire switched his emotion from sad to happy. In a simple and vague manner, Blaire told Lena that her mom and Beth left for a better place and that they went with happiness in their hearts. Not understanding ramifications, Lena gave them both one last hug and kiss. As the Marymount workers zipped up the body bags and whisked Beth and Pearl away, Blaire and Lena stood motionless watching.

Once Blaire and Lena proceeded back downstairs, he called Drake.

Unfortunately, Drake ignored the call, so it went straight to voicemail. Blaire left a message that Pearl’s and Beth’s bodies left the hospital. On the message, Blaire also stressed the importance of not forgetting to pick up his brothers at the airport at 3:30 p.m. that afternoon.

Two days later, the family held the funeral on beach for Pearl and Beth. Not understanding the situation, Lena just laughed as she played with friends during the services. In the days and weeks following the funeral, things returned to normal, and the family lived as if nothing happened.

On November 15, 2002, Lena’s eighth birthday parting gave her the chance to dress up as a princess. Lena’s life flourished. The Hawaiian sun loved her. Her brothers, now more grown up, delighted in the tropical Hawaiian lifestyle. Blaire Chamberlin Productions became a box office hit. Everything seemed great for the Chamberlin family. Their lives maintained a constant flow of perfection until Lena’s friend, Dylan, inquired about Lena’s mom. Hearing that inquiry sent Blaire into a tailspin which caused him to call an abrupt end to Lena’s party. Lena questioned if growing up without a mom made her a bad person. She thought that not knowing what happened to her mother made her “stupid.”

After the last kid left, Blaire and her brothers sat Lena down to talk, which answered a lot of Lena’s questions. Lena learned that a car accident killed her mom and sister. Drake explained that, due to her young age at the time, they avoided telling her of the deaths. Lena started to remember but kept that fact from them. Instead, she retired to bed with other suspicions swirling through her head.

Exactly two years later, on Lena’s tenth birthday, while looking for a pair of shoes for her dad to wear, Lena found boxes upon boxes of letters in her Dad’s closet. Pearl wrote all of the letters to her children, except for a few addressed to her husband. Lena began to read a letter:
My Dearest Blaire:

My past haunts me. Although I thought there was a chance for a new life in New Zealand, I recently discovered that you can’t run from the past. God forbid, if anything happens to me promise to take care of them. Because of the uncertainty that faces us, my will has been prepared. Blaire, when I leave I need the letter burned. Please give the other letters to the kids when you think they can handle it.

Love,
Pearl

P.S. After I die, make sure you wait two weeks before moving the family to the house in Hawaii.


When done reading the letter, shock and dismay filled Lena. With her suspicions confirmed, she needed to uncover the family’s buried secrets. Covertly, Lena took each and every one of the boxes to her room. It took three separate trips to move the boxes – four for each child. However, Lena knew exactly what she wanted and determination carried her through the completion of the task. Immediately after obtaining the boxes, Lena hid them in the back of her closet.

With the intention of staying up all night, Lena pulled the first ten letters out of each box. Lena walked over to her desk and laid them out. Varying lengths of letters with varying text sizes filled the boxes. Several letters offered advice for the children as they grew up. Others simply offered well wishes for Pearl’s grown children and their families.

Six years later, Lena celebrated her sixteenth birthday, with the complete saga of letters read several times over. Her favorite letters created a thin layer on her desk. Merely an hour earlier, Lena kicked her friends out because the slumber party needed to end. She gained enough energy to start cleaning her room. Distracted, she looked out her window instead of completing her task. Light shinned over the water with a pure milky protection. Lena tiptoed closer; off on the horizon, she saw the light split where the light stopped the stars began. She closed her eyes and felt her mom by her side. Lena opened her eyes while finding the words from her favorite childhood story coming out of her mouth: “Goodnight, room. Goodnight, moon.”

Entranced in the dream of her mother, she closed her eyes again and continued to recite the words. Despite the authentic dream going on around her, which included her mother alongside of her, Lena opened her eyes. This brought the vision of Pearl to a standstill. Lena quickly lifted herself from her window seat and sat down on her bed. Soon after making herself comfortable, she sealed her eyes once more.

“Hi, Mom,” Lena spoke with emotion.
A private tête-à-tête transpired in Lena’s head. Lena stopped speaking aloud. Pearl rejected the rest of the conversation. Lena gasped as she sat up, resembling a drowning person. Lena wandered to the window.

“Why is she here? She’s dead. A long time ago, I saw her in New Zealand after the house caught on fire. She helped me obtain the strength to find Dad. Why now? She exists as my guardian angel now, but am I in trouble? This became very magical experience, but I still don’t understand. I’m sixteen. How much trouble could I dig up?”

Lena’s thoughts consisted of nothing but her mom, until she heard her dad’s voice. Lena frantically covered every single inch of her desk and then pretended to be doing her homework just in case her dad walked in. She knew that he might because she heard him moving about the house. The closer he came to the door, the louder the boom of his voice. Lena quickly opened her laptop and closed her current search just in case her dad needed to borrow it. Blaire swung the door open, entered her room, and walked around. Behind him, Bentley sauntered to her door and demanded that Lena bring him his keys.

Lena rudely replied, “If you opened your eyes, you’d see that they are outside your door.”

“Lena, you dummy. No, they’re not,” declared Bentley.

Lena rolled her eyes and uttered, “Bent, the hook.”
Bentley turned around and looked at the hook. Defeated, he strolled toward the hook. Blaire moved toward Lena as Bentley left. Following this movement, Blaire shouted, “Lenina Rose! Your friends left a while ago. Your room needed cleaning right after they left.”

Lena calmly said, “Dad, look I go to school and do other things besides just cleaning my room. And stop calling me Lenina Rose. I hate that name.”

“Using your given name is my job, Lenina Rose! I hate the name Lena,” Blaire expressed.

“Whatever! Are you here just to yell at me or do you need something?” Lena muttered.

Blaire spoke once more, “I just wanted to see how you are. I missed your birthday, and I miss you, Lenina Rose.”
In a most sarcastic tone, Lena retorted, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know - a new movie, more money. You work long hard hours to make tons of money to buy us the ‘things’ we want. I get it. Not seeing your family is a small price to pay.”

Madness oozed out of Blaire’s soul while he marched toward the door. Before Blaire exited, he said, “Look, Lenina Rose, I love you guys and constantly leaving sucks. But I love my job, too. Please remember, I support you, your brothers, and your brother’s families.”
Lena sat in silence and pretended that her dad went out the door. Blaire closed Lena’s door as she mumbled, “My name is Lena, not Lenina Rose. I want you to stop calling me that.”

Three days later, Lena wrote in her diary:



Dear Diary,

When looking around Bent’s room the other day, I found something strange: a letter dated March 12, 1973. Mom and Dad married that day. The first couple lines about Mom and Dad marrying at the young age of fourteen, but that it seemed the best way to escape everything. This leads me to question Mom’s past instead of asking myself who I am right now. It also may explain why I’m sixteen, engaged and the kids in my family marry so young. In three weeks, Robert and I plan to move in together. Right now, the most important thing is to find out who I am. If I don’t, I don’t know what will happen. The truth needs discovering whether it falls out of drunken sailor’s mouth of a father or from a ghost of a mother. I need normalcy. One last thing, dates, like time stamps, don’t exist unless that day becomes earth shatteringly important. Wish me luck. I definitely need it!


Three weeks later, Lena acquired enough time to sneak back into Bent’s room to retrieve the letter. Right as Lena closed his door, Bentley’s twin brother, Brendon, confronted her. In order to hide the letter, Lena stuck it into the back of her bra. Lena stumbled over her words but managed to say, “Hey, Bren. You caught me!”
Brendon answered back, “Lena Rose, what you are doing?”
Lena quickly snapped back into teenager mode and articulated, “Who are you to ask me what I’m doing. What are you doing?”

Brendon pointed and verbalized, “Keys. You know, the things you need to start a car.”

Lena toddled to her room, shut the door and subsequently pulled the letter out of her bra. Taking into account that somebody might walk through her door at any second, Lena hastily start reading. After the first few lines, Lena realized she picked up a different letter. Grandma Faye wrote it to Pearl also, but the words differed. Lena read the letter and hid it with the others in her closet. After stumbling out of her closet, Lena gazed out the window and noticed the milky protection of the full moon. This brought a smile to her face as she went to bed.

The next morning Lena woke up and saw Bentley in his old room. Lena stumbled over to Bentley and coughed, “Hey, Bent.”

Bentley looked up quickly and then replied, “Hey, Lena.”
Lena strutted into Bentley’s room. Bentley stopped dead in his tracks and asked, “Do you need something?”
Lena paused thoughtfully and then asked with a loving tone, “What do you know about Mom that I may not?

“Lena, I only know as much as you,” Bentley sighed.

“Come to my room and bring the other letter from Grandma,” Lena demanded.
Bentley’s puzzled expression left as he looked down at the sock pile on his desk. He pulled the letter out and stammered into Lena’s room. Once Bentley made it safely to her room, Lena closed all of the doors and curtains, allowing her to secretly retrieve the boxes of letters. Lena placed them on her bed making them all accessible for Bentley to see.

“What is going on? What do you know? What does anyone else know?” Lena loudly whispered
Bentley pulled Lena into her closet and shut the door. Speaking in a low tone, Bentley said, “Lena, look I found the letters taped in a secret compartment while looking for something in Dad’s desk a few years ago. It caused me to try find out more about our family’s history. In particular, I want to know why Mom and Dad moved to New Zealand right after delivering Beth and Drake. Lena, I don’t know exactly what’s happening, but we need to figure it out fast.”
Lena replied, “For sure.”
They both sauntered out of Lena’s closet; Bentley picked up some boxes and exited Lena’s room. Lena fell onto her bed while reading the “new” letter:

Dear Pearl,
I know things seem strange..

The letter continued, but it just created more questions. Lena already knew that her mother’s date of birth, March 12, 1958, and that she married on that exact same day fourteen years later. The great State of Kansas became home to her Grandma before she moved to Florida. Lena realized that these letters seemed to be the family’s only way of communication.

Night fell shortly after Lena stopped analyzing the letters. Bentley returned to go over things more. As if planning a top secret mission, they met in the closet.

“Sorry, Lena. Moving Drew and the new baby into the new house isn’t easy. It’s even more challenging since Dad put all of the alarm stuff in. Since I just moved back home, fill me in on why no one else calls you Lena,” Bentley spits out.

Lena answered back, “The extra time gave me a chance to think things over, but even more questions arose that we may want answered.” She added, “Bren calls me Lena but adds Rose. If I see Dalton when he comes out of his room, he calls me Lena. Seriously, Bent, we need to get to work to catch up on the past fifty-three years of family secrets.”
Their meeting ended with minimal research done. However, even more questions came up than they answered. Blaire being back for the next eight weeks made it difficult to do further investigation. Lena and Bentley anticipated meeting sporadically at best.

Following the eight weeks home, Blaire left for another six months. The party that brewed in her head created the perfect distraction for Lena. Two hours later after Blaire left the house she received the call telling her not to attempt contacting Blaire during his flight. Lena then pulled Bentley to her room and nearly closed the door on his hand. Lena pulled out the hard drive and gave it Bentley. This commenced “Operation Truth.”

Lena glanced at Bentley and said, “No going back now, and no telling your wife.”
Bentley continued the meeting with a nod and said, “The more contact, the better. I came up with a four phase plan:

Phase 1: Find out as much as possible about Mom, Dad and our family history from the letters. Type out all information and save it to the hard drive. Hide the hard drive in your window seat for safekeeping. Scour the letters for a second and third time for any additional clues.

Phase 2: Use the information from Phase One and expand on it using the computer.

Phase 3: Field work. Talk to the family. Our siblings may know something more. Consider leaving Hawaii to talk to extended family.

Phase 4: Track down people. Find Grandma Faye. Attempt to locate Mom’s siblings.”

Bentley stopped going over the plan’s phases, pulled the hard drive out of the computer and put it back in the window seat. After placing everything out of sight, Bentley left, and Lena went to bed.

The next day at school, Robert confronted Lena about their wedding. Lena pulled him aside but before she said anything, the bell rang. Lena pulled her hand away from his hand and strutted to class. Robert looked down at his hand and saw her engagement ring. Later that day after Lena stopped cheering for the football game, Robert confronted her again.
Lena’s brothers yelled, “Lena Rose! Let’s go! We have that dinner tonight.”
Lena waved them off as she grabbed Robert’s hands. Lena gazed into his eyes, “Robert, honey, I’m not going to use the same line everybody uses when they break up with somebody. Robert, you and I have been together since the fourth grade. We are sophomores now, and we are only sixteen. I don’t want to think about tying myself to someone to anyone right now. Why my Dad agreed to let you marry me now? I have no clue. I don’t want a boyfriend or a fiancée anymore. Sorry but first I need to find myself,” Lena softly said.
Lena dropped Robert’s hand and walked away. The expression on Robert’s face mixed dumbfoundedness and defeat. Robert whispered, “I love you,” as Lena walked away. Unfortunately, Lena left before he said this.
By the time Robert reached the top of the stadium, Lena’s brothers started to drive away. As she and her brother’s drove away, Lena looked back at Robert. Robert stood there like a lost puppy left in the rain on the side of the road. Just as she saw Robert holding a phone in his hand, the phone began to ring in the car.
When Bentley answered the phone, Robert blubbered, “Bentley, why did your sister leave me? We were months away from the wedding and days away from moving in together. I feel so alone,” cried Robert.
Bentley turned the phone to speaker and pretended to listen to Robert while he cried like a baby. Shortly thereafter, Lena walked into the house and yelled, “Bentley, we need to talk.”
Bentley grabbed his phone and muted it just as Robert yelled, “Lena, I miss you.” Lena walked over to Bentley and grabbed the phone from him and pressed “off,” put an end to the call. Bentley grabbed Lena’s hand and looked her hand over a few times. “No ring, I see,” commented Bentley.
Lena said, “Yep, I decided not to follow in Mom and Dad’s footsteps by marrying young.”
Bentley whispered, “You needed to figure that out sooner.”
Lena rolled her eyes, walked back to her house and went upstairs to her room. In the process, she passed through her brothers’ dinner party.

At 10:00 p.m., Lena shut off her computer and turned out all of the lights in her room. She looked out her window to see the moon shinning in the bend of the world. Then she lay on her bed and closed her eyes.
At 11:59 p.m. - one minute, two seconds and three milliseconds until the new day - Lena awoke to the sound of glass shattering and hitting her floor. Lena sat up, walked over to her window and saw Robert standing there looking up at her. Lena turned on her light and then ran down the hall to Dalton’s room. Lena pounded on the door until it opened.
“What?” Dalton yelled.
“Dalton, Robert is outside my room. He just broke my window to get my attention. Can you help me?” Lena spits out.
“Your feet are bleeding. I’m going to call the police then help you with your feet. Maybe Steven can help us, too.” Dalton picked Lena up, threw her over his shoulder and called 911. Dalton declared, “Chamberlin,” and hung up.
Dalton made his way to Steven’s room with Lena on his back.
“What the..?” Steven inquired.
Dalton cut him off and said, “Lena’s room; glass from ex. Can you help clean it up?”

Steven nodded, and they walked to Lena’s room.

“What the..?” Steven repeated.

Dalton cut Steven off again by saying, “Lena’s room, glass on the floor. Please help clean it up.”

Steven replied, “Even though I’m your twin, sometimes I find it hard to understand you.”
Dalton turned around and showed Steven the large amount of blood streaming out of Lena’s feet. They expressed no real words in that moment. Dalton carried Lena to her bed where he tended to her feet. Steven looked out the window, turned around and announced that Robert remained on the property. Steven added that he heard the police sirens off in the distance. Steven started to clean up the glass just before the police arrived. The police officer told Lena she needed to go to the hospital, and he arrested Robert for trespassing and vandalism. As a result of Robert’s stupid action, Lena spent the night in the hospital, and he spent the night in jail.

Lena survived but required bed rest while her feet, both with stitches in them, healed for at least two weeks. To pass the time, she researched her personal files. Three hours later Lena called Bentley. His voicemail answered, so she left hints for him to call soon.

Twelve hours later, Bentley called Lena back.
“Lena, maybe you forgot my three week trip to Japan?” Bentley whispered.
“Sorry, Bent. Let’s talk when you get back. Bye,” Lena quickly ended the phone call.
Though across the world, Lena really wanted to speak with Bentley. She pulled her laptop onto her lap and continued her work.

Three weeks passed. Bentley smartly downloaded the research onto the hard drive. Afterward Lena went over it with him.

Lena repeated exactly what appeared on the screen. “Over a course of ten years, seven different families took care of Mom.”

“Keep reading,” Bentley whispered.

“She lived in Japan, Russia, New Zealand, Italy, New York and Barbados. Four out of the seven families used her as a pawn in mob deals.”
Bentley nodded and reminded Lena that their dad would be back the next day, making it impossible for them to meet.
A year later, with their research stalled, they knew nothing more than that Pearl had been a part of four mobs and been adopted seven times. Bentley and Lena dedicated themselves to finding the truth regardless of what information it brought them.
Fast forward to the day following Bentley’s twentieth birthday. Blaire left three days prior, and Lena found the address of her Grandma Faye in London, England.
Blaire’s control issues led to Lena’s homeschooling. Every window in the house had been outfitted with an alarm linked to a main alarm system. For anyone to open a window, they needed permission or a code. Blaire built a five foot fence around his property before he left. Two photo I.D. checkpoints with gates secured the driveway, and the top of the gates came electrified. Lena’s chances to escape the family compound diminished.
As Lena’s research continued, she located one of Pearl’s real sisters. Lena discovered that the only way to communicate amongst the family was indeed writing letters. Pearl’s Grandma took her away from her mother, Faye, because she frowned upon teen pregnancy. Lena learned that Grandma Faye remained just Grandma. Lena felt the world as she knew it growing smaller and smaller around her. While she succumbed to the symptoms of suffocation, Lena knew that she must figure out the truth soon. Also for her family and brothers, they deserved to know the truth.
Dear Diary,

The journey to find out about mom’s past may kill me. My father’s house doubles as a large jail cell. Ten months, three days, and twelve minutes from now I turn eighteen, which makes me legally free; Dad won’t be able to keep me here. He’s kept me here since Dalton called the cops about Robert. I miss being outside; hot concrete and sand. All I do is study, babysit, and research. Social networks on all computers are blocked. My friends never come around because of where I live. Today, I left for the first time, and I don’t think dad would be happy. The sun kissed my face along with the salty air cleaning my pores. It’s been a year I left and it felt good I’m happy with Daddy not being here. I’m scared though his fame depends on his heart, his craft grows and another path pops up. My father is an emotionless, heartless soulless leech that feeds on other’s pain. The truth will set us free. If it doesn’t, maybe our dreams will. Mother always stressed that through strength, you’ll find love, and through love you’ll find happiness. Lies will disappear with honesty and respect. Also, if you’re a dreamer then you’re a believer.


Fifteen years ago at 2:00 A.M. Beth and Mom died. They deserve to rest peacefully with us knowing the truth about their deaths. I found a police code that belonged to Drake. I logged in and found a way to access the crime scene report for the accident in which Mom and Beth died. The report indicated a murder, not an accident, because bullets were found at the scene. They also noted a tie to the Russian mob; however no further investigation ensued. This distresses me because Mom and Beth now reside in vases in Dad’s den. With any luck, the new letter contains helpful information.


Two weeks later, Bentley found the diary entry, and it created a huge rip between them. Bentley called her an ungrateful brat. Neither of them apologized to the other. Pearl wrote the letter to an unknown person named Peter. After letting Bentley cool down, Lena called him. Bentley came upstairs and read the letter:

Dear My Sweet, Sweet Peter:

No words fully express my love for you. Though only twelve, the stars align for us. As a Chamberlain, Blaire’s power is much too strong. He knows about our daughter, Valery. Valery lives with Faye. Right now, Blaire plans to marry me on my fourteenth birthday. I don’t want to go with him, but I want to escape from Henry. You remember him – the guy in the Russian mob with you. Blaire’s family plans to send us to New Zealand after having our second child. If something happens to me, Blaire will move my family to the compound in Hawaii. Time stops when I’m with you. Peter, my heart belongs to you, and the memories of what we shared in Chance Harbor under the stars I love to death. Until Blaire and Henry aren’t a threat to me and Valery, I will become who I need to for survival. No address to send a card, no rhythm to stop our hearts, no death do us part. Peter, I must say goodbye. Peter, you were my first everything. Love lies in our song. I bid thee goodnight under the mistletoe. One last goodbye.

All of My Love,
Pearl


Bentley marched into Lena’s room with letter in hand and used a hug in the place of apology.

“Sorry about everything. Lena, you need to tell me things instead of writing about it in your diary. Lena, right now searching like this isn’t the safest thing. These walls may not protect us forever. We gotta stick together. Do you understand me?” Bentley asked.

Two weeks, one day, and twelve hours later Lena received an email from her father that stated he’d be home a few weeks early so he could introduce his fiancée, Becca, to them. Blaire also instructed Lena to finish all of her home school assignments by 3:00 p.m. on the fifth and not one minute later. Lena reached the last straw about homeschooling and everything. Lena forwarded the email to her brothers. Becca, being her new mommy, made her question the existence of a new movie.

Lena conjured up a lot of anger and what she did next she made her very proud. She deleted, destroyed and erased all of her assignments. Lena dedicated her rebellion to the “new girl;” no more “Sweet Lena.” Lena then wrote an email to her father:
Dear Daddy,

Another girl to call mommy? How cool! Just what I wanted! You must be crazy to think I want to meet her and talk to her. Oh yeah, about those assignments… my dog ate them. Oops! If you bring Becca anywhere near me, I’ll go devil. You remember that, right? Oh, by the way I might just delete this email account. Since I’m a prisoner in this house, grounding me won’t do any good. So bye.

Love you not,
Lena


Twelve more weeks passed making it the month of June. Returning home in a few days, Lena anticipated her father to bring his new girlfriend, Becca, with him. Life for Lena needed to improve quickly. As Blaire slammed the front door shut, she blasted her music and hid in the closet. She heard her father’s footsteps heavy and clunky as he walked down the hall.

The door flew open as Blaire yelled, “LENINA ROSE,” followed by counting, “ONE! TWO! THREE!”
Lena just moved further and further back in her closet.

“Lenina Rose, come here now!” Blaire demanded.
Determined to hide from her father, Lena quickly started to move things around. Blaire looked about Lena’s room, and then headed toward the closet. The locked knob prevented him from opening it.
“I expect you not to behave like a child anymore. Open this door NOW,” Blaire screamed.

Lena realized she had about five seconds to find a better place to hide. She remembered the tunnels in the house. Lena ran her hands along the wall until she found the door. Before closing the door Lena heard, “One, two, three,” followed by the door coming down.

Blaire turned the light on and tore the place apart. Lena already made her way elsewhere in the house. Unfortunately, Lena made a wrong turn and found the laundry chute. She tumbled down four stories to the maid’s quarters. As she fell, her cries of, “Aaaahhh,” blared out of all of the vents. Upon landing, Lena found herself in a pile of her brother’s boxers.
Finding the floor under all of the clothes, Lena stood up. Her maid, Ashlynn, just stared at her before returning to her chores. Lena found stairs that led to the yard. By the time she made her way to the yard, her father was already there. Lena brushed him off and walked away.
Five months later, with her father home, Lena’s solitary life continued in her room. Since everyone grew up scared of their father, nobody crossed him to visit Lena. Lena’s life paralleled the fabled Rapunzel, though her hair auburn instead of blonde. Lena found confinement in her room less than bothersome. It simply allowed her to find more leads about her mom using the internet.
Lena found her Aunt Cierra, who happened to be the Dean of Admissions to NYU. Lena knew that she needed to see Cierra. She told her Dad in a letter that she needed to visit New York. Lena knew that her father would never go to New York with her, creating the perfect opportunity to see Cierra.
Two days later, at the Thanksgiving gathering, Lena had no choice but to meet Becca. Becca’s strength enabled her to carry Lena down the stairs and put her on the couch in the theater room. Becca forced Lena to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on the 180 inch flat screen.
Blaire tried to cook, but the turkey had too much fire extinguisher on it to eat, so her brothers ordered in from their favorite Hawaiian food restaurant. Lena escaped up to her room. When the food came, Bentley brought it up to her.
“What? Not going to slip it under my door?” Lena asked.
Bentley replied, “I thought that if I treat you like a human you might act like one.”
“Ha ha, very funny,” Lena replied sarcastically.
Bentley looked around and saw the notepad with addresses on it. He asked, “What’s at Central Park West & 49th and 1567 Broadway?”
Lena whispered, “A hotel and family.”
Bentley exclaimed, “Family who?”
Lena whispered, “Aunt Cierra.”
Becca yelled, “Bentley, get away from her! Leave that girl to rot!”
Bentley quickly said, “They leave tomorrow. Let’s talk then.”
On Black Friday, nobody cared about the good shopping or great deals at the stores. Lena overheard Becca say, “See you guys soon.”
After the door closed, Bentley rushed upstairs. Lena already started packing. “What are you doing?” Bentley asked.
“I’m going to New York,” Lena proclaimed with zero emotion.
Bentley yelled, “Are you crazy?” He lowered his voice and continued, “If you go, then I go with you.”
“Fine. Sunday,” Lena replied.
“You’re not going to fight me?” Bentley articulated.
Lena quickly replied, “I already bought you a plane ticket because I knew you needed to watch over me.
“Sunday,” Bentley stated, and he walked away.
Bentley stopped and asked, “What about Dad and our brothers?”
Lena replied, “I have to go. Dad knows a lie that puts me in New York, but he doesn’t know what I’m doing. Besides, I’m eighteen. I can go.”
Bentley said, “Okay. See you on Sunday.”
On Sunday morning, Lena told all of her brothers of her plan to go to New York with Bent and not to ask any questions. She gave them a letter as well. This letter said:
So brothers, I’m leaving to go to New York. Bentley is going to New York with me. This you know. But don’t freak out because Dad doesn’t know that I’m leaving right away. So please cover up for me. Bentley doesn’t know that Dad doesn’t know. So please just keep quiet. I don’t know how long I’m staying or if I’m ever coming back. Bentley picked me up a phone yesterday. While I’m in New York, my name with be under Bentley’s wife’s name. She knows that Bentley and I are in New York. She has all of the contact information for us. Just remember that I love you.

Love Always
Lena

, at 4:30 p.m., Lena said goodbye to everybody. She and Bentley left on a plane to New York at 7:40 p.m. Lena tried to relax and sleep but with no luck. She watched a lot of T.V.

Finally at 8:40 a.m., they landed in New York. When Lena stepped out of the airport, shock filled her. Chaos abounded at JFK airport; people everywhere and yellow taxis covered the ground. Right away, Bentley hailed a cab. Bentley said, “Times Square.” The cab driver nodded and pulled away from the curb.

The traffic looked like a scene out of a horror movie: cabs upon cabs so close together that the world’s thinnest paper couldn’t slip between their bumpers and hit the road.

An hour later, their cab approached Times Square. They walked to the W Hotel from there. Bentley stopped and said, “It looks better at night, trust me. So let’s sleep then get cleaned up and go exploring. What time do you see Cierra?’

“At five o’clock tonight, we meet at Planet Hollywood. I gave her our names,” Lena replied.

Lena lied down with no difficulty falling asleep. Bentley turned on the T.V. and let Lena sleep. Lena woke up around 3:00 p.m. Bentley instructed her to prepare for dinner.

At Planet Hollywood, they requested a table at the back of the restaurant. Cierra showed up and looked just like her mom; short with three tone color hair, blues eyes and tan. Cierra cried, “I can’t believe it. You made it!”

“I never expected to actually meet any of my family,” Lena exclaimed.

After greeting each other, they sat down for dinner. Cierra talked, and talked, and talked. The dinner lasted for three hours. When they finally said goodbye, Cierra slipped a letter into Lena’s purse. Lena pulled it out of her purse and read it to Bentley once they got back to the hotel.
Dear Lena and Bentley:
I know you came to find the truth. This is the only way you can get it. Peter is a mobster who met Pearl with our family in New York. She had a daughter with him. Her name is Valerie. She lives with Fay in England. Blaire’s also in the mob but is Peter’s enemy. Blaire met Pearl while visiting our family that summer. Blaire has a lot of money and power. His family is in the film business – this you know. Peter and your mother had a real connection. There is a myth that the Blake girls and the Shrews are written in the stars because so many of us have married them. Unfortunately, Blaire bought your mother for a lot of money. Beth and your mom died because Peter was taking revenge on Blaire. He meant to kill your father, not your mother and sister. Peter wrote me a letter apologizing. He also told me that he would kill anyone that would get in the way of uncovering the truth. Lena or Bentley, destroy this letter, go back to Hawaii and never look back.
Love you always, Cierra


Four hours later at midnight, Lena and Bentley wanted to take a picture in Times Square. Snow began to fall as they left the hotel. Once in the middle of Times Square, Lena started to spin three-hundred and sixty degrees around and around to take in her surroundings. She faced the New Year’s ball before throwing herself to the ground due to shots fired. Bentley also hit the ground. Their mother appeared and said, “Let go of everything. There’s no shame in dying. You’re safe now.”

Pain dripped down my face. I was defeated. I was hurt. My life ended when my mom appeared. Now, I was safe. Now, I was free. Today was the best day of my life. Another crime for them. Another life to live. I ran towards the light with Bentley by my side. The peace and serenity took my breath away. Today was a good day.

“Lenina Rose Chamberlin, an eighteen year-old Hawaiian girl visiting New York and her twenty-one year-old brother Bentley Chamberlin died in an early morning shooting in Times Square. The police report recovering a letter at the scene but are not releasing details as they are not sure what the letter means or what prompted the shooting. Wyatt Phillips for the 7:00 news. Now back to you.”

Blaire sat in his den as he watched the news. Blaire knew that he did his job protecting Lena, but he needed tell his sons the truth. Due to the distance between Blaire in Italy and the boys in Hawaii, he opted to write them a letter:
Hey Boys.
So you know, Lena is only your half sister because her father is Peter and her mother is your mother, Pearl. Peter remained your mother’s true love. I let her go back to him one last time. I wish I knew more, like why your brother and sister died, but I don’t. When I get back, I hope to have more answers.

Love,
Dad

Blaire sent the letter to the wrong address, and Peter received it. Peter read it and found out that the night he saw Pearl, he gained a daughter. Peter realized his mistake of killing too many of his own family members, and he needed to confess. Peter let the guilt breed inside of him until building enough courage to turn himself in. At that time, Peter took responsibility for his other crimes as well.
Even though Lena uncovered the most of truth by herself, she still found out what she wanted to know. Lena found out that Peter killed her mother and sister, and eventually her brother and her. After her death, Lena believed the rest of her family remained safe, and ultimately, that remained the most important thing.