"We'll be back in about three hours."

That was the first time in fifteen years that my father; Leonard Forrester, had ever lied to me, but at the time, I didn't know it was a lie.

"Okay," I glanced up from the novel I was reading to smile at him.

"Did you get the letter from Harvard yet?" My stepmother walked into the living room, clipping on her earrings distractedly.

I nodded, my smile increasing, "Yeah, but I haven't opened it yet. I don't know if I got accepted or rejected."

Mum laughed, "Don't be so modest. You'll surely get accepted. I trust your brain enough to know that this is a success. You know what? We can open the letter together when we get back. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Love you," she blew me a kiss and a moment later, I heard the door click shut behind them as they left the house for their anniversary date.

Even though my eyes were on the novel in front of me, I wasn't focusing on it. Instead I was a mixture of anticipation, anxiety and excitement over the letter from Harvard law I had received earlier today.

Becoming an attorney like my late grandpa had always been my dream and I was this close to finally achieving it.

While my mates partied and dated around, I kept my face buried in my books and being top of all my classes. After all, the only thing I have ever loved while growing up is books and the more I grew up, the more my fondness for books grew.

"Where's mum and dad?"

I was snapped out of my thoughts by the sound of my half brother's voice. When I raised my head, I found him standing at the doorway leading to the kitchen.

"They just left. Did you need something?" I asked.

Matteo's jaw clenched, "Yeah, but don't worry about it."

"Maybe I can help," I shrugged.

My elder brother just scoffed and then gulped down the bottle of whiskey I had just noticed. My forehead furrowed as I wondered what was making him drink.

"Unless you have seven figures lying around in your savings account, I don't think you can help me."

My jaw dropped open and I hurriedly sat up, "What do you need that kind of money for?"

"None of your business," he snapped, " But dad and mom won't lend it to me."

He dragged a hand through his hair and chuckled bitterly, "It's not fair. I never get what I want."

"What about your inheritance?"

My stepbrother's eyes narrowed at me and then he threw his head back and laughed, "Are you trying to mock me?"

My eyebrows shot up and just as I opened my mouth to voice out my confusion, his phone rang, cutting me off.

I watched him pull the phone out of his pants pocket and tense as he stared at the screen.

"What's going_"

But he pressed the phone to his ear and stormed out the living room, leaving me alone again and very confused.

As soon as he was gone, my anxiety over the college letter returned with full force, pushing the whole scene with Matteo to the back of my mind. I was sure he just wanted to buy a new car or something like that. He was a known spendthrift.

Unable to stand my own racing thoughts anymore, I decided to go bake to distract myself till my parents returned.

I walked into the kitchen and saw Lisa wiping down the counters.

"Hey, Lisa," I smiled at her.

She was the cook's daughter and we had grown up together, so she was kinda my best friend even though she was a maid.

"I'm sure that there's a good news behind this smile of yours" she said with a smile as she washed the dishes.

"What do you mean? I smile a lot, so what makes you think that there's a good news behind my smile?" I asked in confusion.

"Let me guess, you got accepted and you're about to become a fancy lawyer?" She squealed.

I chuckled, "I wish," I told her, "I'm going to wait for mum and dad to get back so we can open the letter together. I'm so nervous."

"It's going to be fine. You'll get in. And then you can leave this city. With your grandfather's former connections, you can get a job at a top law firm and you'll be swimming in money."

I rolled my eyes at her, "I don't want to use Grandpa's connections. I want to do it on my own."

She raised one dark brow, "You want to start scraping at a lowly job when you'll have over fifteen million of inheritance money in your account?"

"Something like that?"

"Ugh," she groaned, "You're so humble for someone who grew up with a whole house staff."

The thing was that my status as a bastard had always segregated me from the kids in school and the other wealthy kids. My upbringing up until age six when my mother had gotten diagnosed with cancer and brought me to the Forrester's house had been very humble.

It made me believe in hard work and paving a way for myself without having to depend on the Forrester's money even though I'm kinda part of them now.

"That's just me I guess."

"Go get some sleep," Lisa urged, "I'll come wake you up when your parents get home. You're just going to worry yourself into illness if you continue like this."

It was both a good and bad thing that Lisa could read me so well.

"I don't think I'll be able to sleep with that letter just sitting on my table and taunting me."

"Try," she ordered sternly, "You're making me nervous."

With a sigh, I nodded and decided to take her advice.

I climbed up the stairs slowly, trying not to think about the life ahead of me at the law school. I couldn't wait to start learning all about the justice system, fighting for good and being on the side of justice.

I would help to put evil guys behind bars forever, and then I would fall in love with a good, decent man, get married and grow old with him.

My future was literally at the tip of my fingers. I could almost feel it.

"Kathleen," my brother's voice called from the end of the hallway, specifically from dad's office.

"Yeah?"

"Don't just stand there," he barked, glaring at me, "Do you expect me to shout from across the hallway?"

I jerked, startled by the irritation in his voice. Did I do something? Perhaps he's just irritated about that problem of his that needs to be resolved with a six figure money, whatever that problem is tho.

Hurrying to the office, I had just crossed the threshold when lightning flashed in the sky and a loud thunder boomed around the house.

I had always been deathly afraid of storms, and so my heart was already pounding in my chest when I faced Matteo.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"They're dead." He dropped the shell bomb and I staggered backwards .