The Republic of Linae (Book 1)

Chapter 4: Allyson

Everyone is as I feared them to be. My father is desperate to have me on his side. My mother is completely obsessed with her image. Cameron is just like our father.

My brother is very arrogant. He believes that he has all the power in the world, since he is the son of the President. Cameron has been raised as the heir to the presidency. For his entire life, he has been treated as though he is the best thing to ever exist. People have appeased his every request, teaching Cameron that it's his way or no way at all.

It's likely the same way that my mother learned her behavior. Especially given the rumors for how she ended up with my father. One of these rumors suggests that she killed off her competitors when my grandparents were selecting a person. Obviously, there is no evidence to these rumors and my mother hasn't given them any sort of attention.

Considering her obsession with her presentation, one of the bad rumors is probably true.

Someone knocks on my bedroom door seconds before they open it. Cameron stands in the doorway, angrily glaring toward the ground. "I came here to apologize," he claims. There's aggression in his tone. Dad definitely told him to apologize to me.

His eyes remain glued to the floor while he tries to keep his anger in check. After a minute or so, he looks up at me in a poor attempt of looking sincere. "I'm really sorry, Allyson. I shouldn't have said those things."

I lean my arms back onto my bed and coax an eyebrow at him. "You and I both know that you're not sorry, so spare me the fake apology."

Cameron looks visibly taken aback. He likely had an idea for how this conversation would go and this is not what he envisioned. "What—?"

If I'm going to be trapped in this house with my family, I might as well stay honest where I can. Since Cameron does not like me, I can use that to my advantage. Especially since he'll eventually help me leave. "Let's do ourselves a favor, Cammy, and stay honest with ourselves. You clearly hate me and I don't like you just as much."

"I don't hate you," he argues.

"Oh, so you call the people you care about derogatory names?" Guilt flashes through his features so fast that I must have imagined it. Silence stretches between us for several moments. "Yeah, I didn't think so."

That anger is back on his face. I wonder who he inherited his temper from. I never see dad's emotions and mom does not seem like the type to have explosive anger. "You don't know anything about me."

My shoulders lift in a shrug. I know enough about him to draw the conclusion that I want nothing to do with him. "I could argue the same, but we're not going to get anywhere if we fall down that rabbit hole."

Slowly, I rise to my feet. "Look, all I'm suggesting is that we don't have to pretend around each other. You don't need to apologize to me unless you mean it and I won't apologize to you unless I mean it."

Tension tightens my twin brother's shoulders while he stares at me. There's animosity in his eyes. "You know, I think I'm finally starting to understand." He fully enters my bedroom, swinging the door closed behind him. "You're just like Dad. That's why our parents seem to like you so much."

I quickly rise to my feet. Rage runs through my veins while I glare at him. "I am nothing like him."

He smirks, getting the reaction that he clearly wanted out of me. I played right into his hands. Eleven years apart from one another and Cameron still somehow knows where to hit me where it hurts.

Cameron looks like he wants to mock me. I've given him the grounds to. Hell, I've even given him what he needs to get back into Dad's good graces.

My brother is more dangerous than I had anticipated. I thought that he had learned to have our father's arrogance without the man's manipulativeness and knowledge. Based on what Cameron has just demonstrated, he's more like our father than I thought.