Little White Lies

Chapter 18

In the end, they found out where Candice was through her Instagram.

Turns out the decoy White daughter had amassed a whopping 60 thousand followers - whether it was because of her family name or her quintessential rich Californian girl feed was hard to say. She had been quiet for the past months but suddenly started posting last week. None of them had thought to check her socials until her new post popped up on Eric's feed.

She was in Cancun; so the group had to hop on another short-haul plane to get there, which put Eva into an even more foul move. Candice had tagged several restaurants, cafes, and shops, but nothing on where she was staying. It was also unclear whether those were real-time, so it was going to take some time to find her.

David had been a godsend, booking them into a resort at the last minute. "I've stayed there a couple of times with my business buddies, it's a nice place," he said. Eric had been to Cancun before but never one of the resorts.

"Miss Goodman and Mr Goodman, welcome to the resort. And welcome back to you, Mr Santiago," a pretty woman came over to greet them as soon as they exited the car. Eric barely had the time to look around before Eva rushed him up to the reception.

"The faster we get settled in the faster we can look for her," she hissed. Eric sighed and took hold of his adoptive sister's left elbow.

"Evie, can I talk to you for a sec?" he asked. David took the cue and pointed to the reception, letting them know that he'd check them in. Eva gave him an annoyed look but didn't walk away. At least there was that.

"What?" she asked. Eric steered her towards the sofa to the side and sat her down. She settled on the single one and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at Eric in a way that she hadn't since they were both children.

Eric ran a hand through his hair as he tried to think of something to say that won't trigger Eva. There really was none, so he should just bite the bullet. "I want to check to see how you're feeling. You know that I'm always here to talk," he started.

"I'm fine. Or rather I'll be when we find Candice," Eva interrupted and looked ready to get back on her feet. Eric held his hands up, which had always worked in the past and seemed to have worked okay now, too, since she sat back down.

Eric scooted closer to Eva on the big sofa. "It's been a busy month and with everything that had happened, I just want to check in on you. I know it hasn't been easy—"

"No kidding," Eva interrupted again, her voice rising. "I've waited so long to get back to my family and now not only are my parents dead,  the family fortune is also missing and everything is basically falling apart."

Eva burst into tears and Eric patted her on her back. She took a deep breath and got hold of herself quickly, but still sniffling lightly. There were so many things Eric wanted to say. Wasn't their family enough? They weren't rich like the Whites but they were a good, middle-class family. A happy family. But once Eva found out she was adopted, she was consumed with what she had lost.

"Even if there's no money left, we can still go home and you'd be able to take over your biological family's company," Eric said gently, tentatively. He barely finished when Eva hissed at him.