Page 58 of Niccolaio Andretti (The Five Syndicates)
I didn’t even have to hack him to figure that out.
The guy advertises his sex life every chance he gets, and though I rarely am out of my brownstone to see him, I’ve unfortunately run into him enough in the past seven or so years to know his kinks.
He’s that bad at keeping his mouth shut.
Once I’m at my desktop, I pull up Wilton University’s internal database, which I hacked into a whil
e back when I did a background check on Lucy for Asher. I type in Minka’s first and last name, Minka Reynolds, which she had written on the moving boxes I carried to the guestroom.
Her file pops up, and I click on it. Looking through her transcripts, I see that she’s got straight As, and there’s nothing weird about it to merit interest or any further investigation.
Instead, I look at the background information the school’s got on her:
Financial and academic based scholarship.
So, she’s poor and smart, but I already knew that.
Boring. Next.
I scroll through several of her admissions essays until I find one that catches my eye.
Admissions Essay #4
Question: In four hundred words or less, explain what has been the most significant day of your life and how it altered (and continues to alter) your perception of your future.
It’s a Dream
by Minka Reynolds
Everything that’s gone wrong in my life can be narrowed down to one day. Isn’t that sad? I have just one day that I can play on repeat in my mind, over and over again.
And it does just that, forever taunting me. I don’t even have the luxury of a movie reel, playing multiple scenes in my mind, because they don’t exist.
There’s. Just. One. Damn. Day.
You may be asking yourself why I’d rather have multiple bad days than just one. Because I’d rather have a variety of nightmares than the same one—over and over and over again.
You’d feel the same way, too, if your sister was ripped away from you, and you have to see her drowning in her tears once a week.
And the most messed up part?
I want to see her cry more than once a week.
Because that would mean that I get to see her more often than Saturdays from noon to two. If you offered me the opportunity of being there for my sister’s tears twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, I would take it without a second thought.
Is that messed up that I’m so desperate to have more time with my sister that I’d happily accept her tears?
I don’t know.
But I do know that the most significant day of my life also happens to be the worst day of my life—when Mina was taken from me. And everything I’ve done ever since—juggling a full-time job and high school, craving a college degree, searching for a better future—has been for her.
You asked for four hundred words. I could give you four hundred thousand. But at the end of the day, my drive boils down to four—I love my sister.
And because of that, I know there will only be one bad day in my life, for I can’t afford any more. I’ll get the degree I need, and I’ll do it with perfect grades. I’ll get an amazing job, and I’ll do wonderful things with my future. Most importantly, I’ll get Mina back and provide for her the future she deserves.
And in ten years, when it’s my sister’s turn to write this essay, she’ll be able to tell you that the most significant day in her life isn’t a nightmare.
It’s a dream.
