Eddie Hollister stared up at his nephew. He'd been in the library reading a book titled The Mating Rituals of Orangutans. Desmond, Cole's father, was sitting at his desk, watching his brother deny the accusations Cole lobbed at him.

"You sent her this letter, didn't you? You had her killed?" Cole shoved the letter to his uncle.

"Why would I bother to threaten one of your little girlfriends?" Eddie asked, his eyes flitting between Cole and Mina. "My God, you look just like her."

"Stop looking at her. Eyes on me," Cole demanded.

Eddie's brows rose as he unfolded the paper. "What do you expect me to do with this?"

"It's on your stationery," Lance reminded him.

"Not to mention my assistant pulled up your banking history for the past four years. You sent a hundred-thousand-dollar wire to Salvatore Romano. Fifty of that went to the man driving the bus that killed Lisa."

"I do not know who this Salvatore person is!" Eddie cried, looking at his brother for help. Desmond's eyes narrowed on Eddie. "That stationery isn't special and anyone in this household had access to it."

"So, you're denying everything?" Cole asked.

Eddie sputtered before shaking his head. "I absolutely refuse to humor you about this. Barbara already told us you know the baby wasn't yours. She also told us you were sleeping with her doppelgänger. Why do you even care what happened to her?"

"It was mine," Lance said. "I care about what happened to that baby. I deserve to know—"

"How could you be so sure?" Desmond asked Lance. He held his hands up in front of him. "Sorry for interrupting your would-be valiant speech where you admitted to betraying my son, but from what I've gathered, it appears Cole's ex-girlfriend may have been one of Eddie's conquests."

"Desmond!" Eddie stood, throwing his book on the sofa.

Desmond shrugged. "I saw her leaving your bedroom one morning. I knew Cole would eventually break it off once he was tired of dipping his toes in unchartered waters. Originally, I thought he was biding his time until Vivi returned. I was mistaken."

Cole's face fell. How many people had betrayed him?

"She slept with you?" Mina asked Eddie, disgust in her voice.

"What? You think I'm not good enough?" Eddie snarled. "I assure you she enjoyed herself enough to come back for more."

"Did she tell you she was pregnant?" Mina asked. "Did she threaten you for money to keep the baby quiet?"

Eddie's face paled.

"You killed her," Lance said, shaking his head in disbelief. "You killed Lisa and my... well, what could've been my child."

"Or it could've been his," Mina muttered, pointing to Eddie.

"Enough!" Desmond stood and walked over to his brother. "Lance, I realize your need to uncover the truth, but involving the police would hurt the Hollister's reputation."

"You think I give a damn about your family's reputation?" Lance scoffed.

"No matter what," Cole said, still staring at his uncle. "you'll be under police scrutiny. It'll probably make it into the papers."

"This is absurd!" Eddie yelled. "There is absolutely no reason for me to have threatened or killed that woman! Even if she had my child, what would I care? At most, she'd get a pittance in child support."

"Then why did you send her that letter? And how do you explain that wire transfer?" Mina asked. "Do you know how broken my family became after my cousin died?"

"Eddie, perhaps you should just confess," Desmond suggested. "We'll do our best to keep it quiet."

"Are you insane?" Eddie asked his brother. The two brothers stared at one another before Eddie broke out into laughter.

"He's lost his mind," Desmond said, shaking his head.

Eddie pulled out his phone. "Do you think I'm so dumb? I may not be the head of this family, but by God, I am the smartest. If it weren't for me, that little grifter would've taken everything from all of us. I agreed to give her money if she broke up with Cole and took the bus home. She thought it was odd, but for money, that little whore would do anything."

He pressed play on a video and turned it to Cole, Mina, and Lance.

"Oh my God!" Mina gasped, her hands covering her mouth.

Cole staggered back a step.

Lance looked over at Desmond. "You slept with Lisa?"

"Who didn't my cousin sleep with?" Mina muttered.

"He did," Barbara Hollister's voice called out from the doorway. The poor girl had no idea she wasn't the first girl Desmond's gotten pregnant out of wedlock. She asked Eddie and your father for hush money."

All eyes turned to Desmond, his jaw clenched, and his hands tightened into fists. "That's enough, Barbara."

"What's the matter, Desmond? Don't you want your son to know about all his dead half-siblings? You never could keep it in your pants. It's why I allowed Eddie to live here."

"What?" Desmond glared at his brother. Eddie moved behind the sofa.

"You were too busy sleeping with other women," Barbara told her husband. "So, I had to recruit Eddie to make up for your absence."

Desmond's face turned a dark shade of red before he turned to his brother. "You've been sleeping with my wife?"

Eddie shrugged. "She gives me an allowance."

"You're sleeping with my mother?" Cole cried.

"Rich people are sick," Mina muttered.

"Stop!" Lance raised his hands in the air. "We're forgetting Eddie paid for someone to kill Lisa."

"And he's been sleeping with my wife!" Desmond leaped over the sofa and knocked his brother down. He was choking Eddie.

"Stop!" Mina yelled, taking a step forward to stop the two brothers. Lance pulled her back. "They're going to kill one another."

Cole stepped out of the room, his cell phone to his ear. When he returned, it was with police officers.

Hours later, Mina and Cole were together at his penthouse.

"So, you finally have some answers," Mina said. She was holding a cup of cocoa in her hands. They were in his dining area.

He nodded, staring blankly at his hands laid out on the table. "I do and I don't."

"What do you mean?"

"I loved Lisa. I still do, but I don't. I can't. How can I love someone who betrayed me? She was dating me but sleeping with other men and then blackmailing them for money. Why? I would've given her everything."

Mian sighed. "I told you my cousin was evil."

"I would've married her," Cole admitted. "My mother was wrong when she said Lisa was a phase. I still remember the first time I met her. She was singing some song from the eighties during a karaoke night. I'd been out with some friends. It was a place I'd never go to on my own. She was up on stage, singing out of key, but she was beautiful. I asked her out, and we started dating. That's when I learned she was funny, kind, and considerate. How could I not fall in love with her? Sure, we argued, but the good outweighed the bad."

Mina blew on her cocoa before taking a drink.

"I still can't believe she was pregnant with someone else's baby. For all I know, that baby was mine," Cole admitted.

"You had unprotected sex with her?" Mina asked.

"Once. We spent the weekend camping. I forgot to bring condoms and we couldn't keep our hands to ourselves."

She smiled sadly and shook her head. "You're an idiot."

"I am. Now that I think about it, a few times we were together, she made a point of making sure I was drunk first. Maybe she wanted me too drunk to remember to wear protection, so she'd get pregnant. I never forgot after that night in the woods."

Mina sighed, closing her eyes.

"Do you want to spend the night?" Cole asked. "We can stay up watching movies or something."

Her eyes narrowed. "Is this your way of getting me to have sex with you? I'm not really in the mood for you to pretend I'm my cousin. Besides, we said one and done the last time."

Cole stood up and came around to where she was sitting. "One, I truly just want your company. You're the one with sex on the brain. Two, I would never imagine you as your cousin. Your personality is too strong for me to picture you as anyone but you. Three, I'm always ready for a negotiation. One and done can become two and more."

She stared at him before laughing. "Fine, but I'm only staying if I get to pick the movies."

"Anything but chick flicks," Cole said.

"I was hoping we could have a Die Hard marathon." She stood up, and Cole placed his hands on her hips.

"How are you feeling about everything?" he asked her.

"Confused. Weird. Sad."

"I'm sorry my family ruined yours. You realize the police are involved now. It may implicate Salvatore and your father."

"Probably, but I think my father's guilt has been weighing on him for years."

Cole leaned down and kissed her forehead. "Everything is going to be okay."

"You don't know that."

"I do," he assured her. "I'm making it my mission to make sure you're okay."

"Why?"

He grabbed her hand and entwined their fingers as he led her to his bedroom. "Because I like you. You're crazy and we've only known one another a few days, but I like you."

"You just want to see me naked again," Mina grumbled.

His lips quirked up. "That too."

The next morning, Cole's arm stretched out to reach for Mina. Instead of her smooth skin, his hands met a piece of paper. It was a letter.

Cole,

I wasn't sure how to say this, but I've found it's always best to put uncomfortable words on paper. Last night you said we've only known one another a few days, but that wasn't true. We met the night I sang that horrible cover to Bette Midler's The Rose.

When you asked me out, I couldn't believe it. You were so handsome and sweet. I couldn't help but tell everyone how wonderful you were, but that was a mistake. Happiness breeds jealousy. When we were teenagers, my cousin got jealous of everything I had. I told you she used to steal my boyfriends by pretending to be me. And apparently, it continued in our twenties.

That day you described at the merry-go-round broke my heart, Cole. Because that wasn't me. It was Mina. The woman who slept around with Lance and your family was Mina. I didn't know any of this until the day she died. My parents were called to the hospital, and they identified Mina as me. The hospital released two phones to my parents. One was mine and the other was hers. She'd taken mine two days before the accident.

It wasn't until they got home and saw me alive that my parents and I understood something wasn't right. We went through both phones and realized what had happened. We were on our way to the hospital to correct the mistake when my uncle called and admitted someone paid him to hit that bus. He tried killing himself out of guilt. He thought he killed his niece, but he really killed his own daughter.

Mina was pregnant and pretending to be me. Someone wanted her dead. It's why I started my PI business. I wanted to find out who organized her death. Do you know how scary it is to have a hit on you? My parents moved to Australia, and I stayed in their apartment. It was the safest thing for all of us to do. My uncle stayed here, believing I was his daughter.

I remember that night in the woods. It was our first time together, and it was magical. More than you know. You see, Mina wasn't the only one who was pregnant. I was too. Unlike Mina, I gave birth to our baby.

I can imagine you getting excited as you read this and I'm sorry to tell you this, but that baby wasn't meant to be, Cole. He was stillborn.

You say you loved Lisa, but the more I think about it, you never really knew her. You never really knew me. How could you if you could so easily confuse my cousin with me? Do you want to know what's really sad? Remember when we went through my cousin's things? I told you and Lance she didn't have diaries, but that wasn't true. She did. I read them.

I also burned them.

She said she loved you, Cole. Your uncle Eddie said he forced her to break up with you, but if he hadn't, I imagine she would've figured out a way to keep you. And I hated her for that. I hated you, too.

There's too much between us now, so I'm letting you go. Thank you for helping me find the truth. I've never forgotten you. I've never stopped loving you. But it's time for me to live for myself again. Mina broke up with you that day, but I never did. Now, it's time. I'll borrow Mina's words.

I love you, let's break up.

Goodbye, Cole. I hope you have all the closure you need to move on.

Lisa