Free Our Hearts Entwined by Lilliana Anderson

way,” he told her, opening the door to his consultation room and ushering her inside. “Please, sit. I have some very interesting news for you.”
    “You do?” Mia asked, settling herself in the plush chair.
    “As you know, I’ve had you under surveillance this past week,” he started.
    “Yes, although I didn’t think we were going to do that until after we spoke again.”
    “I know. I deliberately misled you I’m afraid. I couldn’t have you thinking you were being followed, it would have ruined the results,” Cayd explained.
    “Ok - well, what did you find out? What’s wrong with me?”
    “There’s nothing wrong with you, Mia.”
    “What? But I have had a black out every day of the past week!”
    Both of them turned their heads when they heard a knock on the door, watching as Cherry appeared in the doorway, a man of average height and build standing behind her. “Simon Masters to see you,” she said as she nodded for the man who was obviously Simon to enter.
    “Thank you Cherry,” Cayd said, rising from his seat and moving toward Simon to shake his hand in greeting. “Thank you for coming. Mia, this is Simon Masters, he’s the PI who was assigned to you.”
    After a brief greeting, Simon and Cayd both sat, ready to discuss the matter at hand.
    “What did you find?” asked Mia, her head feeling that it might explode if she had to wait any longer.
    “Well based on what I have observed – it seems that you have a twin,” Simon announced.
    “What!? No – I’m an only child,” she reeled, not quite believing her ears.
    Simon then went on to explain that because she had given her approval to be monitored, cameras had been set up inside her living area to record her movements. On top of that, he was to follow her whenever she left the house.
    “On the first day of surveillance I was getting ready to follow you to work when I noticed another car pull up outside your block of flats. The occupant of the car appeared to be watching you as you left, so I remained where I was, watching to see who was inside. I observed a girl identical to you get out and enter your flat,” he informed her, opening a file and placing photos of the twin on the coffee table in front of Mia. “I decided it would be best if I stayed and followed her instead. I found that after she collected some clothing from your flat she then went to a serviced apartment that, when I looked into it, was rented to ‘Natalie Johnson’. Later that afternoon, she went back to your flat, entered the premises briefly before leaving again in your car and driving it to the home of Eric Dundas and Joshua Wilson, where she would spend most of the night,” he continued, placing more photos on the table that showed Natalie’s movements throughout the day.
    “The surveillance inside your flat shows that you went home each afternoon, made yourself a coffee and not long after you would fall asleep on the couch in front of the television. Natalie would come and check on you and then go over to your boyfriend’s house and pretend to be you.”
    “What? Are you absolutely serious? This is preposterous, how did I not wake up when she entered my flat?”
    “She drugged you,” Cayd put in. “Simon has footage of her mixing your sweetener with some kind of sleeping drug. Mia, I think you need to go to the police over this.”
    “This is ludicrous,” Mia said to no one in particular.
    “Let me show you the footage,” Simon said, nodding at Cayd who picked up a remote, aiming it at a wall mounted television. It blinked to life, quickly displaying a recording that showed Mia moving to sit on her couch before her head went slack. Simon took the remote and sped the recording forward a few minutes until Natalie entered the shot, confirming that everything he just told her was true.
    Thankfully, Mia was sitting down when the realisation hit her, because the blackness came so quickly, she wouldn’t have had a chance at saving herself.
    ***
    When Mia