“I've already taken care of it." She slid a challenging glance in my direction. "Alexia knows her place.”

He stepped over to me, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"No, I don't think she does, but I want to make it clear to her.” To Maren he said, "You didn’t know this before, but Alexia is my daughter.”

The smile froze on Maren’s face. She didn’t look at me, just blinked at my father. "What?”

"She’s Kari’s half sister. I just found out myself.”

Maren still stared at my father. Her voice came out high- pitched. "What?"

My father smiled, appraising me again. "It’s incredible, isn’t it? Can you believe how much she looks like Kari?” Maren stepped toward him but her gaze sliced over to me. "She can’t possibly be your daughter. It's a fluke that she looks like Kari—” She let out a sound that was half scoff, half snort. “Whatever she’s told you, it isn’t true. I found her in West Virginia, for heaven's sake.”

My father nodded. "West Virginia, I know. That's where I found her mother too.” He opened his hand and turned the sapphire pendant over in his palm. His eyes went to mine, and his voice dropped. "You tell your mom I’m sorry. Tell her—well, I'll give her a call myself." He slipped the necklace into his pocket and faced Maren again. "I imagine Kari will have to let most of her staff go until she can get her finances back in order, but I'd like to hire you to do some things. First, I want you to make sure Alexia has a first-class ticket to get back to West Virginia; a private plane would be better. I don’t want her bothered while she's traveling. And pack up and send Alexia’s belongings back to her house. Can you manage that?”

Maren took a couple of breaths, then gulped. Her voice, usually so silky, cracked. "Of course. I’ll take care of it right away.”

“Great,” he said, "because I’ve got some people to sing to.” He gave my shoulder a pat and then in lower voice said, "I will call you."

He turned to go, but before he could leave, I said, "Can I ask you for one thing?"

"Sure. Anything."

"Can you explain this to Grant?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't you rather do that yourself?"

I shook my head. Grant had already made himself clear about what he wanted in a girlfriend, and I didn’t fit the bill.

"Okay," he said, but his eyebrow stayed raised like he didn’t believe me.

"One more thing.” I grabbed my purse from the counter, pulled out a pen, then walked over to my father. I took hold of his hand and turned it over in my own until I could see his forearm. Then I wrote my home phone number in one- inch lettering up the length of his arm. "That’s so you don’t lose it."

He took my hand and squeezed it. "I won't.”

I gave him a smile, then walked to where Maren stood in the doorway. "I’m ready to go now."

CHAPTER 16

As soon as the limo pulled away from the coliseum, Maren turned and stared at me. I had seen and talked to her hundreds of times since I came to California, but this was the first time I'd ever seen her flustered.

"So," she said, "is it actually true you're his daughter?”

I suppose I deserved that comment after spending the last month and a half lying to people about my identity. “It's true,” I said.

Her lips pursed together. “Really? And who is your mother? Why didn't this surface before?”

Out the window I could see cars passing by as though the world hadn’t just changed. It seemed odd when everything felt different for me. I wasn’t even upset about the things Maren had said earlier or was saying now. Suddenly she didn’t seem very significant. "My father knows who my mother is. I don't have to explain anything to you."

Maren leaned back against her seat, turning to see me better. "So you’re saying it was a coincidence that I picked you—Alex Kingsley’s secret daughter—out of the millions of girls in America to be Kari’s double?”

"It wasn’t coincidence,” I said. "You picked me because I looked like her, and I looked like her because she’s my half sister. Our mothers resembled each other too. If he wants a DNA test for proof, that’s fine. But I doubt he’ll ask for one. He knows who I am.”

I think it was at this moment that Maren believed me. She let out a sharp breath and laughed. Not regular laughter—uncomfortable, stumbling laughter.

"Well, isn't that ironic. All this time. You're his daughter." She put her hand over her chest as though checking to make sure her heart was still beating. "You should have confided in me from the beginning. Things would have been different.”

"Oh. You mean like you wouldn't have slapped me back in the green room?"

She winced. "I’m sorry about that. It was the stress of the moment. If I had known you were Alex’s daughter—”

"Then you wouldn’t have threatened to press charges against me if I crossed you?”

She attempted a smile. "I think we got off on the wrong foot."

"The wrong foot? I’ve lived under your roof long enough to know you don’t have any right feet."

She gave a little laugh as though I'd been joking and unclipped her phone from her belt. "I'd better see about getting you a plane to West Virginia."

I didn’t mind the break in the conversation. I called my house. Mom was out with Larry, so I told Abuela I was on my way home and would get the flight information to her later.

After several minutes on the phone, Maren wrote down an airline and flight number on a piece of scratch paper and handed it to me. "You'll be in first class on the next flight out. I'll send your things to you tomorrow."

When the limo finally pulled up to the airport, Maren leaned over and put a hand on my arm. She might have been talking to Kari for all the sweetness in her voice. "Really, Alexia, I would have helped you. I still want to help you. So we should forget the past, especially certain . . . regrettable parts."

I stepped out of the car, pulling my arm away from her as I did. "Thanks for your help. But I'm still going to tell my father everything you've done.”

CHAPTER 17

The flight was long, made longer by the fact that people in the airport kept staring and whispering. Several people came up and asked for my autograph. "I’m not Kari Kingsley,” I told them. "I’m her sister.”

I didn't explain about the glitter in my hair. I figured they could think it was a family trait. We all glittered, just like the Cullens in Twilight.

Oddly enough, they still wanted my autograph. "That’s so cool,” one said. "Do you get to tour with her and meet celebrities and stuff?”

That's when it hit me that going back to being Alexia Garcia might be more complicated than just dyeing my hair brown again. I didn’t want to give them a lot of personal information, so I said, "Sometimes.”

All during the flight I worried that Abuela might not have been able to get hold of my mother with my flight information and I’d have to take a cab to my house, but when I got to the airport, Mom stood waiting by the baggage carousel. I could see the lines of worry etched on her face as she searched the crowd, and then her eyes flew open wide when she recognized me. She hurried over and hugged me. "Your hair is so long—just look at you! You look—”

"Exactly like Kari, I know.”

"I was going to say older.” She held me at arm’s length, looking me up and down. "And more ... I don’t know, like such a sophisticated lady.”