Chapter -5: We stopped living with dignity

Nora P.O.V

“Started the party without me, '' I said after taking the last step to the terrace . He was sitting on the edge of the terrace ,lost in his own thoughts. He turned to face me then again turned back to look at the city that was lightened up in the dark and took a sip from the bottle.

I walked closer and sat down beside him, dangling my legs just like him, from the edge of the building.

“Do you still miss him?”. I took the bottle and took a big gulp .

“Damn it is strong''. I swiped my mouth on the back of my hand while passing the bottle back to him.

“ Humm ''. He hummed but his eyes never moved from the view as he took the bottle and gulped down. He was not looking at anything particular and had his head far away in his thoughts.

“What was the password ?” . He handed over the bottle to me, for me to take the next sip.

“Charlie”. I took my drink looking straight ahead . I could feel his eyes were boring holes at the side of my face.

“I have something for you ”. I pulled out a coin bag and dropped it between us.

“Happy birthday Charlie”.

“What is this? ”. I looked at him through the side of my eyes, he was hesitant at first but then picked it up. I moved my eyes to watch the city light lighten up the city. Beside me , I heard Cyber to suck a deep breath.

“How…” I looked at him and smirked at his stunned face.

“Are they…”.

“They are real”. I just didn't fake one set of diamonds but two. After swapping the diamonds in DiFronzo’s old mansion and returning back to the base I gave them another set of fake diamonds . I was never going to give the diamonds back from the beginning.

“What if they find out that those diamonds are not real ? They are going to know right away that you have taken them” .

“They won't. I have made sure that they have the same weight, colour and density ”.

He hissed “ We have decided that we are going to leave the past and are going to help the feds or at least I thought ”. He ran his hands over his face in irritation.

“You may have forgotten but I haven't ” . I glared at him.

Charlie and I are a few months apart. I was nine when uncle John brought me to their house. He was the only father figure I knew . A baby was left at the door steps of the fire station and brought up in an orphanage without being adopted until she was nine. I was good for fostering but was not good enough to get adopted.

When life gives you shit everyone just can not help themselves.

The families that fostered me had many other kids. They foster them to get money from the state and after a year or two they send us back to the orphanage. I could not say the children's home was any better but life started looking up to me when uncle John came into my life. There were no more sleepless nights with starvation.

I met uncle John and his son before he adopted me . He was a family friend of my last foster family who kept me until the mother miraculously got pregnant with their first child after seven years. When the child was born they sent me back to the foster home . Uncle got to know about my living conditions and decided to adopt me . Cyber and I were always close, given that our ages are the same . Cyber's mother died during childbirth, leaving uncle to raise a newborn baby. Uncle never married again. Charlie or Cyber as we call him has always been smarter from his age , driven to the world of technology, maths and coding. At the age where I can hardly understand what my chapters are about, Charlie was already solving maths equations of twelfth standard and was able to create software. He could not make uncle any more prouder than he already was.

But every good thing has its end , that is where Robert DiFronzo came into the equation. We were fifteen when uncle John took on a new project. We were like any other American middle class family. We did not have much but what we had was enough. Looking at Cyber's skills he was already transferred to the college with half scholarship to study computer engineering in the states . The expenses were high and we did not have that money , uncle could not bring himself to say no and asked to take the offer . At that time Robert DiFronzo contacted uncle to build the vault . Uncle John jumped on the opportunity because the money they were offering will cover all our expenses.

Uncle's two other friends were helping him with this project. DiFronzo and uncle became close and used to attend many events together; this helped John’s business to grow .

On the last day of testing the vault when everything succeeded uncle John and Robert DiFronzo were celebrating in the vault room. They were talking when something caught uncle's eyes , he turned to look at it , something hit on the back of his head. The impact knocked him out. When he came to his senses he found himself in police custody. When we went to meet him he said could not remember anything after the hit . One minute they were talking and next thing he knew the police were arresting him for stealing.

DiFronzo's family filed charges against uncle John for stealing material from the project and giving away the confidential data. We fought a long battle of court cases . In the end, Robert won the case and uncle was sentenced to five years in prison. All the incurrence went to DiFronzo’s family . Uncle had taken a loan from the bank for the project. After uncle was arrested, the bank seized our house, everything we had was taken away.

Child service tried to take us but uncle John’s friend took our custody. Our entire life turned upside down within months. Charlie went to the states to complete his degree , I stayed with uncle Sam and his mother until I turned eighteen. They were nice people but I had to do something. I was not as bright as Charlie and for love of all the holy in heaven I do not think I can make out a life using my hacking skills which is almost equal to none.

So I joined the special forces after my eighteenth birthday , working as their undercover agent and killer in the foreign countries for almost eight years. I hardly contacted anyone because in my line of work the less you know the longer you live . Cyber and I were not like what we used to be after that but everything changed during my last visit to my hometown. Cyber had a major accident and had gone through surgery. He had been working with police on a murder case and the suspect was a minister’s son . He was returning from his work when he was hit by a car. The consequences of the accident led him to stay for almost one month in the hospital. I had to quit my job and come back to Chicago.

I joined local police station along side of taking of my brother during that time I made sure everyone of them pay who was behind this.

Cyber's touch brought me back to the present.

“ Dad was a person who lived for his respect and dignity. He could not survive five minutes inside the jail. It suffocated him to know that what he worked for so hard is taken away from him”. Cyber's voice broke in the end.

“That is why we stop living life with them a long time ago”.