Sinner Read Online Free Page A

criminal, but I feel terrible about it. The Morgans, our foster parents, raised us right.
    Sadly, they were a much older couple that typically take on foster children, and they had both passed by the time I was sixteen. It was devastating for Sophie and me, but what was even more disturbing was the Catholic foster care system was drastically reducing its cases, and we were going to be transferred to state care.
    Our first day at our new foster home was enough to let me know that it wasn't going to work out. I had some money saved up from doing odd jobs and the Morgan's paid me well to do work for them too. Sophie and I didn't spend one night in the new place.
    I can't remember their names, but the wife almost hit Sophie on our first day there. The husband was a drunk pervert, so we ran. I got a job and enrolled Sophie in school under a fake name. She'd end up having to get her GED under her real name once we were in the clear, but at least she got an education.
    I worked at a garage changing oil and tires, and after a couple of years the owner, Dave, even trained me to do more. Sophie and I always had enough to eat, and I made enough to cover her medications. She saw a doctor at a neighborhood clinic that treated homeless people and illegal aliens, so they never asked us questions.
    Then one day the garage burned down, and I was out of a job. I tried to find another one, but nobody would hire me. Dave had paid me cash under the table and never asked questions either. He was an ex-con who'd turned his life around, and he knew the value of a secret. Unfortunately, I think it was a pissed off bookie that burned his shop, so he took off for California the minute the fire was out.
    That left me with a little sister to care for and not many options. We could have gone back, but I was afraid of what would happen to Sophie in a foster family. I also knew I'd probably go to jail for kidnapping since I'd turned eighteen.
    That's when a guy in our building introduced me to Vladimir Mikhailov, and I made the biggest mistake of my life. I converted to a life of crime and told myself it was for Sophie.
    For a time, Vladimir kept us clothed, fed, and made sure Sophie saw the best doctor the Mafia could buy. I could never become a made man because I wasn't born into the family, but I rose as high in the ranks as possible. I was the best thief on Vlad's payroll.
    Then, I e couldn’t take it anymore, and we fled to California. I eventually got a job as a stuntman. The money was good, and we were out of the Mafia's shadow. One day it all came crashing down when I got hurt on set. When I finally got out of the hospital, I couldn't work anymore. A brain injury affects my balance sometimes. I learned how to work around it, but nobody will insure me so movie studios won't hire me.
    I had to come crawling back to Vladimir. He pretended all was forgiven and let me make a little money before destroying my life.
    After coming home from a burglary at a Mansion in the northern suburbs, I found my sister gone. A note on her bed told me to come to Vladimir's place. That's when he told me that I had to steal Tom Hunt's account information to get Sophie back.
    Now as I walk down the damp, gray hallway to the holding cell she's being kept in, I regret almost every decision I've made since the Morgans died. There had to have been a way to protect and care for Sophie that didn't require me getting into bed with the Mafia.
    "Adam!" Sophie yells and rushes over to the bars.
    "Can you open the door so I can hug her?" I ask knowing the goon is going to say no.
    "No. Two minutes." He says in his thick, and barely understandable, Russian accent.
    "Adam, I love you." She gushes and I put my hands over hers.
    "I love you too baby sister," I say and put my hands over hers. "Are you okay? Do they give you your medicine?"
    "They do. I get food three times a day too. It's not so bad. As long as I cooperate, they bring me down a plate of whatever Mr. Mikhailov and his