The Rules Series

of it. Make the fire so big that the people in America will know the house my father built is now just a pile of ashes.”

Chapter 3
The Maid Experience
I couldn’t have been older than ten at the time. Nina was in our tea room, and I’d just been kicked out of our father’s office . . . again. I was going to get the strap for spying on him, but it was worth it.
As I walked away from his office and the closer I came to the tea room, I heard what sounded like laughter.
Giggles.
Who was that, and what was so funny? I didn’t recognize the voices. When I arrived at the threshold of the door, instead of going inside something told me to wait and watch. I was good at that.
Two maids whispered into each other’s ear as they laughed and pointed towards Nina, my sister. She sat on the sofa with her back to them in her little pink dress adorned with an ungodly amount of ruffles and wearing white patent leather shoes—completely oblivious and playing with her doll.
I could feel the anger rise up inside of me. I clenched my hands into tight little fists. They were talking about her.
One of the maids continued to point. They had no idea that I watched them. She said the words, “Xiǎo hēi guǐ,” and it was the first time I’d heard it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the last. At the time, I was clueless to what it meant, but I was going to find out. My fury could have been doled out in equal measures since I was almost as furious with Nina as I was with them. She always missed everything going on around her. Nina never paid attention. All she ever wanted to do was play with that damn doll.
We were identical twins but couldn’t have been more different. She was a princess, all pomp and taffeta. Don’t get me wrong; I was a princess too, but while Nina would have rather had a tea party, I would have rather sat in my father’s office watching him. He was fascinating. Interesting things always happened in his office. Sometimes, I would hide out in the closet and open the door just a crack to steal a peek. It was worth the beating that was sure to come if I were caught. The expressions on his guest’s faces were sometimes mixed with frustration and irritation, but most always fear. I didn’t know the full extent of what was going on, but I knew that people seemed to do whatever he demanded. I wanted to have that kind of power, and right now, I would wield it like a steel bat up against those maids’ heads.
“Gina? What are you doing out here?” I nearly jumped out of my skin and pressed my hand against my chest. My heart was about to beat out of my rib cage. I was good at lurking, but I had to work on my responses when I got caught. Fortunately, it was only Laurette Audrieux, Nina’s and my nanny. She’d scared me half to death. Laurette was the only other person I knew who could lurk better than me.
“Did you hear me, young lady? What are you doing out here?” She addressed me in French, so I needed to respond to her in the same language. One of her jobs was to make sure that Nina and I became fluent in both French and English.
“Watching.”
“Watching what?”
I shrugged my little shoulders.
“It’s not good to eavesdrop or sneak up on people, Gina. It’s rude.”
There was a slight hitch in my tone. “You just did the same thing to me.”
Laurette lowered her voice. Her eyes twinkled as if she were about to tell me a secret, but she didn’t. “So it would seem, but the difference is I didn’t get caught.” She smiled down at me and winked before walking into the tea room. I dragged my feet and followed behind her.
As soon as we entered, Nina turned in our direction and flashed a smile that revealed she didn’t have a care in the world or a clue; she had no idea the maids were talking about her.
“Bonjour.”
We returned her greeting in unison. “Bonjour.”
The memory of her face, the innocence of it, her playing with that stupid doll, still made my heart smile. I think her name was Bae-Li or Bai-Lien, or something like that.
I never liked dolls or playing with inanimate objects. It was silly. Even more so in this case, because that doll didn’t look anything like us. Not many people that I knew did except for Laurette. Looking into her face was like a reflection of my own unlike that doll. Its complexion was much lighter, and the black hair was bone straight. That was the opposite of us. Our skin was the color of coffee with heavy doses of crème, and our eyes looked more like large chestnuts. Yes, they had a slight slant to them like our father, but our eyes were much more round. We were different. For a short time, I didn’t understand just how different. I didn’t get it, not until a couple of years before when a hairstylist came over to our home to do Nina’s and my hair.
We had a mini-salon built into our shared bathroom. I was sitting in the styling chair getting my hair combed when out of nowhere I thought I’d been struck by lightning.
“Ow!” The sound escaped from between my lips before I could catch it. That woman pulled my hair so hard I thought it was coming out from the roots.
“How is anyone supposed