Chapter I

It had been a nice day when Michael Bachelor died. It was the first warm day of spring. Birds were chirping and trees and flowers began to bloom. The chill of the previous season before had left the air. It was a beautiful and a normal day.

It was strange to Dina, Michael’s widow. People were supposed to die on dreary days. Her parents passed away on an awfully rainy day in a car accident. Michael died of a heart attack. He had been home alone. Dina had found him too late.

“It wouldn’t have mattered,” the doctor told her. “Even if you were there, you never would have been able to save him. His heart just gave out.”

Dina played the part of the grieving widow, not that it was hard considering she was always dressed in her signature black. She felt as though she could always be in mourning, wearing her favorite shade.

“Come with me,” Michael had said to her. “Move with me to Newcrest and I promise I will give you and your sister everything you have dreamed of.”

Michael Bachelor was much older than Dina, but handsome and experienced. He was wealthy, the heir of the Brindleton Bay Bachelor fortune. Dina had met him at a seedy bar in San Myshuno. He convinced Dina and her sister Nina to move with him to Newcrest, a town 50 miles outside of Brindleton Bay. He had family there, a sister and her wealthy husband. They could start a happy and a quiet life together.

Dina was five minutes older than Nina. In spite of being twins, the girls looked nothing alike save for their emerald green eyes. Dina had long, blonde hair while Nina’s hair was a rich red. They were a team though, and they did everything together.

Nina was Dina’s partner-in-crime. The two girls who were orphaned at a young age longed for more than what the world had already given them. They only had each other, but they could use their beauty to gain a better life.

Dina was determined that Michael Bachelor was her meal ticket. Dina was focused on wealth and security while Nina focused on beauty and her own lustful desires. If Dina could support Nina, then she could focus solely on herself. Newcrest was going to bring both girls what they wanted the most.

Dina had married Michael Bachelor in a quick elopement ceremony in the Newcrest court house after six months of dating. Michael wooed Dina with promises of a rich and fulfilling life. He quickly moved Dina and Nina into a condo he owned on the edge of town.

Dina remembered being unimpressed with the almost bare 2-bedroom condo. She had expected more from a wealthy bachelor but it did beat their dingy apartment in San Myshuno. Michael told her that he preferred to live small and to save. Dina knew eventually she would convince him to upgrade, but this would have to work for now.

It wasn’t all bad though, Nina was enamored with the handsome stranger next door. His name was Don Lothario, and Don was just as smitten with Nina as she was with him. Nina did not even seem to care that he was engaged, after all it felt like a farce to her.

There was an issue though, an issue that Dina was not made aware of until her husband had died. Michael was almost bankrupt and his motivations to move back to Newcrest were in hopes of garnishing support from his sister, Bella and her husband Mortimer Goth. The Bachelors had once been one of the richest families but Michael had squandered it.

Reflecting back, Dina stood alone in the graveyard. She made an effort a few times a month to visit her late husband. Despite the betrayal she felt from him, she had cared for him. Next to her sister, he had been her only friend for a while. She may not have been in love with him, but she had genuinely treasured him. His death had brought her a great sadness that she was unable to pinpoint and it was not just because he died almost broke. She believed that maybe she had truly missed his companionship.

Dina did know that this lesson in betrayal by her deceased husband did teach her that she can only count on one person – herself.

Little though did Michael or Dina know that Michael’s death would be the first in a long string of deaths that would haunt Newcrest over the next few years. Perhaps, if he had known, he would have had second thoughts of moving back and bringing the Caliente sisters with him.