Lies I Told Read Online Free PDF

Fairchild, son of Richard Fairchild the Third, CEO of Fairchild Industries, one of the oldest and richest companies in the world. Fairchild Industries got its start in transportation and now has divisions in technology, pharmaceuticals, communications, even space tourism.”
    He was selling us the mark, making it seem like Warren Fairchild wouldn’t miss what we were stealing. Either that, or Warren didn’t deserve what he had in the first place. It was something my dad did to alleviate any guilt we might feel over what we were about to do. Most of the time, I believed him. I tried not to think about the other times.
    â€œWarren wasn’t the only Fairchild offspring,” he continued. “He had an older brother who died in a boating accident when Warren was sixteen, leaving him the only remaining Fairchild heir. It was unfortunate for Richard, because Warren was unstable from the beginning.”
    That got my attention. “Unstable how?”
    â€œHe had brushes with paranoid delusions from a young age, but Richard managed to keep it quiet with a string of discreet therapists and expensive clinics,” he explained. “A few years ago, he finally gave up on Warren ever assuming a role in the business. Now Warren lives quietly on his trust fund, which is just the way Richard likes it.”
    â€œSo, what? We’re going after the trust fund?” Parker asked.
    My dad shook his head.
    â€œThen what?”
    I recognized the shine in his eyes. He would grift for a nickel if there wasn’t a bigger mark around.
    â€œFor at least a decade,” he began, “Warren has been convinced there’s going to be some kind of catastrophic worldwide event. And he’s been preparing for it.”
    â€œA catastrophic event?” I repeated.
    My mom looked at me. “A major earthquake, an asteroid hitting the earth, a—”
    â€œZombocolypse,” Parker finished dryly.
    I couldn’t help laughing.
    â€œWe don’t know,” my dad said. “And obviously, Warren doesn’t know, either. It’s something he’s been preoccupied with for years, according to my sources. Part of his paranoid delusions.”
    I didn’t bother asking how he knew so much about Warren Fairchild. He just did. He never told us how or where he got his information.
    â€œYou said he’s been preparing for it,” I said, trying to read between the lines. “What do you mean?”
    â€œWord is he’s been stockpiling.”
    Parker narrowed his eyes. “Stockpiling what? Food? Water?”
    My dad nodded. “And gold. Lots of it.”

Seven
    â€œGold?” I was trying to get my head around the idea that Warren Fairchild, member of one of the richest families in America, would stockpile anything. “But . . . why?”
    â€œMoney would be worthless in a catastrophic event,” my mom explained. “A lot of things would be. Warren is covering his bases, hoarding not only food and water, but gold for trade.”
    â€œHow much?” Parker asked.
    â€œLast time we heard, he had about seven hundred bars weighing one kilo each and worth about thirty-five thousand dollars,” my dad said.
    â€œThirty-five thousand . . . ,” I said softly. “That’s not very much. Not for everything we’d have to do to get it.”
    Our last job had gone well, but rent on the house in Playa Hermosa had to be setting us back big-time. Not to mentionthe new furniture, landscaping, cars, clothes, and everything else we needed to look as rich as everyone else who lived on the peninsula.
    â€œThirty-five thousand each ,” my dad clarified. “In total, about twenty million dollars at the current price for gold.”
    Twenty million dollars. The number echoed through my mind. It wasn’t the money. It was what it could buy. Freedom. A chance to be a real person. Someone who didn’t have to lie and hurt people and leave them behind