Claimed by the Cancio Twins

Elise Foster was seven years old when she first saw Vincent and Giovanni Cancio.

A moving van was parked on the street, its doors open to reveal boxes and furniture.

The twins stood together on the sidewalk, heads bent over a handheld game.

They both had dark hair and sun-kissed skin.

Their frames were lean, but not skinny.

Elise couldn't see their faces clearly from her window.

But she noticed one thing immediately.

She tugged on her mother's blue dress, her gaze fixed on the boys.

"Mommy, they have the same face."

"They're twins," Evelyn Foster replied, joining her daughter at the window.

"Twins?"

"They were born together. They'll look alike and are the same age."

"Oh."

"I wonder if they'll be in your grade at school."

There was a brief silence.

The boys' father appeared, shouting instructions at the movers and pointing toward the house.

The twins didn't even look up.

"They're cute," Elise whispered, her cheeks flushing pink.

"Yes," Evelyn breathed out.

Elise glanced up at her mother.

She noticed her mother's eyes weren't on the young boys at all.

"What are my girls doing?" Benjamin Foster entered the living room. "Spying on the new neighbors already?" He chuckled.

The start of second grade confirmed they were her age.

Being new and identical twins, they were instantly noticed.

They became popular almost overnight.

Elise admired them from a distance.

She was too shy and nervous to speak to them, even though they lived next door.

For two whole years, she went completely unnoticed by them.

Elise's best friend, Acacia Kemp, seemed immune to their appeal.

She didn't get the fascination and didn't care to.

She kept Elise busy with adventures, crafts, and endless sleepovers.

Everything changed at the start of fourth grade.

Elise's mother was caught having an affair with Dominic Cancio, the twins' father.

Isabella Cancio, Dominic's wife, found them in bed together.

Evelyn did the naked walk of shame back to her own house.

Isabella screamed at her husband.

The argument turned physical.

Isabella slapped him. He hit back.

He declared he had fallen out of love with her.

He said Evelyn now had his heart.

That she satisfied his every desire.

Before storming out, he told Isabella he wanted a divorce.

Isabella committed suicide that same night.

Evelyn, however, had thrived on the thrill of the affair.

She no longer wanted anything to do with Dominic.

She didn't want her husband either, even though Benjamin was willing to forgive her.

She divorced him and moved out of state to 'find herself'.

The story spread through their small town like wildfire.

Evelyn was called every name imaginable, mostly 'whore' and 'homewrecker'.

Dominic became an alcoholic.

Benjamin became a workaholic, drowning in legal debt Evelyn left behind, fighting to keep their house.

Suddenly, the twins knew exactly who Elise was.

It was not the attention she had ever wanted.

They pulled her hair.

They tripped her in the hallways.

They knocked her books from her hands, scattering papers everywhere.

They destroyed her school projects.

They trashed her lunches.

They called her vicious names in both English and Italian.

They were relentless.

She could never escape them.

Over the years, the twins grew taller and more arrogant.

They slowly morphed into classic bad-boys.

They had their own group of followers and girls trailing after them.

Their jawlines sharpened.

Their muscles filled out.

They had perfect, straight, white smiles.