The Devil You Don't Know

How do you know your lover is who he says he is? Your friends, your family, even your children... Everyone keeps secrets -- how do you know that theirs aren't the ones you see on television and read about in books? Perhaps you're lucky, and everything you were told is the truth. ... Perhaps. But are you sure you really know?

Well... It might be time to dig a little deeper, before the little white lie turns out to be the secret that swallows you, and everything you ever knew, whole...

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This is Jedidiah Kane.

He's the father of two children, husband, a diligent worker. Like all other families lining the block, he has a daily routine that most can count on the dot: he can be seen at the gym at precisely 8:05, teaches karate lessons at noon, eats dinner with his family at 5, and spends his evenings working as a microchip engineer at the  riverside warehouse until the lights go out at 1 in the morning. This netted him enough money to pay for their comfy house, a large rental in France, and enough in savings that his wife need never work again.

There was never any need to question his integrity, either; the name 'Kane' was certainly not the most notable in the town of Riverview, but it had no sour ends. Yes, there were some prestigious names in the family line, but no one cared to remember: Kaylee Kane, his grandmother, a noted explorer who had offered many contributions to the Riverview County Museum; Karamel Kane, his great-aunt, who had published a line of romance novels featuring her sister's exploits in Egyptian lands. Even his own mother, Farah, was a well respected surgeon among the community, if her snobbery was begrudgingly ignored on account of her genius talent.

But who were the Kanes, really? Few can remember when Kaylee and Karamel first moved into town, Farah still a babe and Simon -- Karamel's son -- barely into grade school. They settled quietly into a house in the country, very discreet about their vast wealth, but especially discreet about the reasons of their arrival. The twin sisters quickly made friends within the town, but an aura of mystery surrounded their past life. Where had they come from? Why did they leave it so abruptly, arriving only with a mound of cash and not a personal possession in sight?

In fact, were a great historian to stumble upon the records of the Kane family line, they'd likely be stumped be a series of moves every few generations, when for no reason, they would suddenly uproot and plant themselves into a new town: the most recently of which Sunset Valley, and then Riverview.

However, luckily for the Kanes, those mysteries are both forgotten and irrelevent -- now, they are only known as upstanding citizens, guarding family secrets that even they can no longer remember. Yes -- upstanding citizens, friendly neighbors, pleasant residents...

 Or are they?