My Twin Was Robbed

Someone broke into my sister's house. It was an inside job because he/she knew exactly where to find the safe, which was very much hidden. It contained passports and a gun ... now all gone. So now there's a robber on the loose ... with a gun.

My sister's house is filled with close-circuit video cameras. They saw the getaway car which was a silver CRV. The thief broke in at 5:00 p.m. on a Sunday, with my sister and husband in their bedroom, and a cook in the kitchen. Good thing the children were away in my parents' house. If he was caught by my family, the scene could have turned ugly.

Other family friends were also targetted recently. One chef got a kidnap threat so now she walks around with a team of bodyguards. An uncle caught an intruder at home and scared him away in time. A friend's house was attacked by art thieves who got paintings and a locked up Lalique collection. This is a sign of hard times.

I dislike living in fear, caution and paranoia. It's a kind of prison. When I moved to France I tried to look as anonymous as possible, to blend into the crowd and not draw unneccesary attention to myself. That's because I have no support team here, no contacts like authorities and government officials to help out in case I were attacked. I left all my possessions with noticeable luxury logos at home, bringing only basic shapes and colors. Only if one looked very very closely, they'd notice that my non-descript sweaters are made of real cashmere, my hunter green coat is lined inside with real sable (I removed the Fendi tag which was also inside), my apparently plain leathergoods are Valextra ... an Italian brand for discerning people with clean lines and no logos. This is all because I don't want to be mugged while in a foreign country.