“Don’t blame yourself, Jordyn.” My tone was even. “Junior didn’t need convincing. He was so in love with Carly that he would’ve done anything to see her.”
She heaved a sigh. “Why do you sound cold, like you’re not my sister anymore?”
I stared at the prison building across the way. A sentry stood guard outside the doors. I had an urge to trudge down there and carve out Fred Emery’s intestines.
“I love you, Jordyn. Out of the three of us, you’re the one who is wiser and thinks before you act. You’ve always been the coach and referee when Rianne and I fought. I love that you wanted to save me. But leave that task for Sam. I want you around. I want to grow old with my sister. I want you to be the best aunt to my children. We need each other, Jordyn.”
Crying, she reached out and held my hand. “I want all that too.”
“Then promise me you won’t do something like that again.”
“I promise,” she said through a sniffle.
“I mean it, Jordyn. Rianne injected me with that stuff that alters humans. I was lucky I woke up in time. Noah has been changed, and he’s an ugly motherfucker of a monster.”
She sucked in air, wiping her eyes with her fingers. “Please understand. Granny threatened your life. She said if I didn’t come, she would kill you. I couldn’t say no.”
“Why didn’t you share that with Steven? He is your boss. Or tell Webb or Tripp?” As soon as the questions left my mouth, I wanted to take them back. I wasn’t a Goody Two-shoes, and I hardly asked for permission when someone close to me needed help. “Don’t answer any of that.”
Silence ticked by for a beat.
“Are we good, Layla?”
I hooked my arm in her good one. “Of course. I want a hug, but I’m afraid I might hurt you.”
She leaned into me, resting her head on my shoulder. “Steven is making arrangements to have Junior’s body brought here.”
“Does he know why you went to West Virginia?”
“He does. You can’t lie to him—not that I would. But he or Jo would read my mind anyway. I thought he would lash out, but he said he understood and not to let it happen again.”
I was sure Steven and Webb were at their wit’s end with the Aberdeens, including Jordyn and me.
“Can we sit and chat?” Jordyn asked. “I have a few things I want to tell you, and I want to hear more about Rianne and Noah.”
I grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge, then we settled in, facing each other as we got comfy on the couch.
“Granny has lost her mind and is dying of some type of blood cancer.” I took a sip of water, deciding on how to tell her about Rianne. I didn’t even know where to begin. Like me, she was frustrated with our sister, but despite Rianne’s actions, Jordyn wouldn’t want to see Rianne dead. I reached over and touched her leg. “I’m afraid Rianne could be dead.”
She gaped as she clutched onto my hand. “Rianne. Dead?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know for sure. It guts me, Jordyn, that Rianne isn’t the sister we know anymore.” I filled her in on Rianne’s actions and the conversation Rianne and I had in that room at Intech. “She’s so far gone that I don’t know if we can save her.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks. “I’m sad she chose to side with Granny and Noah. But she made her decision. We have to, too, Layla. As much as I hate to say this, we have to protect ourselves and each other now.”
I bobbed my head. “You know I will always have your back.”
She squeezed my hand as I brought her up to speed on everything, including my grandmother’s true motive, how I almost died, and everything about my pregnancy.
When I was done, she threw herself in my arms, moaning in pain. “I’m sorry you went through all that. I’ve never been so scared in my life. I thought I lost you. I’m furious with our family. I want to kill Fred Emery, and I just want happiness. We won’t have that with Granny in the picture.”
I hated to burst her bubble, but she needed to hear this. “Sis, with or without Granny in the equation, our happiness will always be challenged because I’m having Mason babies. This war is much larger than we could ever have imagined. And if Rianne is alive, she makes Granny look like a saint.”
Jordyn curled her brown hair around her ear, and the act shook a detail free that I’d failed to mention, but Rianne’s shorn hair didn’t matter. “You said you had a couple of things to tell me?” I drank more water.
She twisted the cap off her bottled water, then started in. “To begin with, if Sam hasn’t told you, his handsome face has been prime-time news from coast-to-coast. When he was searching for you at the hospital, he was in full vampire mode in front of a parking lot full of humans. A cop even accused him of killing his partner. Steven’s been trying to placate the media. It’s not working. They’re camped outside the gate. I guess someone leaked where Sam was. If you ask me, Roman probably did to mess with Sam.”
I wasn’t sure how to process that except to say, “Not only are we being hunted by our enemies, but now we have the media to contend with?” Unbelievable. The news that vampires existed would spread among humans like wildfire. Vampire hunters would come out of the woodwork. Innocent humans might run for the hills. Others would be awestruck and brave enough to try to get a glimpse of a true vampire. Basically, mayhem and anarchy.
