"What if I don't want to?"
Heat flares in my chest. "Then I'll carry you anyway and deal with the consequences."
She smiles, but it fades quickly. "I should check on Laurie. Make sure she's really okay. We need to figure out where she's going to stay, how to get her things from the apartment, whether she even wants to stay in Vegas after this…"
"Laney." I pull her closer, until she's standing between my knees. "Your sister is safe. My people will handle logistics. You don't have to fix everything right now."
"I know, but—"
"But you've been in crisis mode for a week, and you don't know how to turn it off." I cup her face, forcing her to look at me. "Let me help you."
"How?"
"Come home with me. Let me take care of you. Just for tonight. Tomorrow we'll handle everything else. But tonight..." I lean in, pressing my forehead to hers. "Tonight, I want you all to myself."
She's quiet for a long moment. Then: "Okay."
"Okay?"
"Yes. I'll come home with you." She pulls back just enough to meet my eyes. "But I need an hour with Laurie first. To talk. To make sure she's really okay. Can you give me that?"
"I can give you whatever you need."
Laney
I find Laurie in one of the bedrooms on the first floor, sitting on the edge of a twin bed and staring at her hands. Someone's given her clean clothes, soft sweatpants and an oversized hoody. Her hair is damp from the shower she must have just taken, but she still looks... fragile. Broken in a way I've never seen my sister before.
"Hey," I say softly from the doorway.
She looks up, and her face crumples. "Laney."
I'm across the room in seconds, sitting next to her on the bed and pulling her into my arms. She sobs against my shoulder, her whole body shaking, and I just hold her. Let her break. Let her feel everything she's been holding back.
"I'm sorry," she gasps out between sobs. "I'm so sorry, I should have been more careful, I should have—"
"Stop." I pull back just enough to look at her face. "This is not your fault. None of this is your fault."
"But I was so stupid. I went with them. They said they were security from the casino, that there'd been a problem with my takings and they needed me to come verify some information. And I just... I believed them." Fresh tears stream down her face. "I got in their car like an idiot and they…"
"You trusted people who pretended to be trustworthy. That's not stupid. That's being human." I wipe her tears with my thumbs. "They're the monsters. Not you."
"I was so scared." Her voice breaks. "Every day I thought... I thought I was going to die. Or worse. Some of those other women, Laney, the things they were planning to do to us…" Her eyes are wide and disbelieving, like if she hadn’t been there she would have never thought it possible.
"I know. But you're all safe now. You're safe and you're alive and I'm not letting you out of my sight ever again."
She laughs through her tears, watery but genuine. "You can't protect me forever."
"Watch me."
We sit there for a while, just holding each other. My twin. My other half. The person I've known longer than anyone else in the world.
"I need to ask you something," Laurie says finally, pulling back to look at me. "And I need you to be honest."
"Okay."
"Are you really okay? I know you're being strong for me, but..." She searches my face. "You just went through hell too. Running into a warehouse, hiding in a container while people fired guns all around us. And whatever else happened while you were looking for me. I’m really not sure what to make of this Yakov guy either…"
"I know." I frown, Laurie always had a way of getting right to the point. I think about how to explain it. How do you explain that a stranger you met less than 6 hours ago has had such a profound effect on you?
