“Believe me, I protested. I told him it’s not happening.”
“And why do I feel like it didn’t matter?”
“Because it didn’t,” I have to confess, making her gasp. “But you don’t understand. He had something to offer in exchange. I couldn’t say no. I couldn’t. Because…”
I can barely make myself believe it. I’m almost afraid to say it out loud, like saying it out loud will ruin something. Is it true? Can it be? “Because my sister didn’t die the day our parents did. According to Gabriel and the photos he showed us, she’s been alive all this time. He offered information on Laura in exchange for Mariella. Once she turns eighteen. But I swear to you, Aurora. He will not get her. I’m going to find a way to protect her.”
All she does is stare at me, mouth hanging open, eyes unblinking.
While I wait to find out whether I’ve broken us beyond the point of repair.
33
AURORA
Ican’t believe this. My brain literally won’t accept what I’m hearing.
And I don’t know which part to figure out first.
The part where his sister is still alive.
Or the part where mine has to take my place.
The worst is the way Liam stares down at me. Almost holding his breath, like he’s waiting on pins and needles for my reaction. I’m not sure which of my emotions to show him. The outrage at some murdering thug treating me and my sister like pieces of meat to buy and sell? The fear for her safety? The shock of hearing there’s a girl out there who actually lived through the blood-soaked games these men play?
“Why is it like this?” I ask in a whisper. It’s all so hard to believe. “Using people. Trading them.”
“That’s how it’s done by some people, in some places.” I don’t like the way he’s looking at me. Like he’s trying to see inside my head. “What are you thinking? I swear, I told him he can’t have her, but that was before he told me about?—”
I cut him off, shaking my head. He’s obviously in hell right now. Caught between wanting to be excited about his sister andbeing stricken and worried over mine. And over how I’ll react. I can read it all over him. “I understand. I really do. And I’m happy for you,” I tell him, because I am. That’s not a lie. “You can have your sister back after all this time. You said he was going to give you information?”
His hands shake a little as he slides them down my arms. “I have no doubt Nick is looking through it right now—he has the login credentials for my laptop.” Meanwhile, Liam is practically chomping at the bit, desperate to get in there with him.
“I trust you’re going to do your best for my sister.” That was the right choice of words, including trust. I can feel how glad he is to hear that. Some of the worry written across his face smooths out, eases back.
“You forgive me?”
“I don’t have anything to forgive.” Then I jerk my head toward the hallway. “Come on. Let’s see what Gabriel sent.”
This is exciting, really. The thought that Laura has been alive all these years. I wonder where she’s been and why she wasn’t able to reach out to him somehow. I sense Liam’s excitement, and along with that how hard he’s trying not to get his hopes up too high. He’s working like hell to hold himself back, to not rush into it the way Nick did. His hands clench and unclench as we walk down the hall together.
Nick is standing behind the desk, like he didn’t even take the time to sit before going through Liam’s email. “I sent a bunch of documents to the printer,” he announces without looking away from the screen. “This is unreal. Unbelievable.”
Liam goes to the printer and pulls a small handful of pages from the tray. “There’s a message here,” he murmurs, scanning the contents.
“There are videos, too.” Nick is barely breathing, leaning over the laptop like he’s going to devour it. Liam and I join him before he plays the first of them.
Liam is barely breathing, either, standing still as a statue once the video starts rolling. Nick lets out a strangled groan. “There she is.” He says it with wonder, with disbelief.
The girl on the screen is young, pretty, with a strong resemblance to the man whose hand I now hold. There’s no sound. There’s only footage of her kicking and punching what looks like a foam dummy. She’s awkward, choppy wearing sweats that are much too big for her.
“This is from not too long after the explosion,” Liam murmurs, pointing to the timestamp at the top corner. “Only a few months.”
“And there are dozens of these videos,” Nick adds. “Like they were… training her?”
“It looks like that’s exactly what they did.” Liam hands Nick one of the pages. “It’s a timeline. He knew we would do this. Gabriel, that is. He had all of this information prepared.”
“She goes by the name of Ivy now.” Nick slowly lowers himself into Liam’s chair, staring at the page like he can’t understand the words on it. “She… has no memory of anything that happened before she was found in the water.”
