Hanna’s watching me for a reaction to Connor’s yelling. She is unsure whether she should cry. Gently, I smile. “I’m sorry,” I say to the adults. “Truly.” I have a feeling it would offend Connor greatly if I didn’t admit it. I think he’s trying to help me, and I have to let him and not deny what he already knows.
Connor assesses me. “You’re not even going to try to deny it?”
“You wouldn’t have said anything if you didn’t know my secret. I’m so sorry. I was afraid. I’m…I’m still afraid.”
“What is your name?” Dina asks.
“It’s Renne.”
Dina smiles even when she cries. “That fits.”
“House, come in,” the man calls from the walkie-talkie.
“House here,” Dec answers. “How many cars?”
“One.”
“Is it just my uncles?”
“No, there’s a woman with them.”
“Who is the woman?” Connor asks.
The man takes a moment to answer. “Endo’s wife.”
Connor looks at Declan.
“She’s a doctor, isn’t she?” Dina says. “Between her and…and Renne, they can do your stitches. Can you not stay? Declan, please, what is going on?”
“I’m in witness protection, Dina.”
Dina’s eyes widen. “A witness?” She looks around. “Did you know?” she asks Declan.
“We found out recently. The thing is, the crime lord she’s being protected from is my uncle Cass, who’s at the gate. Since my uncles came unannounced, I assume he recognized her from the picture I leaked, asking about her identity.”
“Why would you do that?” Dina asks.
“Whoever knows about her will come forward, and we can take care of them. My uncle was kidnapped that night on the yacht. After it sank, a man named Daniel Pembroke grabbed him. But all you saw was my uncle shooting back and successfully eliminating his captors. We didn’t know there were witnesses.”
“He murdered people in cold blood.”
“Daniel Pembroke, who is paying the cops to keep you with us, arranged the meeting on the yacht, and they attacked my uncle with all those civilians around. A shootout broke out. People died because Pembroke placed them there as distractions.”
“Endo is getting impatient,” the guard at the entrance says. “He might storm the gate.”
“Tell him he can come in, then wait one minute before you open the gate.”
“Say goodbye to Renne, Dina,” Connor says.
“You know I’m leaving?” I ask.
“I know everything.”
Dina cries hard when she hugs me. I’m crying too, and Hanna joins us, until the three of us are an absolute mess. And I have to go.
Dina removes her earrings and closes my fists around them. “So you can remember me.”
“I don’t need earrings to remember you, my friend.”
