She shook her head and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “The man after me knew where the safe house was, and he attacked the place they moved me to. That was where Jason got shot.”
My brother’s eyes widened.
He hadn’t known exactly what had caused the injury, although he assumed it was from violence. He spoke again in German—his was always better than mine—but that made sense. It was his native language, whereas I had learned English first.
“You were shot?” he asked. “Are you okay?”
“It hurt. It still hurts, but yeah,” I responded in German. I could tell Laurel wanted to know what was being said, so I switched back to English. “Can we not talk about this?”
“Fine.” The concern for me drained away and he focused on her. “Do you have siblings, L? And if so, are they as irritating as my younger brother?”
“I have an older sister.”
His eyes lit up. “Do you?”
She didn’t miss a beat. “Sorry, she’s married.”
“No, she’s not,” I said.
She froze. “What?”
Shit.I swallowed hard. “There’s a record that she filed for divorce a few months ago. Sorry. I thought you knew.”
“No.” She looked sad, but also sort of relieved, like perhaps she hadn’t liked her former brother-in-law. “Like I said, we haven’t talked in a while.”
Her statement hung for a long moment.
“What happened there?” Shawn asked softly.
She looked like she wasn’t sure how to answer that, but then she reached beneath her and pulled out a stool. Anxiety ringed her eyes as she sat beside him, her hands woven together and resting on the countertop.
“Our mom had cancer. Kara wanted her to keep fighting, to not give up, but...” Laurel was eerily emotionless, like she’d cried so hard that there were no more tears left. She’d used up all her emotions. “There was no winning, nothing left to fight, and it’s brutal at the end. Mom just wanted it over.” Her gaze settled on the stone counter. “She gave me medical power of attorney, and that was that. Mom had chosen me over her.”
I swallowed thickly. I knew a little what that was like, didn’t I? Shawn shifted uncomfortably on his stool and refused to meet my gaze.
“At least, that’s how Kara saw it,” she continued. “I haven’t seen her since the funeral.”
“When was that?” he asked.
Her shoulders tensed. “Six years ago.”
“That was a while ago,” I said.
“Yeah, well, she said some pretty hateful things that are still good and fresh in my mind.” She rose abruptly from her seat, and instinctively Shawn did as well. Our mother had taught us to respect women and be gentlemen, even though neither of us were much good at it these days.
“Thank you for letting us stay,” she said. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to take a shower.”
Shawn nodded and probably had more to say, but she was gone before he could get the words out. I moved to follow her, but angry German came flying at me.
“You’re fucking witnesses now?” he demanded. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I told you,” I turned to face him, “it’s not like that.”
His expression was condescending. “Oh, so I didn’t see you put your hand inside her underwear, and I didn’t hear you say you couldn’t keep your hands off of her?”
My shoulders slumped. “Fuck. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing,” I admitted. “I’m going to lose my job, and it’s like... it’s like, I can’t fucking stop myself.”
The house was quiet. I wanted my brother to disappear so I could get back to the illusion that there’d be no consequences and Laurel wasn’t being hunted by the same man who’d killed my partner.
