It feels like my sibling has died, and she somewhat has.
“Saint told us,” she whispers, her hand reaching out to clasp my forearm, running her thumb against the skin.
I drag in a lungful of air. “I don’t kn-know what to do.”
I don’t even feel in control of my body. My composure can’t slot itself into place, like I’ve swapped the key out and it won’t jam into the grooves.
My heart won’t stop fucking racing, and I don’t know how much longer I can keep the tears burning behind my eyes at bay.
“We’ll figure it out. We always do.”
I glance up at her, and thankfully there isn’t a trace of pity in her eyes; she looks as devastated as I feel. Regina was always by my side as a kid, and wherever Lousia went, so did we.
I now know the reason she distanced herself from us wasn’t because she got aboyfriend.
“I’m so fucking mad at myself.” A hiccup breaks my stride in forming solid words. “I looked at their police files. I should have trusted my instincts,” I admit quietly.
An admission I’ve found myself chanting over and over in my head for the last six years. Those dark days were exactly that.
A distrust followed me around for years. The only two people I could truly count on were Regina and my mom, never having a single flicker of doubts when it came to them.
Saint was no longer in the picture, otherwise he would have made up the third.
For my own sanity, I checked their names with Regina’s software, never saw anything that could have implicated them in wrongdoing.
Now I know why.
They both wielded the same power as the Montgomerys.
A shudder rakes through my bones at the thoughts of what they’ve both been capable of doing.
My face screws up tightly at the potential crimes Louisa has on her hands.
Has she committed any? Or has she merely been conditioned to follow, turning a blind eye at the horrors.
If that’s the case, she’s just as fucking compliant, and all the bullshit she spewed on her podiums has been a performance to hide her from the serpent she really is.
“You didn’t know; you can’t blame yourself for this. Look how easily they’ve all been hidden the entire time,” Regina says as she pulls me towards her.
The minute her arms capture me in hers, I break.
The sobs keep rolling, my bones keep shaking, and the pain?
It burns me alive.
After what feels like forever, when the tears finally dehydrate me, we break apart.
She gives me a faint smile, brushing the flyaway hair that’s glued to my face through the drying tears. “One of Saint’s people has contacted someone, a doctor of some sort, to come look over…Jenna.”
My muscles lock up. “Have you seen her?”
I feel her nod. “When they brought her in, I almost fell over on the spot. Dawson told me to stay so they could explain everything.” She inhales deeply, gaze dropping between us. “I can’t believe she’s alive.”
Our best friendisalive.
Well, though? That’s to be determined.
I don’t want to let my mind dwell into the horrors she’s suffered all the time she’s been away from us.
