Page 181 of Nocere

"It is. Who's your favorite?"

"Agatha Christie. I've reread almost everything she wrote. Well, until I had Sebastian. Now I'm an avid follower of Dr. Seuss."

"Uck. I hate those books." I smirked while fiddling with a tear in my jeans.

"Sebastian loves them." Juni sat cross-legged as we turned to face each other on the bed. "What did you want to talk about alone?"

"My m—our mother." I pulled a pillow into my lap and held it close to my stomach. Because I hadn't known her all that long, looking her straight in the eye intimidated me a little. I still hadn't wrapped my brain around the fact that she was my sister at all.

"About why you hate her?" she asked, her voice soft while her fingers traced a pattern in the quilt between us.

"When did you talk to her last?"

"A few days after she got out of jail. We met for coffee and she filled in some gaps about how and why I was adopted," she said, folding her hands in her lap as if attempting not to fidget.

"Did she say anything about me?" I glanced to the door, aching for the comfort of Sam's arms or the solace of Rebecca's taking control when I felt vulnerable.

She nodded, drawing in a breath. "That she was using heavily back then and your grandmother was awarded custody of you until she died."

"Nothing else?"

Juni shook her head. "No. Other than she loves you and has a lot of regret."

"She can be really manipulative, Juni…" I ran my fingers through my hair and drew my attention from the door back to her. "She's not just a recovering addict. She has a personality disorder and a serious one."

"Why do you say that?" Juni's brow furrowed under her side-swept bangs.

"Because of what she did to me. And the fact she didn't tell you." I pulled the sleeves of my sweater over my hands and dropped my gaze for a moment. "I don't want to upset you."

"I can handle it." Juni placed her hands on top of mine. "What did she do?"

I stared at her hands, delicate and small like mine, save for the glistening rock protruding from her left ring finger. Her caution and gentility offered some comfort, but I feared that finding out the truth would hurt her. Starting out our new sisterhood on the precipice of harm wasn't where I wanted us to begin.

"Do you know why she was in prison?" I let a single finger wrap around hers as the swell of emotion tightened my throat. I hadn't clutched onto a blood relative in almost twenty years. In her eyes, the flecked areas of darker blue in her irises reminded me of our grandmother. Did she know she looked like her?

"Trafficking and selling drugs," she answered, though the shimmer in her eyes told me of the question that lay beneath.

"Selling drugs, yes. But not drug trafficking. Human trafficking." I remembered Sam's reaction to my reveal and rushed my way through this disclosure. "Because she trafficked me in exchange for drugs. She got arrested when Rebecca's team found out. That's how I met Rebecca. She saved me."

"Wait…" Juni's eyes widened as the horror struck her. "She trafficked you?"

"Yes. In exchange for drugs or money. And she's on the sex offender registry because of it, because she was present once or twice. I have an order of protection against her. The fact she didn't tell you this, Juni, scares me. Don't let her manipulate you. Don't let her near Sebastian." When I said his name, tears finally broke through the walls I tried to rapidly cement around my emotions. "You can't trust her."

"She did that to you?" Juni's expression crumbled and thick tears tumbled down her cheeks as her hands squeezed mine.

I nodded and gulped down the knot in my throat that I continued to fight. "You can't trust her. She's not just a person with an addiction who has regrets. She's a person whose character pathology runs deeper than we could ever understand. Okay?" At that point, I lost my composure and she sobbed.

"Can I hug you, Rosie?" she croaked, holding her arms open to me. I nodded, and she scooted closer to wrap me in a hug. With trembling arms, I returned her embrace. "I'm so sorry," she whispered against my shoulder. "I wished I'd known the truth earlier."

"I'm glad it didn't happen to you." I gulped down my sob and squeezed her. "I'm glad you got adopted and had a safe life."

"I wish I could've met you sooner." She leaned back, firmly gripping my shoulders.

"You make a lot of wishes." I sniffled and swiped at my eyes with my sweater.

"I do that when I'm sad," she said, a smirk tugging the corner of her mouth. "I'm sorry, Rosie. I don't know you very well or for very long, but I know I care about you a lot already."

"Thank you." Her words made me smile a little. "I care about you, too. Can I tell you something that I think is good?"

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