Page 118 of Forged By Sacrifice

She pulled away from her mom, turned off the TV, and looked at me.

“What happened with you last night?”

I shook my head, unable to talk about it in the apartment. She nodded, as if understanding. “Mac mentioned we might not want to talk here. I have friends coming to do pest control later.”

Pest control. My eyes widened at her as she stepped away. Bugs. They were going to sweep for bugs.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, guilt coursing over me again. The fact that they were having to debug their home because of me. It was driving me slightly crazy that Petya’s lifestyle and Malik’s screw-up were causing the Whittakers more headaches than they needed right now.

“Honestly, I usually have it done once or twice a year,” Dani told me.

My mouth dropped. “What?”

She smiled. “Working at the Capitol and the Pentagon has its downsides. You wouldn’t believe what people will do to get ahead on a bill or in an election. Ask Mom. We kind of grew up with it. With Dad and Granddad being pretty high up the food chain, our cars, homes, offices, and phones usually get a regular cleanup.”

Clare was nodding, but I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t sure I was prepared for this kind of life—wiretaps, and secret agencies, and sedans parked down the street.

“Where’s Mac?” I asked.

“He went with Dad to make more threats, I’m sure.” She shrugged.

“That’s not at all what they said they were doing,” Clare responded.

“That’s just because they didn’t want me to know they were going all manly-man, protecting their weaker female family members.”

I snorted, waving at the TV. “I guarantee you, that proves, without a doubt, that you are not the weaker family member.”

Dani’s face wavered for the first time that morning. “But I had to call Mac to come get me.”

“You did the right thing,” Clare said.

“You called someone you cared about to come get you. That just happened to be your brother,” I told her. She nodded. We all sat in silence for a few moments. So much that couldn’t be said. So much that neither Dani nor I wanted to discuss. “I’m going to go shower. I’ll be back out in a few minutes.”

I stood in the shower for a long time, trying to wash away the stench that had attached to me from the night before. But I knew, without a doubt, what I’d faced was nothing compared to what Dani had faced.

When I came back out, Mac, his dad, and two strange men had joined Dani and her mom. Mac was handing one of the men my phone. The guy took my phone to the counter and had it opened in two seconds. He looked it over, closed it back up, and handed it back to Mac.

“Nothing there, but they really don’t need it these days. Could be tapped through the cloud, and you’d never know. Get a burner if you’re worried,” he said. Then, the two strange men left.

Mac saw me for the first time. He crossed the room, pulled me into his arms, and said, “You’re looking better this morning.”

I nodded. “Do you really think I need a burner?”

Mac and his dad exchanged a look.

“What?” I asked.

“Only if you want to talk with your sister about what happened. If it’s just your normal conversation, you shouldn’t need it,” his dad said.

My insides tightened. Mac had told his dad what had happened. And even though not a single one of them was treating me any different than they had from the moment they met me, I couldn’t help the shame that welled up inside me. It made me angry. Angry at both the shame and my family. I’d always been determined not to feel embarrassed because of who my family was, and yet, standing in front of this man and his family that I ached to be a part of like I’d never ached for anything before, it hit me like it never had.

I rubbed my forehead; a headache was forming that I knew wasn’t going to dislodge anytime soon. The truth filled me. I needed to get out of their apartment and their life. These beautiful people would never turn away from me. They would never walk out just because of my family, but I wouldn’t let mine drag down theirs. I couldn’t live with myself if I did.

? ? ?

Mac and I didn’t have much time alone the rest of the weekend. His family was in and out of the apartment. By the time Mac and his dad had gotten back to the apartment, Dani had made the decision to go to the D.C. police and lodge a formal complaint. After that, we all watched the fall of Senator Fenway’s career on the TV as every station, political or not, was overflowing with it.

Dani was interviewed, handling it with a grace that reminded me of my sister in the backseat of Theresa’s car, saying she knew not to talk. Raisa shouldn’t have had to deal with that any more than Dani should have had to deal with talking about being attacked by a man, or I should have had to deal with invoking Fourth Amendment rights to ensure the safety of my sister and myself.

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