Page 17 of Fearless Sinner

The click of the front door makes me straighten and I’m yanked from my thoughts.

Footsteps echo on the floorboards, piercing through the silence that has settled over the house.

I push to my feet and prepare to face whoever it may be. My heart is hammering so hard against my ribs I fear they may crack.

The kitchen door swings open and when I find myself standing face to face with Roxanne, something I can’t describe spreads across my heart.

It feels like warmth and confusion. Sadness and happiness. Hurt and healing.

She walks into the kitchen and her expression is like everything I feel.

Roxanne is four years older than me, but she’s hardly changed in the last three years. We always looked similar enough for people to mistake us for sisters, and we never corrected them because at one point we wanted to be sisters.

I think she must remember that part about us, too, because a pained look flashes in her eyes and she rushes forward to hug me.

“My God, you’re really here,” Roxanne speaks into my hair, holding me tighter.

“I am.” I hold her the same way.

The feelings that swell through me for having my cousin hold me like this are indescribable. I didn’t realize just how much I missed her until now.

“It’s so good to see you.” She releases me and looks me over.

“Do you know about Mom?”

She dips her head and when she lifts it tears are in her eyes. “I know. I should have stayed but I thought that no-good husband of hers would have done right by her.”

There’s my answer—that no good husband.

“Roxanne, what happened?”

“Everything.”

“Tell me what happened. When I got here yesterday there were a bunch of mafia men waiting in the living room. They were armed.”

Her hands fly to her cheeks. “Oh Jesus. Are you okay?”

“Yes. I’m okay. They were looking for Harlan.”

Her chest caves. “Then everything is so much worse than I thought. Come, let’s sit and talk.”

She guides me back to the chair and we sit together.

“Harlan is… he’s a con artist, Chloe.” She brings a trembling hand to her head, then wipes away a wayward tear. “He’s taken all your mother’s money. Everything from the restaurant is gone, all her savings gone. Everything is gone.”

Earlier, when I thought about misery loving company, I never thought the problem would be anything like this. I suspected it was bad. Bad enough to warrant mafia guys in the living room. But I hoped that maybe there was some money left.

“Everything, Roxanne?” My voice is barely there as I speak.

“Yeah. Your mom found out days ago when a debt collection agency called her.” She wipes away another tear. “And the worst thing is, Harlan fooled her into getting a loan for a quarter million. They put up the house and restaurant as collateral. I was here when she found out he spent all that money. He spent it on prostitutes, drugs, and gambled the rest away. They were supposed to build another branch of the restaurant in Chicago, but that was just a clever ruse.”

“No wonder Mom had a heart attack.”

“Yeah. I could see it coming. She’s been sick with her heart since last year.”

That saddens me even more. The weight of guilt pulls me down and I feel like I’m going to go through the earth.

I stand to try and fight the feeling but it doesn’t stop the tears from falling.

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