Page 92 of Darkness Falls

I take a step back. I need to create some space between us. "My parents. Their real names were Elizabeth and Martin Stone. I swear I didn't know. They didn't tell me anything about their connection to Rogue until I met with Reese after Damien killed them. She's a lawyer, and our parents helped her mom escape Rogue. I guess she felt indebted to them and promised to relay everything to me if anything ever happened to them."

"I'm sorry. You're going to have to say that again. Did you just say your parent's real names were Elizabeth and Martin? That's..." she trails off. Her eyes are wide, and her mouth hangs open, full of shock and disbelief.

"We're sisters, Callie."

Her hand comes up tocover her mouth before she looks back at me with tear-filled eyes. "Sisters?"

"When my parents, I meanourparents, died, they left a letter behind. It explained everything from how they went into hiding from a secret society named Rogue because the leader burned their house down and killed their first child, my sister, you. They didn't know I already knew about Rogue and what you told me."

"They thought I died?"

"Yes. They thought you were caught in the house fire. When Rogue assumed they were dead, they just let the world believe it so they could start over. They changed their names to Sage and Stanley Pierce and never looked back. When Mom got pregnant with me, she put a few things into a box. Apparently, it has proof about who I am and my connection to Rogue if I ever wanted to find the place."

"What sort of proof?" she asks, still trying to process this. She's taking it much better than I thought she would.

"I don't know. I didn't get a chance to look inside. Damien grabbed me when I got home from sneaking out of Reese's house after sleeping with her. It was…”

"Wait? You what?"

"That's not the point. We're sisters, and our parents are dead. You could have met them, and I'm sorry I didn't make it happen. Maybe if they had seen you, they would have known who youwere, and everything could have been different." Tears blur my vision, but Callie shakes my hands.

"Avery, we're sisters?" Callie questions once again. "Full-blooded sisters?"

"Yes," I say with trepidation.

She wraps her arms around me again, squeezing so tightly I'm afraid she might break something. "I knew you were different from that first day you found me crying in that alley."

"We always joked that in a past life, we were related. I guess it's not a past life."

She pulls back and looks at me, her face twisting with a mixture of joy and pain. "How did they die?"

I go over exactly what Damien told me, how he cut brake lines in the car and then stabbed our father. She winces when I tell her Damien followed them through every single stop sign and waited for our mother to crash the car. I watch her face intently as I go through the details, and she stays silent, listening and soaking up every word.

My father had to be in so much pain and so scared. I'm thankful they died on impact in the car, but it doesn’t make this any easier. Damien would have tortured them if they lived. I think about how they were likely holding hands, and I can’t stop crying. They always held hands. My mom was probably telling him that everything was going to be okay, and my dad was likely more worried about her.

"I want to tell you about them, but it hurts too much right now," I admit.

"That's okay. I don't blame you, and I'm not upset with you. I'velived my whole life without knowing them, so I can't grieve something I never had. I'm more concerned about you and whether or not you're okay. You lost two of the most important people to you. Whenever you're ready to talk, I'll be here to listen as your best friend and sister."

I push her away in a joking manner and smile. "That is seriously so weird."

"It makes sense, though."

"Does it? We’re so different. You refuse to date women, and you don't have nearly enough color in your wardrobe." I smile at her.

"Excuse me, I've got three men. I think I'm covered." She laughs and grabs my hand.

"Wait, all three now?" My eyes go wide. "Did you bang the grumpy one too?"

We both burst into laughter at the same time and hug each other again. I push her back and nod to the car. "Okay, let's see what your boyfriends have to say about this. Kyler knows already. I couldn't resist telling him."

"They're going to be just as excited as I am. You were already family, Avery. The only thing that's changed is the fact that we share the same blood."

I take a deep breath, relieved that things went the way that they did, and slide back into the car. My word vomit gets the best of me before I can stop myself. "Callie is my actual sister. My real parents were her bio parents. They thought she died in the fire that Rogue thought they diedin. Spoiler, they lived, changed their names, and had me, but Damien killed them before he kidnapped me. Okay, we’re all caught up now."

I look over at Callie to see her close her eyes and shake her head. Barrett whips around from the passenger seat and wrinkles his nose at us. It's like my words are slowly seeping into his brain, and he hasn't fully figured out what to say yet. Sebastian sighs and turns to look at us. He looks back and forth between the two of us before his eyes settle on me.

"If I'm going to be expected to make sure you don't end up in someone's basement again, you're going to have to learn to have better situational awareness." Barrett sighs.

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