Page 74 of The Hard Way

I swallowed past the lump in my throat. It was so Vanessa to do that.

“Kaitlin has nightmares about it. What the fuck!”

“It was for your safety.”

“How is that for our safety? We’re struggling out here! Do you know what’s happening?”

“Of course I do. It’s why I’m here.”

She looked over at Odin then. “Didyoumake her stay away? Do you know that she has sisters who need her? Do you have any idea?”

“It’s not him, Vanessa. I had to.”

“She didn’t want to stay away,” Odin said. “It was the hardest thing she ever did. I promise, she did it for you.”

“How is her fake death for us? How in the world does it help us to lose our sister?”

“It keeps you safe,” he said. “It was the only way.”

“I call bullshit,” Vanessa said.

I loved her for saying that. For that spark she still had.

I took a deep breath and explained about what happened. I told her about being in the robbery and staying around with the guys. How I’d wanted to escape from the farm, it was true, though I’d never intended to stay away them forever. But my guys’ powerful enemies realized I was important to them. They even tried to kill me. “These are really dangerous people, Vanessa. They would think nothing of using me to bring them down. And if they knew I was connected to you and Candace and Kaitlin, they would use you. They would hurt you to get to us, to get us out of hiding. You could die.”

Vanessa regarded me uncertainly, eyes bleary with unshed tears.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t want to walk in that front door,” I said, voice cracking. “Not one day. Not one hour barely. But it’s not safe.”

She tightened her hands around mine. “We miss you so much.”

There weren’t words. I shook my head. “But I read about the outbreak, and we couldn’t stay away. It’s such bullshit.”

She brightened. “That insurance investigator who came…is he your friend?”

“How did you know?” I asked.

“I don’t know, he seemed like he believed us. Nobody else believes us. And he just seemed…like your people.”

“He’s very much my people,” I said.

She narrowed her eyes. “Who are these enemies? The police?”

“Just…really bad people.” Luckily Odin took up explaining that part, using vague terms. An international agency, he called them. A powerful organization that they once thought was a force for good. But it turned out to be evil. It was a lot to swallow. He went into specifics where he could.

“Can’t you sneak back? Come for Easter. It would mean so much. Especially now…with everything.”

“Vanessa, these people are incredibly dangerous.”

She hugged her arms around her chest. “I don’t know what to say.”

“I know you probably hate me,” I said, confessing my worst fear—that she and the girls would hate me.

“How could we hate you?”

“I jaunted off with robbers—”

“You’re my sister,” she hissed. “I’ll never hate you. I love you.”

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