Page 64 of Banshee
Diana, however… when he found out what George Stone did, not only to my sister, but to her children. Well, that would be a problem. The Silver Shadows were aligned with the Soulless Sinners. Not only now through Bane being Mimic’s father, but also Pippen and Amber. Amber was family. Also, there was Melissa. Pippen and Melissa shared a child. Danika.
Melissa wasn’t Dani’s biological mother, but Pippen and Sypher had made her Dani’s mom when they left her in Melissa’s care. And with Melissa being Gunner’s baby sister and Ghost’s old lady, well, the Silver Shadows and the Soulless Sinners were connected.
My father would have to make a choice. I knew what choice he would make. Even if I were still living with Pepper, still the willing wife of a Death Dog, my father would always choose Diana over me.
“You ready to head downstairs?”
“No.”
“Baby girl.” Banshee sat up, bringing me with him. “You have family downstairs. Diana is not to blame for what your father did.”
I pulled away from him. “I don’t blame Diana.”
“Don’t you?” he asked. My eyes dropped to the sheet between us. Maybe I did. But not because I thought she was responsible. I knew it wasn’t her fault, but if she’d just stayed home. If she hadn’t demanded to go away to school, she wouldn’t have disappeared for twenty years and ruined our family.
Ruined my life.
“I don’t blame her. But maybe I blame her actions.”
“Maybe you need to talk to Haizley a little more before you talk to your sister,” he suggested.
I shook my head. “No, I know what Haizley will say. I am entitled to feel the way I do, but putting the blame on anyone other than Pepper for my being hurt isn’t productive. He isresponsible for his actions. Diana was entitled to live her life the way she chose. She had no way of knowing how it would affect ours. Dominoes fall; there is no way to stop them.”
Haizley and I’d had this conversation many times already. I wanted to scream at my sister. I wanted to force her to accept her part in the way my life had spiraled. But that wasn’t fair to her. Especially now that I knew her life had also been hell. She hadn’t abandoned us to live a carefree life.
She had been separated from her husband. Abducted and locked away. Her children taken from her. Her life had been worse than mine, and that was the crux of the problem.
I was feeling guilty.
For years I had hated her. Hated her for disappearing. For being the good daughter. The favored daughter. The daughter that was never forgotten. It wasn’t her fault.
It was my father’s.
I waited in my room while Banshee sought out Diana. He’d offered to find her and bring her here so we could talk in private. I paced the room, anxious about hearing everything she’d been through. Anxious about telling her everything she’d missed in the time she was gone.
The soft knock felt more like a sonic boom, and I froze in place. I stared at the door until another, firmer knock broke me out of my fear.
I opened the door and there she was. She looked older, but still the same. Her blonde hair was a shade darker than it had been, and I unconsciously reached for my own. I’d dyed it religiously since leaving the hospital and coming to Diamond Creek.
Her eyes were the same—the color of my father’s favorite whiskey. The lines etched around them were new. They spoke of a life lived hard.
Alone.
Afraid.
She’d lost everything, and yet, she stood here in my doorway smiling at me. Happy to see me after all these years.
“May I come in?”
“Oh, yes.” I stepped back, holding the door open wide enough for her to pass through. She looked around the room, her eyes catching on the small pillow on the bed.
“You still have it.”
I read the words embroidered on the pillow.Chance made us sisters; Hearts made us friends.
“No, I had a new one made.”
She turned to look at me, tears in her eyes.
