Page 125 of The Girl in the River

Anxious to thank her, she answered the door.

Ellie stood there with a smile on her face. “Hey, Mia. How are you?”

“Good. Better now Pixie’s with me and safe,” she said. “And since I saw Mark.”

Sympathy softened Ellie’s eyes. “How did that go?”

“He’s forgiven me,” she said softly. “I can’t believe it. I’m so lucky to have him.”

“He’s lucky too.” Ellie shuffled from one foot to the other. “There’s something else, Mia. Something you need to know.”

Mia crinkled her forehead. “What? Did Mr. Moon get away? Has he hired a lawyer about Pixie?”

“No, he’s going away for a long time. And he won’t have any hold on Pixie, not after what he’s done.”

“Thank God,” Mia murmured, breathing more easily.

Ellie turned and glanced at her Jeep. The car doors opened and a man and woman got out of the back seat. A woman with long brown hair and the sweetest face Mia had ever seen. A man with his arm around her, their faces eager. Faces she hadn’t seen in five years. Faces she never thought she’d see again.

Shock stole her breath. She couldn’t believe it.

Her heart thundered as she soaked in the sight. Her sister and husband Seth… They were alive.

“Mia?”

“Jo-Jo,” Mia gasped.

Heart hammering, she ran toward her sister and Jo-Jo raced to her. They hugged and laughed and swung each other around just like they had as kids.

ONE HUNDRED SIXTY-EIGHT

Once they’d hugged and cried for a minute, Ellie followed Jo-Jo, her husband and Mia inside. “I don’t understand,” Mia said. “How is this happening? Kevin showed me your obituary.”

They seated themselves in the living room and Jo-Jo clasped her husband’s hand. “I’m sorry, Mia. We wanted to contact you all these years and let you know we were alive but it was too dangerous for all of us. Including you.”

Mia swallowed hard. “I’m so sorry, sis. All this time I thought you were safe, still living in your house and that you were okay.”

Emotions flickered in Jo-Jo’s eyes. “It’s not your fault, Mia. One of Moon’s goons came looking for you and threatened us. We did what we had to do to protect all of us from that man and his family. I know how dangerous he was.”

“You warned me from the start,” Mia said, her voice catching. “I should have listened.”

“I understand, you just wanted to find out what happened to Mom and Dad,” Jo-Jo said softly. “When you called that night before the wedding about Kevin, and we came up with a plan to help you fake your death, I started having nightmares. Memories of when we were kids with Mom and Dad.”

Mia nibbled on her lower lip. “What did you remember?”

“Mom and Dad owned a little restaurant in Red River Rock, but they were having financial troubles and accepted a loan from the Moons,” Jo-Jo said. “When they couldn’t pay it off, Mr. Moon told Mama she had to pay her debt by working at the sewing factory.”

“That fits,” Mia said, a faraway look in her eyes. “I remember sneaking in and watching the women sewing. But Mom didn’t look happy.”

Sadness colored Jo-Jo’s face. “She wasn’t. They still wanted more from her. When I turned eleven, they told her I had to work at the factory, too.”

Mia gaped at her. “But you were only a child.”

“They didn’t care,” Jo-Jo said. “I remember hearing their conversation. They threatened to make me stay at the sweat shop if she talked.”

“Oh, my God,” Mia muttered under her breath.

Jo-Jo nodded. “It was awful and I was so scared. Mama said she’d never make me do that. That’s why they tried to leave with us the night they died.”

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