Page 148 of Forbidden Protector

The rest is a blur of red and blonde and dripping.

Whatisthat dripping?

“Her heart rate is spiking.”

“Roisin? Can you hear me?”

It’s not a drip. It’s a beep. And it’s getting faster.

“Roisin?”

I know that voice; that’s my sister’s voice. Aimee is here. She came back.

My heart becomes so full I think it might just burst out of my chest. Never in my life have I ever felt so relieved that she’s here. I know, deep in my soul, that everything is going to be okay. Even if it’s not, really. As long as she’s there, I know we’ll work through anything.

The beeping begins to speed up.

Because that’s what we’ve always done. We’ve worked together through all the highs and lows. She looked after me in my worst moments and I tried to keep her fed through her medical degree, offer her a smile and a joke when she seemed overwhelmed. Small kindnesses that will never make up for everything she’s ever done for me. Sacrificed for me.

I hoped one day I might be able to show her, tell her just how much it means that she never left my side all that time.

How that made it hurt so much worse when she did leave.

“Roisin, please. I need you.”

Her broken voice echoes through me, stirring a memory from long ago.

“Roisin, please. I need you.”

I count the lamplights as we pass by. They twinkle like stars in the night sky.

“Stay with me.”

I don’t know when Aimee got here. I don’t know how I ended up in her car, but the lamplights are pretty and I know I’m safe now.

“I’m taking you away from that place.”

She means home. I can still smell the rotting floorboards. I was lying there for a long time. I never want to go back.

“I know. I’ll never make you go back.”

My mouth feels like sandpaper. “Do you promise?”

“I promise.”

Aimee…

All this time, she was just trying to keep her promise to me. To protect me.

I get it now: why she wanted me to stay away from this life so desperately. It has done nothing but chew me up and spit me back out. If I had the choice now, I would never have suggested we come back to New York.

But then I would have never reconnected with my family, never learned the truth about their legacy. I would never have met Arnie.

The beeping sound gets faster and faster.

“She’s crying. Aisha, she’s crying.”

And in many ways, everything that has happened to me, all the pain, the betrayal, and the suffering… Might have been worth it to find Arnie.

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