Chapter 3
The sound of my voice on her lips broke something inside me.
I crossed the room in three steps and dropped to my knees in front of her.
“Anna,” I sobbed, reaching for her.
She flinched.
Actually flinched.
Like she expected me to hit her.
My hands froze in mid-air.
“Anna, it’s me. It’s Charlotte. Your sister.”
She stared at me like I was a ghost.
“How… how did you find me?”
“Lily. She played your song at the hotel. The one you wrote. I’d know that melody anywhere.”
Anna’s face crumpled.
She looked down at Lily.
“I told you never to play that where people could hear you, baby. I told you it was dangerous.”
Lily’s shoulders shook.
“I was hungry, Mommy. The man said I had to impress them. I didn’t know what else to play.”
Anna pulled her tighter.
“I know. I know, baby. It’s not your fault. Mommy’s not mad. I’m just scared.”
She looked back at me.
“Richard brought you, didn’t he?”
I nodded.
“He told me you’ve been alive for three years. That he knew.”
Anger flashed in Anna’s eyes.
“He promised. He swore he’d never tell anyone.”
“Anna, I’ve spent eight years thinking you were dead. Eight years! Mom had a breakdown. Dad died of a broken heart—he literally died, Anna, two years ago, and the last thing he ever said was your name. Did Richard tell you that?”
Her face went white.
“Dad’s… dead?”
“Heart attack. The doctors said it was stress. Grief. We all grieved you. We held a funeral. We buried an empty casket. And all this time you were twenty minutes from Beverly Hills, alive, with my niece?”
Tears poured down her face.
“I couldn’t come home. Charlotte, you have to believe me—I couldn’t.”
“Why? What was so terrible you couldn’t even call? Not once in eight years? Not even to say ‘I’m alive’?”
She didn’t answer.
She just held Lily and cried.
I wanted to shake her.
I wanted to hold her.
I wanted to scream and cry and laugh all at the same time.
“Anna, look at me.”
She lifted her head.
“Whatever happened—whatever you think you did or didn’t do—we’re family. Nothing is so bad you have to disappear forever. Nothing.”
“You don’t understand.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “He’ll find me. If he knows I’m still alive… if he knows about Lily… he’ll kill us both. And then he’ll come for the rest of you.”
“Who? Who’s going to kill you?”
She shook her head violently.
“I can’t tell you. The more you know, the more danger you’re in.”
“I’m already in danger just being here, aren’t I?”
“Yes.”
“Then it’s too late to protect me by keeping secrets. Whatever this is, we face it together. Like we used to. Remember? When we were kids and the boys from down the street would tease us? We’d stand back-to-back and fight them off together. You and me against the world. Remember?”
A flicker of the old Anna crossed her face.
“I remember.”
“Then let’s do that now. Tell me what happened. Tell me who hurt you.”
She was quiet for a long time.
Lily had fallen asleep in her arms, exhausted from crying.
Anna gently laid her on the bed and pulled a blanket up to her chin.
Then she stood and walked toward the kitchen.
“Come on,” she said over her shoulder. “We’ll talk in here. I don’t want her to hear.”
I followed.
The kitchen was even smaller than the living room.
Anna leaned against the counter, wrapping her arms around herself like she was cold.
“You want the whole story?” she asked.
“All of it.”
“Okay. But once I tell you… there’s no going back. You’ll be in this as deep as I am. Are you sure you want that?”
“I’m sure.”
She took a deep breath.
“Eight years ago… the night I disappeared… I wasn’t alone.”
I frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“I was with someone. A man I’d been seeing for about six months. Nobody in the family knew about him. I was going to introduce him at Thanksgiving, but… well, things went wrong first.”
“Who was he?”
“His name was Marcus. Marcus Hale.”
The name meant nothing to me.
“Marcus Hale. What did he do?”
Anna closed her eyes for a second, like she was forcing herself to remember something she’d spent years trying to forget.
“He wasn’t who I thought he was. At first, he was perfect. Charming, sweet, successful. He told me he ran a real estate company. Drove a nice car. Lived in a condo downtown. I was twenty-two, stupid, and I fell for it all.”
She paused and swallowed hard.
“Then one night… I found out the truth. He wasn’t in real estate. He was a money launderer. Worked for one of the biggest cartels on the East Coast. And I’d accidentally seen something I shouldn’t have. A ledger. Names. Dates. Millions of dollars in transactions. I told him I was going to the police. That’s when he showed me who he really was.”
Her hand went to the scar on her eyebrow.
“He beat me, Charlotte. Bad. Said if I ever breathed a word to anyone, he’d kill me. Then he’d kill Mom and Dad. Then he’d find you and Richard and make you watch each other die. He said he knew where we lived. Where we worked. Where we went to church. He knew everything. And I believed him.”
My blood ran cold.
“Oh, Anna…”
“I waited until he passed out—he’d been drinking. Then I ran. I took nothing but my wallet and the clothes on my back. I took the bus to New York, then a train to Chicago, then another bus to LA. I kept moving for almost a year. Different cities, different names, different hair colors. I was so scared he’d find me.”
“Lily?” I asked softly.
Anna’s hand went to her stomach.
“I found out I was pregnant three months after I ran. Marcus’s baby. I thought about… well, I thought about a lot of things. But I couldn’t do it. She was mine. Half me, half him, but still mine. And I promised myself I’d protect her. No matter what.”
“Does Marcus know about her?”
Anna shook her head.
“No. I was already gone when I found out. He thinks I disappeared and died somewhere. That’s what I’ve spent eight years making sure he believes. Dead. Buried. Gone forever.”
“Richard said he found you three years ago.”
A bitter laugh escaped her.
“Found me is right. I was working at a diner in Long Beach. Walked out after my shift and there he was, leaning against his fancy car, looking like he belonged on a magazine cover. I almost had a heart attack. Thought Marcus had sent him. Thought it was over.”
“Why didn’t you run?”
“Because he yelled my name. My real name. And when I turned, I saw he was crying. Actually crying. Said he’d spent five years and every dollar he had looking for me. That Mom and Dad were falling apart. That you were half-crazy with grief. He begged me to come home.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because Marcus is still out there, Charlotte. Still running his operations. Still dangerous. Richard checked. Marcus is bigger now than he was eight years ago. If I come home, he’ll find me. He’ll find Lily. And he’ll kill everyone I love just to prove he can.”
“Richard could protect us. He’s got money. He could hire security—”
“Richard can’t protect us from Marcus. Nobody can. The man is a ghost with unlimited money and connections in every police department on both coasts. The only way to stay safe is to stay dead. That’s why I made Richard promise not to tell anyone. If even one person in the family knew I was alive… the secret could slip. And then it’s over.”
I thought about what Richard had said in the car.
She doesn’t trust me anymore.
“Anna… why did you tell Lily to run if she saw Richard?”
Her jaw tightened.
“Because three months ago, Richard came to me with an idea. Said he’d found a way to ‘take Marcus out.’ That he had connections who could make it look like an accident. I told him absolutely not. If Marcus even suspects someone is coming for him, he’ll eliminate every possible threat. Including me. Including Lily. Richard got angry. Said I was being a coward. That I was letting a monster control my life forever. We fought. Bad. He left saying he was going to ‘fix things’ with or without my permission. I haven’t heard from him since. Until today.”
A cold knot formed in my stomach.
“You think Richard would actually do something that stupid?”
“I know my brother. When he gets an idea in his head, he doesn’t let go. If he thinks he’s ‘saving’ me… he’ll do it. Even if it gets us all killed.”
I thought about Richard’s face in the hotel.
The fear.
The way he’d tried to stop me from talking to Lily.
He wasn’t just afraid of Anna running.
He was afraid of something else.
“Anna… does Marcus know Richard?”
She went still.
“Richard never told you?”
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“Told me what?”
“Marcus and Richard were friends. Business associates. That’s how I met Marcus in the first place. Richard introduced us.”
