Chapter 8
The next few days were a blur.
Hospital rooms.
Police interviews.
Endless questions.
But through it all, we were together.
Richard’s arm was broken in two places, he had three cracked ribs, and a concussion that kept him in the hospital for two days.
But he was alive.
Anna had a few bruises and a lot of trauma, but physically she was fine.
Lily was unharmed—if a little confused about why her mommy and uncle had been gone all night and why everyone kept crying and hugging each other.
Jake’s team had handled the police perfectly.
They’d presented enough evidence—years of Richard’s private investigation files, the ledger Anna had hidden all those years, Marcus’s own criminal record—to ensure that even the cops on his payroll couldn’t protect him.
Marcus survived his injuries, but he’d spend the rest of his life in a maximum-security prison.
His organization collapsed within forty-eight hours, as rival cartels moved in to take over his territory.
None of them cared about Anna or Lily or us.
We were irrelevant now.
Free.
On the third day, we brought Lily to the hospital to see Richard.
She stood in the doorway, clutching her flute, staring at him like he was still the man her mother had warned her about.
“Hey, kiddo,” Richard said softly from his bed. “You remember me?”
Lily nodded slowly.
“You’re the bad man from the hotel.”
Richard flinched.
“Yeah. I guess I was. But I’m not the bad man anymore. I promise. I helped get your mommy back. And I’m gonna spend the rest of my life making sure nothing bad ever happens to you or your mommy ever again. Can you give me a second chance?”
Lily looked up at Anna.
Anna nodded.
Lily walked slowly over to the bed.
She held out her flute.
“Wanna hear me play?”
Richard’s eyes glistened.
“I’d love that.”
Lily lifted the flute and played.
The same melody.
Anna’s song.
But this time, it wasn’t sad.
It wasn’t desperate.
It was beautiful.
When she finished, Richard clapped softly with his good hand.
“That was amazing. Best thing I’ve ever heard.”
Lily smiled.
It was the first real smile I’d seen from her.
“Mommy says I’m gonna be famous one day.”
“I have no doubt,” Richard said. “And when you are, I’ll be front row at every concert. Deal?”
“Deal.”
She climbed up onto the bed and curled up beside him, careful of his broken arm.
Richard looked at me and Anna, standing in the doorway.
“Thank you,” he mouthed.
That night, after Lily was asleep and Richard was resting, Anna and I sat on the roof of the hospital, looking out over the city.
“It’s strange,” Anna said, sipping a coffee. “For eight years, every time I heard a siren, I’d hide. Every time a car slowed down on the street, I’d grab Lily and run. Every shadow was Marcus. Every stranger was a threat. And now… it’s over. He’s gone. And I don’t know what to do with myself.”
“You live,” I said. “That’s what you do. You and Lily get to have a normal life. No more running. No more hiding. No more fear.”
“Normal,” she repeated, like the word was foreign. “What’s normal, anyway?”
“Normal is Lily going to a real school. Making friends. Having sleepovers. Normal is you getting a job you love. Meeting someone who treats you right. Someone like Jake.”
Anna blushed.
“Jake… he was always too good for me. Even in high school. He deserves someone who isn’t broken.”
“Anna, you’re not broken. You’re the strongest person I know. You survived eight years of hell and raised the sweetest, bravest little girl in the world. If that’s not good enough for Jake… then he’s an idiot. And I know he’s not an idiot.”
Anna was quiet for a moment.
“What about you? What happens to Charlotte Hale now that the family drama is over?”
I laughed.
“I go back to Boston, I guess. Back to my job. Back to my empty apartment. Back to being the boring responsible sister.”
“Or…” Anna said, turning to look at me. “Or you could stay. Move to LA. We could get a big house together. The three of us. Four, if Jake ever works up the courage to ask me out. Richard could be nearby. We could be a family. Really be a family. For the first time in eight years.”
I looked at her.
Really looked at her.
My little sister.
Who I’d grieved for eight years.
Who I’d gotten back.
And Lily.
My niece.
Who was asleep in the room below us, completely unaware of how much she’d changed all our lives.
And Richard.
My brother.
With all his flaws and mistakes and desperate need to make things right.
And Jake.
Who’d ridden in like a knight in body armor and saved us all.
Family wasn’t perfect.
It was messy and complicated and sometimes it hurt so bad you thought you’d never recover.
May you like
But it was also the only thing that mattered.
“I’d like that,” I said, smiling through tears. “I’d like that a lot.”
