Of course, she did. I laugh and point to the screen.
“Well, I was hoping we could talk so you think you could pause your favorite movie?”
She nods, grabbing the remote and pausing it just as Jack steps up behind Rose on the bow of the boat. “Yes, let’s talk because I’ve been dying to ask you about Chance.”
I want to object but don’t. My relationship with Chance is probably a pretty good way to start this conversation. I don’t want to just dive right into the heavy stuff and upset her.
“Okay, what do you want to know?”
Her eyes widen. “Everything. When did you meet him?”
“Um… you remember when we had lunch like six weeks ago – when you first told me about Julian?”
She nods. “Yeah.”
“I met him the day before that.”
“And?” she questions, desperate for more. I laugh.
“And nothing. I was not interested in anything more than hooking up…”
“As usual,” she grumbles, rolling her eyes.
“Shut up,” I say, shoving her playfully. “Anyway, that’s what we started out as, but Chance wasn’t really having that. He kept pushing me and knocking down all my walls.”
“Brute force,” she muses. “I like it.”
As soon as the words leave her mouth, her face changes and she almost seems to shrink in on herself. I suck in a breath as tears sting my eyes.
“What happened to you over there, Vi?”
She shakes her head as a single tear streaks down her cheek. “It was hell, Car.”
My heart aches as I reach over and pull her into my arms, hugging her tightly as she cries into my shirt.
“It didn’t start like that, you know?” she asks, her voice shaking and I nod.
“I know, sweetie.”
Pulling back, she wipes her eyes and wraps her arms around her knees again.
“In the beginning, I was so happy. I thought I had fallen in love with the perfect guy but somewhere along the way, it had changed. I didn’t even realize it then, but he was breaking away pieces of me. They seemed so small, you know? But by the time I realized what was happening, I was too broken to do anything.”
“You’re not broken, Vi. I know it feels like that now but believe me when I say that you’re not.”
She meets my eyes and the pain in her gaze makes my heart wrench as my blood boils.
“Yes, I am. He played me for a fool and when I saw the real him, it almost destroyed me. You of all people should know I’ll never be the same.”
“You’re right,” I whisper, grabbing her hand. “You will never be the same, but it doesn’t mean you’re broken. Please believe me because it’s something that took me a really long time to learn.”
“I don’t know if I can believe it.”
I nod. “That’s okay. We take this one day at a time and any time you forget, I’ll be here to remind you.”
“I really thought I was going to die in that house,” she admits, her voice cracking again and my breath stutters. I shake my head and pull her into my arms.
“I wasn’t going to let that happen.”
We sit in silence for a few moments, staring at the frozen screen, before she sucks in a breath.
“I have to go to the police, don’t I?”
I nod. “Yeah, Vi, you do.”
“Does Mom know I’m here?” she asks, sitting up and turning to look at me. I shake my head. How can I possibly tell my baby sister that our mother didn’t care?
“Anything I could tell you about Mom would only upset you more.”
She sighs, turning to look at the screen. “She didn’t care, did she?”
“No, she didn’t. She said Julian was a good man and I should be happy for you.”
“Figures,” she bites.
“Dottie’s been worried sick about you, though. I’m sure she’ll want to come see you as soon as you’re feeling up to it.”
She wipes away a tear, turning back to me. “I wish I had listened to her. She was right about everything.”
“Vi,” I start, unsure if I should even ask this question but I have to know. “Why didn’t you come to me earlier? I would have done anything to help you. Didn’t you know that?”
“Of course, I did. Julian… after we moved in together and I realized I was in trouble, he told me that if I didn’t do exactly what he said, he’d go after you.”
“He threatened me?”
She nods. “And I believed him. For some reason, he decided he wanted me and nothing was going to get in his way.”
“Yeah,” I sigh, not wanting to tell her this next part. “About that…”
“What?”
“When you sent Rosie to my apartment with that note, one of the guys, Streak, started looking into Julian and it got kind of weird. We’re still not one hundred percent sure what was going on.”
Her eyes widen and she studies my face for a second. “What do you mean you don’t know what’s going on?”
“So, he first saw you at the New Year’s Eve event, right?”
She nods. “Yeah, he asked to buy me a drink and I blew him off.”
“But, I thought… didn’t he say he didn’t talk to you that night?”
Her head bobs up and down as she pulls her knees closer. “Yeah. I don’t know why he said that and when I asked him, he slapped me.”
“In the street… we saw that.”
“I told him you and Dottie would be watching. He didn’t care.” She stares at the screen again and I can only imagine how much her mind is racing right now. It’s so much information to process and I hate not having answers for her. “Was there more?”
“Yeah… after the event, he hired a private investigator to follow you around. This guy had everything on you, Vi. Even your medical records. After that, Julian started inserting himself into your life wherever he could.”
“I thought it was fate,” she whispers, more tears falling from her haunted eyes.
“I think that’s exactly what he wanted you to think. He orchestrated this whole thing to lure you in.”
She stands up and paces back and forth in front of me, chewing on her lip. “I’m so stupid.”
“No,” I shoot back, standing up. “You’re not stupid.”
“How could I believe in something like fate? God, it’s like I lost my mind when I met him.”
Not so long ago, I was exactly where she is, but I can’t say the same anymore. Not since meeting Chance.
“Vi, he manipulated you and you can’t blame yourself for that. Do you remember what you said to me after Austin hurt me?”
She looks up and nods, a smile teasing her lips. “We don’t make excuses for shitheads.”
“Exactly.”
“Is there more?” she asks, sighing as she stumbles back over to the couch and sinks into it.
“Unfortunately, yes.”
She pats the seat next to her and as I sit down, she reaches for my hand. “Let’s hear it.”
I explain the rest to her – the money transfers and burner phones – and when I finish, she scowls.