Perversion (Perversion Trilogy #1)(11)

Gabby’s arms wrapped around mine, and we laid there, quietly crying, holding one another in the dark. “That’s got to mean something, right?” she asked with a sniffle. “That we choose to be sisters?”

“Yes, it does mean something,” I assured her, our tears mixing together between our pressed cheeks. “It means everything.”

“Not enough to keep us together,” she muttered. “I’d rather stay in foster care with you than go live with Marco without you.”

“No,” I told her. “Your brother is out of prison. He’s bringing you and Mona home. You should be happy. I won’t let you feel sad for me when this should be good news.”

“It doesn’t feel like good news,” Gabby said, with pain in her voice. “I was so young when I was put into foster care. I don’t remember the town I was born in. I don’t remember Marco at all. I don’t know anything about him. And suddenly, he wants us to be a family again without so much a phone call or a visit?”

“But he’s your brother. And you’re going home. You’re one of the lucky ones,” I reminded her.

“Yeah, I guess I am,” she replied with a sigh.

I clicked the flashlight on again and swung the beam back to the wall. “Look,” I said, giving Gabby a nudge.

She lifted her head and read the words aloud that I’d lit up. “Distance means so little when someone means so much.” She grabbed the flashlight and moved it to the center of the wall to the most recent quote. The one we taped up last month right after we found out she was leaving.

It was my turn to read it out loud. “How lucky I am to have something which makes saying goodbye so hard.” I choked on a sob and held Gabby tighter. “It won’t be forever,” I said between tears, which were flowing freely now.

“I’ll make Marco bring you with us. He has to bring you with us,” Gabby cried.

I shook my head. “It doesn’t work that way. You know that.”

“I’ll find a way. I promise. I’ll find a way,” she whispered. “We’re a team. Don’t replace me as your accomplice.”

I chuckled. “I won’t. I can’t. You’re the best there is.”

I was entwined with Gabby, neither one of us wanting to let the other go, not even after she fell asleep and I remained awake, staring at the ceiling. I clutched the small heart-shaped locket around my neck that held the picture of Tristan and his mother. It brought me comfort I’d need even more tomorrow after Gabby left.

Morning light shone through my closed eyelids. I sat up with a start and quickly realized that Gabby was no longer tangled up with me. She’d gone. Her bed was stripped bare. Her things, which were normally strewn about the room in heaping piles of clutter, were also gone.

My chest tightened, and I fought the tears pricking the backs of my eyes once more.

Be happy for her, I reminded myself.

There was a torn piece of paper on the side table next to me. I picked it up, and the tears I was holding back began to spill down my face.

We weren’t sisters by birth, but we knew from the start, fate brought us together to be sisters by heart. -Anonymous.

I clutched my note and took a deep breath. I tried to remember that Gabby was going home. She was going to be with her family. Her future happiness helped me gather myself and my emotions enough to head downstairs. When I got to the bottom, I was surprised to find Gabby still there with her arms wrapped around a sobbing Mona.

“What did I do wrong? This isn’t fair!” Mona sobbed into Gabby’s chest.

“What the heck happened?” I asked, entering the room.

My caseworker, Miss Andrews, stood in the doorway, looking frazzled.

Shit, what did I do now?

“Uh, what are you doing here?”

She sighed. “There was some confusion when I spoke to Ruby last week,” she said frankly. “Marco isn’t taking Gabby and Mona.”

I scrunched my nose in confusion. “That doesn’t make sense. I don’t understand. They’re staying? But I thought…”

Miss Andrews shook her head. “She had it wrong. If only Ruby had actually listened to me when I’d called.” She huffed in annoyance and plopped her phone into her bag. Plucking out a file, she then handed it to me.

The first page was an official looking order at some sort, but I couldn’t understand the words even though I read them clearly.

“Marco isn’t taking Gabby and Mona,” Miss Andrews explained. “He specifically applied for Gabby and…” Her words trailed off into the distance as I looked down at the paper. My eyes went wide when I read the name next to Gabby’s at the top. It wasn’t Mona’s.

It was mine.

“It has to be a mistake,” I said. “I’ve never even met Marco. I’m not family. Mona’s his sister. Not me.”

Miss Andrews shrugged. “It’s not usual, but he filed all the proper paperwork, went through a lawyer, and the judge signed off on it. I’m just the messenger, here to carry out my orders.”

Mona looked up from Gabby’s tear-stained shirt and glared at me with red-rimmed eyes. Only being separated by ten months made them look almost like twins if Mona’s hair wasn’t cut to a bob while Gabby’s was so long it reached her waist.