Page 65 of Broken Secrets

“How bad?”

Emma pulls out her phone and hands it to me. The screen shows a text conversation with someone labeled “Mom.”

EMMA

Dad and I came to California to meet Olivia. She’s amazing, Mom. She’s exactly like I imagined having a sister would be.

Mom

You went behind my back. After everything we discussed.

EMMA

I’m 17. I don’t need permission to meet my sister.

MOM

She’s not your sister.

EMMA

Yes she is. You can’t control who I have relationships with.

MOM

Watch me. Your flight home is tomorrow at 3 PM. I’ve already changed your ticket.

I scroll down to see more messages, each one escalating in tone.

MOM

Your father has filled your head with romantic nonsense about family reunification. But that girl represents everything that went wrong in our lives. She’s a reminder of the worst period in our family’s history.

EMMA

Her name is Olivia. And she didn’t do anything wrong. She was a baby.

MOM

Don’t be naive, Emma. People don’t change.

EMMA

Yes they do.

MOM

Your father barely calls anymore since this started. He’s more interested in playing catch-up with his other daughter than maintaining the family he actually has.

I hand the phone back, stunned by the venom in Lilly’s messages. “Emma, this is… wow.”

“It gets worse.” Emma scrolls to the bottom of the conversation. “She called me after these texts.”

“What did she say?”

“That if I get on a plane back to Michigan today, we can pretend this never happened. Family therapy, some ‘healing time,’ and everything goes back to normal.” Emma’s laugh is bitter. “But if I stay here another day, if I keep pursuing a relationship with you, she’s cutting me off financially. No more college fund, no more car insurance, no more anything.”

My stomach drops. “She’s blackmailing you.”