Page 104 of Fractured Future

“You’re home. That’s enough.”

“It’s not!” Something breaks inside me, the words I’ve been holding back forcing themselves from my lips. “I’ve lost everything I ever cared about!”

“You’ve got me!” Tom shouts back.

“That isn’t enough! I lost myself!”

“Oh, fuck,” Warner quietly utters.

The suffocating wave of grief hits hard and fast, taking me completely off guard. Now that I’ve said the words out loud, the reality of all I’ve lost is undeniable. And it bloody well hurts.

Tom tries to step in my direction, but I hold up a trembling hand to halt him. I don’t want to be comforted. I don’t even want his kindness. I just want my fury and grief to be validated.

“Enough. We’re done.”

“Please, Em…” He trails off, seeming to doubt himself for the first time.

“No! That’s enough. Don’t bother trying to talk me out of this. I’m going to use all those years of fighting to hurt the right people this time.”

“Why do you have to hurt anyone?” Tom hurls back. “Why can’t you just stay safe?”

“Because Gracie is still out there!” Tears pool in my eyes then leak free to scald my skin. “Just like countless other women and girls. No one else is going to save them.”

“That doesn’t make it your responsibility. You were a victim too.”

“I’m choosing to be more than that! Why won’t you support me?”

“Because I lost my sister!” Tom booms, his face flushing red. “I lost her, and I don’t want to lose you too.”

Silence reigns.

Thick. Heavy. Ugly.

The entire room stills as his awful words linger in the air. My whole body recoils from the devastation of each syllable. I can easily read between the lines.

I lost her.

Not me. Her. The person I’ll never be again.

Glass daggers bury themselves in my heart, shredding apart fragile tissue and leaving me deathly cold. I’m not his sister. Not the one he remembers, at least.

Now I’m just a broken excuse of a person who came home six years later. A person incapable of moving on in a way that he approves of. A person he can hardly stand to look at every day.

Hearing him repeat what my mind has been cruelly whispering to me is confirmation of what I already know. That confirmation cuts so fucking deep, I don’t know if I can hold the slashed ribbons of my heart together for much longer.

“That may be so,” I croak around the heartbreak lodged in my windpipe. “But I’m still your sister.”

“I know, Em. Shit, I’m sorry… I just want to protect you from this whole mess.”

But it’s too late.

The damage is done.

Glancing up at the ceiling, Tom drags in air. It’s taking everything in me not to look at Hyland or Warner, silently watching our battle play out.

“You didn’t escape evil just to put yourself back in the line of fire.” Tom tries to steady his wavering voice. “This is your chance to rebuild your life.”

“That’s exactly what I’m doing. Rebuilding my life.”