Page 32

She walked over and picked up his hand, sitting down at his bedside. “You’ll probably see me a lot more than you would like. I’m just terribly sorry for the circumstances.”

“My own fault,” he muttered, with a shrug.

“Maybe, but I also think Darren had a lot to do with it,” she murmured.

“I had a visit of sorts from him last night. So, I guess that was after you told him about me.” His gaze widened instantly, and then he glanced nervously from Morrison to her and back again.

She just watched and then nodded. “Yes, I know perfectly well it was Darren,” she stated.

“It’s hard to miss that anger and that fury.

I presume he didn’t appreciate the fact that I came to the hospital to see you. ”

He winced. “I wasn’t even sure I should tell him, but you’re his sister too.”

“Yet a sister he doesn’t want in his life because I’ll be that conscience he doesn’t want to acknowledge. I’ll be that voice he’s fought against all his life,” she stated. “And that is something he doesn’t want.”

When Don just stared at her, she nodded.

“Unlike Darren, I come from a safe, stable background, and I don’t hate the world.

I don’t hate the people who raised me. I don’t hate my other blood family members for having had a better life.

I get that, from Darren’s perspective, I’m somehow responsible for his bad life because I had a good life.

I didn’t end up killing people as a way to avenge the anger, like what is within Darren,” she explained, staring at Don and not giving him the chance to pull away.

“But I didn’t do anything to Darren, and I will not be treated as if I had.

I am not a victim, and he now knows it.”

Don’s breath let out in a whoosh , and damn if tears didn’t fill his eyes again.

She leaned forward and gave him a hug.

He wrapped his arms tight around her and hung on. He didn’t say anything, but his throat worked, as if he had things he wanted to say.

Morrison stayed behind her, which she was grateful for, just so her brother didn’t feel quite so threatened. Morrison was big, strong, and powerful, and probably reminded Don a lot of Darren.

When Don finally released her, she settled back, a bit teary-eyed herself and added, “It’s lovely to see you, and I’m so sorry for all the years we missed out on.”

“Me too,” he whispered. “I always knew something was missing, but I couldn’t ever really explain it.”

“Same for me,” she agreed. “I was really angry when I found out, but my mother was dying at the time, and there wasn’t any recourse other than to get as many answers as I could,” she shared, with a half smile.

“So, I had to come to terms with the fact that she made that decision, then chose not to tell me until she knew she was dying.”

“Darren,” Don said immediately.

“What about Darren?” she asked.

“He’s probably the reason she didn’t say anything.

I think he probably knew about you, memories of you at least,” he suggested, “and I think he may have approached them about us at some point. I don’t know much of what happened, but I know that Darren’s very angry, and I highly suspect that some of that anger is directed at you too. ”

“Yeah, it’s definitely directed at me,” she declared. As Don contemplated that, she hesitated, then looked back at Morrison, almost for permission. When he nodded, she smiled and turned back to Don. “Darren paid me a visit last night,” she declared bitterly, “and it wasn’t a nice one.”

Her brother sucked in his breath, looking horrified. “Are you okay?” He spoke in little more than a whisper.

“I’m okay.” She nodded. “But I can’t say I appreciate his methods.”

Don winced. “Even talking about it is so strange for me.” His gaze darted to Morrison, then to her, as if he wasn’t sure he should say anything.

“Don’t worry about Morrison,” she said, with a wave of her hand. “He sees and reads energy too.”

That was almost too much for Don. “What?” he squeaked out.

She nodded. “Of course there’s always the risk we’re taking even talking to you because you’ll probably just tell Darren.”

His gaze went from one to the other again, then he swallowed hard. In a monotone, he replied, “I’m not sure how to handle what you just said.”

“The thing is, Darren thinks he’s invincible, but he’s not,” she stated. “We’re already onto him, and his visit last night just means I’ll help these guys stop Darren. I was ready to ignore him, but he’s dangerous,” she added boldly, “particularly to me right now.”

“He said he wouldn’t hurt you,” Don cried out. “He said he would leave you alone.”

“When he stopped me from talking and from moving and tried to completely take over my system last night,” she began, “I finally kicked him out. He was getting angrier and angrier the more I fought. As long as I didn’t fight, he was okay, but the minute I tried to let him know that it wasn’t okay, he didn’t seem to handle it. So, I finally tossed him out.”

Her brother just sagged back against the pillow in shock.

She nodded. “You do know you can do that too, right? Darren is not all-mighty and powerful.”

Don swallowed. “I never… I never…” Then he stopped, not sure how to say it.

“You never managed to? Listen. It’s probably because Darren has some way of keeping you down, maybe through the drugs for all I know.

Besides, all that emotional blackmail rolling around inside is keeping you tied to him as well,” she added.

“I don’t know the man, and obviously, after this, I’m not sure I want to, but what I have seen doesn’t make me happy. Darren’s not a nice person at all.”

Don gave her a ghost of a smile. “Don’t judge him so harshly. He’s not all bad.”

“He might not be all bad, but he sure hasn’t shown me anything good about him,” she stated, “so I’m not too anxious to help him. Not at all.”

His fingers nervously pleated the sheet in front of him.

“I get that you probably don’t want Morrison in here, but the fact that we don’t even have cops here right now is a blessing we wouldn’t have otherwise.”

“Maybe,” Don muttered. “I’ve been wondering if this room was bugged.”

“I don’t think so, but it’s possible.” She looked back at Morrison, who gave an ever-so-slight headshake.

She wanted to trust him on that point. “The thing is, we can’t have any more people dying because of this vendetta against the world that Darren has,” she snapped.

“I won’t let that happen. If he hadn’t come and attacked me last night, I might not have been aware of all the things he was up to—or how he’d gotten you involved in them.

And, no, it certainly doesn’t alleviate your guilt, but I do understand a bit more.

And this is for certain. I will not play the same games. ”

There was fascination in Don’s gaze, as if she was on to something he didn’t recognize. She sighed and went on. “You really haven’t had the chance to deal with many people other than Darren, have you?”

“He doesn’t want me to have friends,” Don shared, “and doing the kinds of stuff that I could do, I just didn’t have any strength for it. He’s been the one helping me.”

“ Helping you?” She snorted. “He’s helping you to hurt others,” she snapped, “and that’s not cool.” Don winced. “You’ve been missing that voice of conscience too.”

“Sure,” he agreed, his gaze hardening. “Remember that part about we didn’t know you were there?”

“ You didn’t, but he did,” she clarified, and the guilt in his expression made her wonder if he was even telling her the truth. “Of course, for all I know, he told you about me.”

Don shook his head. “No, and that’s another thing about Darren. He would never do that because that would be giving away a level of power he isn’t prepared to give away.”

“ Nice ,” she muttered. “So, what will we do to stop this? Are you willing to talk to the police?”

Don shook his head. “You don’t understand. Darren would kill me if I do that.”

“Right, so you’ll go to jail and take the blame for Darren, is that it?

I mean, what does it matter that he’ll get off free and clear to go steal and kill other people who had absolutely nothing to do with his rage?

Darren is not an innocent bystander involved in this, while you go do hard time for the rest of your life alone.

” She stared at him compassionately, understanding full well that Darren’s hold on Don was something he would find very difficult to get loose from.

“I’m sorry he’s manipulated you so much that he has such a strong hold on you that you can’t see the world around you for what it actually is.”

“You mean, full of roses and puppy dogs?” he asked in a mocking tone, gaining some strength, though it was an odd strength, so unlike Don.

She studied him closely for a moment, then smiled. “Hi, Darren,” she replied, with a spicy sweetness, and the shock jolted Don back. He reared up, looked at her, then blinked several times and exclaimed. “Holy crap.”

“Yeah, holy crap,” she murmured. “Yes, I saw him, and I recognized that it was him.”

Don shook his head frantically. “He’ll kill me now for sure. He’ll kill me. You don’t understand.”

“No, I sure don’t because you’re not talking, and you’re not helping me understand at all. What I do know is that your brother just stepped into your mind and your body, and then something changed in the way you acted.”

“He’s always been able to do that,” Don whispered. “Ever since we were little, if somebody wanted to get into trouble, it would be me, because he’d make me confess, even though I didn’t do it.”

“ Hmm .” Sadie sat back in her chair. “So you lied to me about just meeting Darren a year ago.” When Don remained silent, she nodded. “Of course you’ll do whatever Darren wants. It’s always been that way in your life, hasn’t it, Don?”

Still Don didn’t reply.