Page 79 of Protected By the Sinner

“What? Is she okay? Please, tell me what happened.”

“She was hit by a car, but she’s recovering. I tried reaching out earlier, but it seems you two are pretty skilled at staying off the grid.”

“Not that skilled, or you wouldn’t be talking to me right now.”

“My head of security found this phone on the street. She probably dropped it.”

“Give me your word that my sister’s okay.”

“She is. But there’s a complication. She has temporary amnesia.”

“Oh my God.”

“She remembers you—and your past together. She knows she has a sister and everything else you . . . went through while under the cult’s control. But nothing from last week.”

“She remembers the cult we were raised in?”

“Yes. I know everything now.”

She doesn’t ask how I found out. “I need to speak to her.”

“Amber’s asleep. There’s something else you need to know . . . She’s pregnant. With my child.”

To my surprise, she starts crying.

“Elodie, what’s going on?”

“Do you know why she went to meet you at the club?”

My jaw tightens so hard it hurts.

Forgiving Amber is one thing. Listening to her sister—a stranger—rub it in is another.

“Please don’t hurt her. Think about your baby. My sister wasn’t at fault.”

My first instinct is to say I won’t hurt her, but my gut tells me to stay quiet.

“Cara[10], what’s going on?” I hear a man’s voice ask.

“Please, Mr. LeBlanc, I’m begging you—don’t hurt my sister.”

The guy sounds pissed that she’s crying, but Elodie won’t stop talking to me.

“Then tell me why I should forgive her,” I say. “I still don’t know the whole story.”

“I was working at a bar owned by the Sicilian mafia.”

“Elodie!” the man yells.

“Let me speak. My sister’s life is on the line.” She sniffles. “Mr. LeBlanc, are you still there?”

“Yes.”

“One of the bartenders befriended me. We’d only been living in Dallas for a month or two. I realized too late it was a setup. They kidnapped me and threatened Amber—they told her if she didn’t go meet you that day, they’d hurt me. If the roles were reversed, I would’ve done the same.”

“What was their goal? Why did they want her to come to me?”

“We don’t know. At first, her only task was to get into the club and get close to you.”