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I look at the stuffed rabbit. It’s not just his ears that are different from Sofia’s. Patty isn’t worn out. He didn’t get to be loved for as long as I have loved Sofia. I should have kept him with me. Taken care of him. But it was too painful.
Closing the lid of the box, I put it back into the closet and stack the other boxes on top of it. I stand and put Patty into my backpack.
I know what I have to do. I have no choice. When Damian Di Santo comes for me, I will go with him. I have to. I can’t let them hurt Simona or anyone else again because of me.
A knock sounds on my door as I set the backpack down and sigh.
“Come in.”
Liam walks inside, his eyes falling on the bag. I swear he’s aged tonight. That boyish, carefree look is gone.
“Are you okay?” I ask him. After my uncle and I finished our conversation, Liam went in to talk to him.
He adjusts his glasses. He usually wears contacts and looks like a jock, but he’s probably the smartest kid I know with a special gift for hacking into computers. It’s a secret we share. I think one of his superpowers is his ability to make everyone love him. Nobody would ever suspect him of anything nefarious, not that he’s done anything but adjust a grade or two.
“You’re asking me if I’m okay? You’re the one I’m worried about.” He comes to me, hugs me, then brushes my hair from my face as he studies me. At five feet nine inches, he’s already two inches taller than me.
“How is Simona?”
“She’ll be okay. She said they were nice to her. She realized too late she’d made a mistake getting into a stranger’s car.”
“I’m sorry they took her. I’m sorry it was because of me.”
“It wasn’t your fault. It was my father’s.”
“Liam—”
“Sit down,” he says, taking a seat on the bed.
I sit. He glances at the door then reaches into his pocket to take out my pencil case.
“What are you doing with that?” I ask as he hands it to me.
“I got it out of your backpack when you were talking with Dad.” Unzipping it, I look inside to find a wad of cash and my passport.
“What’s this for?”
“You need to leave, Cristina. You need to leave tonight before he comes back for you.”
“I can’t do that, Liam. You saw how far they’re willing to go. Simona—”
“I’ll take care of Simona.”
“How?”
“They won’t hurt us. We’re kids. And maybe Dad deserves to be hurt for what he did.”
“Don’t say that.”
“You need to go now. I’ll take you to the train station. There’s three thousand dollars in there in cash.”
“Where did you get that much money?”
“One of dad’s secret stashes.”
“What secret stashes?”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell you another time. Inside your passport is a credit card, too. Don’t use the card until you’re farther away just in case.”
“Whose credit card is it?”
He looks at me like do I really need to ask?
“Liam, I can’t take it.”
“You have to. He can take care of himself, and if he can’t, then maybe he deserves what he’s got coming.”
I stare up at my cousin. I’ve never heard him talk like this about his dad. Their relationship was sometimes tense but never this bad.
“Did you know anything about any of it?”
He shakes his head. “No. I mean, I knew Dad ran into some financial trouble but didn’t know how he got out of it.”
“What could they want with me?”
“Nothing good.” He touches my hair. “Maybe we should cut this before you go.” My hair spills halfway down my back. “We don’t have time to color it.”
“I can’t leave, Liam. They’ll hurt you if I leave.”
He stands up, going into the adjoining bathroom. I hear him rifling around in there.
I follow and watch as he locates the scissors and turns to me.
“You can’t be serious,” I say.
“My father is protecting himself. He sold you out. He sold us all out. I can’t let them take you without putting up a fight. I won’t abandon you even when my father has. Now come here, turn around. We don’t have much time.”
I do as he says and turn so I’m facing the mirror, trying to understand this shift in our relationship. Even though he’s younger than me, this protective side of him is almost how I’d expect my brother to be if he were here.
I watch his reflection as he lifts my hair. Watch how determined he looks.
“I’m pretty sure this isn’t how you do this, but…” He makes a ponytail out of my hair and meets my gaze in the mirror. “Ready?”
“Aren’t you afraid?”
He studies my reflection for a long moment. “Damian Di Santo can go fuck himself.”
I smile. “Ready,” I say, shifting my gaze away from the mirror and hoping for a quarter of his strength.
