“Hi, Emzee,” I said, hearing the guilt in my own voice as I answered.
“Tori?” My sister-in-law sounded frantic. “You’re in Springfield? Are you okay? What happened?”
“I’m fine,” I told her, my eyes already tearing up at the concern in her voice. “I’ve been at my dad’s since last night. I’m really okay.”
“Well, but when are you coming home?” she asked. “Why did you leave?”
I took a steadying breath and walked back to the window seat, sinking into it with a sigh. “I’m not going back. And I need you to promise me you won’t tell Stefan we talked.”
“Wait, what?” Emzee sputtered. “Why? He’s freaking out.”
“This is the best thing for everyone,” I told her. “You have to believe me. I just—”
“Not good enough,” she said, cutting me off. “You and my brother are a match made in heaven. I’ve never seen him this happy before. He thinks you hung the moon! And you guys are crazy about each other, I’ve witnessed it with my own eyes. So you better start talking.Now.”
Emzee was talking a mile a minute. It took me a second to process everything she’d said before I was able to respond.
“Listen,” I told her gently. “Remember how you told me Stefan was a different person when he was younger—back in high school—and then suddenly everything changed?”
“Yeah…” Emzee said cautiously.
“Well, the reason he was so different was because he was in love with a woman named Anja. But then Anja disappeared and never came back,” I informed her. I heard Emzee’s shocked intake of breath. “And three days ago…she showed up on your father’s doorstep.”
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” she hissed.
I told Emzee the rest of the story, though I left out Anja’s involvement in the sex trafficking ring. All I told her was that Anja had been an up-and-coming KZM model who’d disappeared without a trace just days after Stefan had proposed, and that he’d spent the last eight years searching the ends of the earth for her.
“There’s more,” I said, taking a breath. “She—she and Stefan. They have a kid.”
“What?!”
“He didn’t know Anja was pregnant when she disappeared,” I told her. “So it was a huge surprise when she came back with this seven-year-old, but Max—that’s the kid’s name—is really smart, and really sweet, and Stefan’s basically already in love with him. I know he wants to do the right thing and be a father to him.”
“Okay,” Emzee said slowly. “I get that this is all kinds of crazy. But I still don’t understand why you’re hiding out at your dad’s house. I thought you loved Stefan. Don’t you want to work things out? He was only seventeen when all this went down. How can you hold it against him now?”
“He doesn’t want me!” I said, feeling the pain rise up sharp and swift again, like a knife in my chest. “He wantsAnja. He’s always wanted her.”
“That can’t be true,” Emzee said. “That was a million years ago. Things have changed.He’schanged.”
“They have a child together,” I said, closing my eyes and pressing my forehead against the cool glass of the window. “I’m not going to stand in the way of that. They’re a family now.”
“That’s not fair,” Emzee snapped.
“It will be easier for everyone if I leave now,” I insisted, my voice hitching as my tears started to fall. “Before he has to ask me to go.”
“But Tori,” she said, starting to cry along with me, “You can’t make this decision for him. And you’rewrong. You haven’t seen Stefan—he’s frantic with worry.He loves you. He wants you back, with him.”
I wanted to believe her. I wanted to imagine that he would choose me if it came down to it. But not one thing about this situation pointed to a happy ending where Stefan and I would ride off into the sunset together. This might have been the cowardly way to go, but it was also the safer way. The only way I was getting out of this with my heart intact.
“I need to do this my way,” I told Emzee, hoping she would understand.
“No. You need to talk to him,” she said. “If you just listened to what he has to say, he’d tell you that he’s in love with you. That he wants you. Not anybody else.”
“Just let it go,” I begged. “Let this be goodbye.”
“Damn it.” Emzee was sniffling, trying to get it together. “Fine. Do it your way. But don’t leave my brother hanging. You at least have to tell him where you are and why you left,” she said. “You owe him that. And don’t think for a second that you’re breaking up with me, too.”
“We’ll still be friends,” I said, meaning it. “This doesn’t change anything between us.”
