His held hers and wouldn’t let go. “I know you want me gone so you can take care of this ‘misunderstanding.’”
“It is a misunderstanding.”
He rolled his eyes. “Whatever. But as your husband, I’m equipped to help.”
“Why? Because you have a penis?” She struggled for patience and decided she needed a moment to cool off. Giving him a little push to clear her path, she walked away.
Walked away and rubbed at the spot in the center of her chest that ached like a son of a bitch because she needed one last lie. The king of lies, she thought as she climbed the stairs. Something that would make him think he was helping and get him the hell out of here.
Leena hadn’t wanted to leave her sister alone with the tall, dark, and absolutely attitude-ridden Brody, nor did she want to step up and say so.
She wasn’t good at stepping up, especially to men. One look at her life would tell anyone that. She hadn’t stepped up to Rick, and he’d single-handedly ruined her life. She hadn’t stepped up when Manny had wanted her and she hadn’t wanted him. She hadn’t stepped up when she’d become attracted to one of the men she’d helped Rick rip off, leaving that man, Ben Kingman, in possession of one gorgeous and very fake diamond ring, which was all her fault…
God. Sometimes, she really hated herself.
She paused to listen to how her sister was faring with her boss and heard Maddie say “Don’t make me kick your ass out of here.”
See? Maddie didn’t let anyone push her around; she took care of herself.
How Leena envied that because she wasn’t any better at taking care of herself than she was at standing up for herself. Actually, she wasn’t good at much, really, except for creating truly original, one of a kind, beautiful jewelry on spec for whoever happened to have money in their pocket to pay Rick for such things.
Yeah, she was good all right. Real good.
Not that she was proud…
Of course, the swindles had all occurred against her will and with the threat of all sorts of Sopranolike violence if she didn’t keep her trap shut, but she doubted the law would see things her way. If Rick was ever even caught.
Rick had promised her he wouldn’t be. And that going to jail was nothing compared to what he’d do to her if she ever turned him in. For herself, she didn’t care.
Okay, she cared.
But for Maddie…tough, resilient, brave Maddie who’d gotten away on her own, who’d done so before she’d had anything to be ashamed of, who’d managed to make a life for herself, which she deserved…
Leena couldn’t, wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize that.
But you already have, just by coming here…
Ashamed, she closed her eyes. She’d screwed up again. Always…
Giving her sister some privacy, she moved out the back door and stood on the deck, then reached into her pocket for a cigarette before remembering she’d given up all the things that were bad for her. Wishing she’d left herself that one vice, she wandered into the woods, eyeing the towering pines, the wildflowers swaying in the breeze, everything so beautiful and in its place.
She’d never found her place. She’d never belonged.
And hell, if that wasn’t an overly dramatic, self-pitying thought, when she’d given up both dramatic and self- pitying thoughts along with the cigarettes.
Damn it.
Out here in no-man’s-land, she didn’t hear any voices, raised or otherwise, which meant Maddie had either kicked some Brody ass or she’d gotten rid of him. She still couldn’t believe that Maddie would actually work for someone like him, someone so…nerve-wrackingly big and bad and…undeniably sexy.
If one was into nerve-wrackingly big and bad and undeniably sexy.
Personally, she was not. Nor had she expected Maddie to be. But it’d been a long time since Maddie and Leena had been together. Things had changed.
A lot of things. With a sigh, she went back inside, where it was quiet, very, very quiet. “Maddie?”
“Up here.”
Leena found her in the master bedroom, looking through the small, intricately carved wooden box that had belonged to their mother.
That surprised her. Maddie wasn’t sentimental; neither of them were.
They’d never really been given a chance to be.
Maybe Leena wasn’t the only one feeling a little pessimistic about their future. “Where’s Brody?”
“Hopefully thinking about leaving soon.”
“Hopefully?”
“Don’t worry. He’s not a problem. I’ll figure it out.”
“You could just tell him the truth.”
“No, I can’t,” Maddie said. “That would leave a loose string, someone who knows.”
“You said you trust him.”
Maddie stared at her. “Well. That’s a new word for you. Trust.”
Leena lifted a shoulder. “I just think that it seems like maybe…maybe there’s something more between you two than just work.”
“If there is, it no longer matters.”
Because of The Plan.
Guilt stabbed at her, hard. “Maddie-”
“Forget him a minute.” Maddie pressed a photo into her hand. “This is what I wanted to show you.”
Leena looked down at the old picture of the two of them in the Halloween costumes, missing their front teeth and pretending to be superheroes, and along with the guilt came a new and completely unexpected surge of emotion.
Love.
“We were both strong then,” Maddie reminded her. “We can both be strong again.”
Leena lifted her gaze from the picture and looked at Maddie. In her sister’s eyes was more of that love, and that swamped her, too. Her heart couldn’t take any more, but she could admit this. “Yes. You’re right.”
A smile crossed Maddie’s mouth. “I like the sound of that.”
“But Maddie? I’m still going to go say good-bye to Ben-”
“Leena-”
“No, listen. Please. You have to understand. For years, I’ve gone about my life with my eyes closed, letting Rick rule my whole world. But I can’t keep pretending not to see what’s going on around me anymore. I have to change. And to do that, I have to face what I’ve done.” She took Maddie’s hand. “I have to try to make it right.”
“By admitting your part in criminal activity to Ben, a man who can use that admission to press charges against you?”
“By not being shallow. By growing a backbone.”
“Okay, give me a minute.” Maddie pressed her fingers to her mouth. “I admire the thought, but Jesus, Leena-”
“I know, but I have to right that wrong if I’m going to go on. I have to, or I can’t go on.”
Maddie stared at her, both deeply impressed and deeply terrified. “I want to pull the older twin card here and say fine, but you’re not going alone. No way in hell.”
Leena’s eyes were filled with an admirable steely determination. “I know I’m doing the right thing. And you’re only four minutes older.”
“Five minutes.”
Leena smiled. “Older sister or not, I’m doing this. And then we can put The Plan into motion. The Vanishing Off The Face Of The Earth Plan.”
In that moment, Maddie realized something a little shocking-all this time she’d thought of herself as the stronger of the two of them, but that wasn’t actually true.
Leena was the stronger.
