“I’ve made plenty of mistakes of late.” Max wrenched his gaze away from the window to see that tears had filled her dark eyes. One escaped and tracked its way down her cheek.
“Really?” Max said in disbelief. “Did you escape from prison and crash a car? Did you lead cartel members to your sister’s door? Did you get your nephew kidnapped?”
“Nothing that extreme,” Kathleen said in a poor attempt at a joke. “But you’re not the only one who had a rough experience getting to the hotel.”
Max felt uneasy. This whole conversation didn’t have enough screaming in it for his liking. Kathleen seemed too…withdrawn. Damaged, somehow. He didn’t like seeing that darkness touch his sister. “I have literal murderers hunting me down.” he said. “Even you have to admit that’s a new low for me.”
A ghost of a smirk crossed Kathleen’s lips. “Is that all?” she asked. He sometimes forgot that Kathleen knew all of his weak spots too. She knew how to get a rise out of him, and dismissing his experiences was one of his soft spots. “At least you didn’t murder anyone.”
Matthew gaped at her. Somehow, her statement had managed to steal his breath. The things he’d planned to say disappeared from his mind. The words reverberated inside his skull, and at first, he wondered if this was some sick attempt at a joke. But the way her mouth screwed up told him saying it out loud was painful, and he knew that she wasn’t joking. Quiet settled between them until Max gathered enough of a semblance of coherence to ask, “You what?”
Kathleen looked down at her clenched hands. “I asked you to be truthful, so I suppose it’s only fair if I am truthful as well. After we saw you at the prison, Allison and I were stranded in Chicago. Our car wouldn’t start. It was chaos. We were attacked by a gang who wanted to steal from us. We ran into them later, and their intentions worsened, to say the least. They threatened Allison.” Kathleen paused and licked her lips. “They hit me. They…did a lot of awful stuff. I tried to reason with them, but they wouldn’t leave us alone. I finally shot the leader with the gun I’d gotten from your safety bag.”
Max stared at her and felt a surge of rage fill him on behalf of his sister. “They hit you?” he demanded.
“I’m glad that that’s your reaction,” Kathleen said and tilted her head back to look at the ceiling. Her tears flowed freely now. “But yes. I had my reasons for shooting him. I didn’t intentionally kill him, but that’s what happened. I can’t take it back.” She swallowed hard. “It’s made it difficult to trust strangers. Jade and I haven’t had an easy time of it. But I don’t want to have to distrust my family too. Especially my brother. We have to stop fudging the truth and outright lying to each other, Max. We aren’t kids anymore competing to be Mom’s favorite. We need to be a team, but I can’t do that if you keep omitting stuff from the truth.”
She paused and looked at him fully before continuing. “If you can’t do that, then you don’t belong here. If I can’t trust you, it will be better if we go our separate ways.”
Her statement was like a bullet to the chest. The hurt exploded inside him when he realized Kathleen was willing to banish him from her life. He felt like he was a kid again, and Kathleen had taken his slice of the pie and that act had become a lifelong grudge. “You seem to trust Jade,” he snarled, trying not to show that she’d essentially gutted him. “She’s a complete stranger.” To his own ears, he sounded petulant.
Kathleen studied him for a moment. “If that’s what you’ve gotten out of this conversation, then we really are in trouble. As much as Jade and I have butted heads, she’s proven she’s trustworthy. She’s protected my children. Right now, Max, she’s acting more like a part of this family than you have. It’s not all about blood, Max. It’s about actions, too. Jade hasn’t lied to me. You have. I’ve come clean to you. Now it’s up to you to decide if you want to do the same. If there are any other secrets you’re hiding, you need to tell me now. I’ll always love you Max, but I’m a much different woman than the one who came and visited you in prison.”
Her words were like a cyclone that Max was swept up in. He felt battered and bashed with each new revelation. Kathleen was harder. That darkness hadn’t just touched her, it had seeped into her. He knew, now more than ever, that she was serious. He could stay or he could leave, but her conditions had to be met or he’d be thrown out.
Kathleen stood and walked silently out of the room, closing the door behind her. In the ensuing silence, Max felt the urge to cry, but held back his tears. It was a mistake coming here. Kathleen had changed and so had Max. Maybe they weren’t like two puzzle pieces that fit together anymore. Maybe life had roughed up their edges so that they could only bang their ill-fitting pieces together. They couldn’t get back what they once had. He didn’t see how he could stay and not have Kathleen question his every decision, looking for lies hidden under his every word, constantly searching for a reason to cast
