Betrayal (Vanish Book Two) by Sonny Daise

or your family, and I don’t need
to be told what to do,” I snapped.
     
    We stumbled through the woods, searching for
the house. I kept my sleeve pressed against my neck. I was starting
to feel a little light-headed. Finally, we found the house, and I
barged right in.
    “Hey,” Rose said as she jumped up.
    “Look Violet, I’m sorry, but you should just
go on pretending I’m dead; it will be much easier that way.”
    “Wait Scarlett, what’s wrong?” She asked.
    “Your daughters don’t want me to get to know
you, and I guess I’m just going to have to accept that.”
    “You don’t have to listen to your little
sisters; they’re just jealous,” she reasoned.
    “Well this is what just jealousy gets me.” I
took my sleeve away from my neck. I felt the blood dripping
down.
    “Oh my god what happened?” Rose shrieked.
    “Your sister—I think she said her name was
Sienna—cut me with a piece of glass.”
    “I’ll talk to her that doesn’t mean you
can’t—”
    “It does, at least for now. I’m sorry,” I
interjected.
    “Look, I’m not saying it was okay what Sienna
did, but how could you do that to our mom? She didn’t do anything.
I should have just stuck with my intuition and not said a
word.”
    “I’m sorry, I’m not saying that I don’t ever
want to get to know you,” I looked over at Violet. “But I think
they need to get used to the idea first.”
    “No you’re right. I should go home and have a
talk with them,” Violet replied.
    “Don’t be too hard on them; they don’t want
to lose all of your attention. You said it yourself; you may have
neglected them a bit. So spend some time with them, show them that
nothing will get worse with me being around, and then when they’re
okay with it, let me know.” I smiled. I could sound as tough— and
quite frankly, rude—as I wanted, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t
killing me.
    “Okay,” she smiled.
    “And one more thing, I don’t know how this
whole, reuniting-with-the-mother-you-can’t remember-after-years
thing works, but it feels kind of weird calling someone you just
met ‘Mom.’”
    “Oh, don’t worry about that, honey, I
understand.”
    I felt like crap, why did I just say that? I
guess I would need some time to get to know her before I felt
comfortable calling her that. Or maybe it was the fact that I
called Ann ‘Mom’ for so long before finding out she wasn’t actually
my mom. Either way, she seemed okay with it, so I just bit my
tongue and smiled. I walked them out, as they were leaving, I gave
each of them a hug. Rose stayed behind for a minute to talk.
    “I guess I understand, but I don’t know how
long it will take them to get used to the idea of you being around.
So in the meantime, do you think we could hang out?” she asked.
    “Sure.” I smiled.
    As she walked away, Dante came up behind me
and put his hand on my shoulder.
    “I know that was hard for you, I’m sorry. I
think you did the right thing,” Dante admitted.
    “I don’t need you to give up your life for
me, and I don’t need your sympathy either.” Each word stung. I
needed him. I couldn’t dispute that, but if he felt he was giving
his life up for me, there was no way this could end well—and it
would end.
    “Yeah, you were a little rude to them, too. I
don’t know what you want from me, Scarlett,” Dante grumbled.
    “I thought I made it clear that I didn’t want
you to give anything up for me. How could you say you gave your
life up for me? I didn’t ask you to, and if you feel that way you
can leave.”
    “I’m not going to leave you,” he
whispered.
    “Well if you really feel the way it sounded
like you felt earlier, I’m not worth giving your life up over.” I
walked back into the house.
    “Oh come here, let me bandage that up for
you,” Elizabeth said as I walked through the door.
    “Thanks,” I smiled. “I hope you don’t think I
was being a brat; I just can’t deal with any more right now. I’m so
happy I