“What?” I asked, surprised. “When did you find out?”

“I saw her two days ago. She stopped by Parker’s place to talk.” The way the words rolled off her tongue so effortlessly and carelessly confused me. Who had taken my sister, my favorite person in the world, and changed her?

What had happened to my Mari?

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, my chest hurting as my heart began to crack. “You saw me yesterday.”

“I was going to mention it, but our last conversation didn’t lead to the best place. You stormed off,” she told me, picking up the vase and moving it over to the windows. “And what does it matter if she’s back? Her family is here, Lucy.”

“She abandoned them for months. She left her newborn in the NICU because she was selfish. Don’t you think it’s terrible for her to just walk back into Graham’s life? Into Talon’s life?”

“We don’t really get a say in that, Lucy. It’s none of our business.”

More pieces of my heart shattered, and Mari acted as if she didn’t even care.

“But…” Mari took a deep breath and crossed her arms, looking my way. “We do have to talk about the business. I thought I could hold out for a while longer, but since we’re here now, we might as well talk.”

“About what?” I asked, confusion filling me up.

“Lyric is a bit worried about how some of the things in the bookkeeping are adding up, and I mean, I think she’s right. I think we jumped the gun hiring Chrissy. We aren’t bringing in enough profit.”

“Why in the world are you talking to Lyric about the store?” Mari grimaced, and I cocked an eyebrow. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“Don’t freak out,” she said, which of course made me freak out even more. “Remember when we were starting out and we couldn’t get a loan to cover the rest of our needs?”

“Mari…you said you got another loan from the bank. You said after months of trying, it finally went through.”

She continued, breaking her stare from mine. “I didn’t know what to do. You were so happy and excited to move forward after me getting sick, and I didn’t have the guts to tell you the truth. You gave up so much of your life for me, and all I wanted was to give you our shop.”

“You lied to me about the loan?” I asked Mari, my chest tight. “You asked Lyric for a loan?”

“I’m sorry, Lucy, I really am. With the medical bills and everything piling up, I knew I’d never be able to get a bank to help me—”

“So you went behind my back and asked Lyric for the money.”

“You would’ve never let me take it if I told you.”

“Of course I wouldn’t have! Do you think she gave it to you out of the goodness of her heart? Mari, everything is leverage with Lyric. She only does things that will benefit her.”

“No,” Mari swore. “She did this for us, to help us get back on our feet. There were no strings attached.”

“Until now,” I huffed, my hands falling to my waist. “If it weren’t for you taking money from her, letting her hold something so big over us, this wouldn’t even be a problem, Mari. Now she’s trying to tell you how to run our shop. We could’ve worked harder to get the loan ourselves. We could’ve done it, but now she wants to ruin everything we’ve built, all because you trusted the snake. We need to destroy the deal.”

“I won’t,” she said sternly. “I was talking to Parker about everything, and he thinks—”

I huffed. “Why would I care what he thinks? It’s none of his business.”

“He’s my husband. His opinion matters to me.”

“I don’t understand why. He abandoned you when you needed him the most. I was there, remember? I was the one who picked up your pieces after he destroyed you.”

“So what?” she asked.

“So what?” I replied, flabbergasted. “That means you should at least trust my opinion over his.”

She nodded slowly. “He said you’d say that.”

“Excuse me?”

“He said you’d play the cancer card on me, reminding me that you were there for me when no one else was. Parker made a mistake, okay? And based on the past few months of your life, you know what it’s like to make a mistake.”

“That’s not fair, Mari.”

“No, you know what’s not fair? Holding it over my head every day that you stayed. Reminding me whenever I have any kind of feelings that you were the one who stuck around to help me during the cancer. So, what, am I now forever indebted to you? I can’t move on and live my life?”

“You think working under Lyric is going to be you living your life? All of this is happening because of Lyric’s need to control everything.”

“No, all of this is happening because you slept with your sister’s husband.”

“What?” I whispered, shocked by my sister’s words, by the way they fell from her lips so effortlessly, and I stood there for a second, stunned, waiting for her to apologize, waiting for her cold stare to soften, waiting for my sister, my best friend, my Pea to come back to me.

“Take it back,” I said softly, but she wouldn’t.

She’d been poisoned with love—the same love that had once destroyed her.

It amazed me how love could hurt so much.

“Look, Parker thinks…” She paused and swallowed hard. “Parker and I both think that Lyric helping take control wouldn’t hurt things. She’s a businesswoman. She knows the laws and how to help build up the shop. She wants the best for us. She’s our sister.”

“She’s your sister,” I corrected. “She’s your sister, and this store now belongs to you and her. I want nothing to do with it. I want nothing to do with either of you. Don’t even bother firing Chrissy. I quit.”

I walked around to the back, gathered all my belongings, and tossed them into a cardboard box. When I walked to the front of the store, I took the shop’s keys off my keychain and placed them on the front counter.

Mari’s eyes were still cold, and I could tell she wasn’t going to change her mind. I knew I wasn’t going to change mine either, but before I could leave, I had to speak my final truths—even though she’d think they were lies.