Something flickered in Kennedy’s eyes, sorrow yes. But underneath that was something else. Something malicious that had a tremor of fear itching up Deven’s spine. Had she said something wrong?

“Yeah, that was fun,” Kennedy mused with a fleeting smile. “Meeting you for the first time after all those years.” She intentionally exaggerated the all-word to emphasize the extensive time frame as she took her time standing up. The turn of her body had the gun in her waist flicking into temporary view and Deven sucked in a breath. The conversation had her mouth dry like cotton and she yearned to drink the wine that Kennedy had given her. But she couldn’t. She needed to be alert for whatever her sister was about to say. Or do.

Kennedy went on, walking casually back and forth as she spoke, almost like she was reflecting on fond memories. Or she was a tigress on the prowl. “You were just like I thought you would be,” she said. “Loving, caring, kind-hearted, just like a big sister was supposed to be. It was too bad I knew it was all bullshit.”

Deven’s heart quickened. “Wh—what do you mean?”

“But see, the thing was, I saw right through you. I’ve always seen right through you. That’s why it was so fortunate that I was now your sister and not Kennedy. The poor girl couldn’t see how much you hated and manipulated her.”

It was as if the room had been spinning and came to a screeching halt. Deven shook her head, sure her angst had clouded her mind and gotten some of Kennedy’s words skewed. She blinked to clear the confusion, but everything remained just as muddled.

“I tried to tell your sister that the relationship was bullshit,” said Kennedy—well the woman rather, because now Deven didn’t know who the hell she was talking to. “She used to sit up and talk for hours about you. My sister this, and my sister that, and I miss Deven, and I know she’s worried about me. But I tried to tell her that I was her sister now, because I was there with her in the trenches, going through all of the pain and suffering with her while you lived on with your rich parents in your fancy house. Why couldn’t she see what you had done to her?” The woman turned around with a scowl so deep that it had morphed her face into someone ugly and unrecognizable. Slowly, so slowly like the code to a locked safe, it all started to fall into place.