You Are Mine Little Sister (by Syra Tucker) novel Chapter 171

She yelled words that made no sense. Not immediately.

"She's my little girl!"

Her hands dropped from surrender.

Something cold hit me.

"She was taken from me." The sentence cracked in the middle. "They never let me have my little girl to myself. Everything... Everything I did was for her. To avenge her!"

Tears ran in bright lanes down her cheeks. She raked her nails along her hairline like she was trying to unzip the pain and climb out of it.

Ice-cold rage flooded my veins. I squeezed the gun tighter. "If you don't start talking you'll have your tears swapped for something red."

She sagged into the nearest chair. Snot shined at her upper lip which she swiped away with the back of her hand.

"They made me a surrogate. That witch Gretchen was barren and couldn't have her own child. Her pathetic husband was desperate and forced himself on me. Gretchen was damn mad when I got pregnant. But she was all about public face. So, they kept me hidden, she faked a belly, and the world congratulated her. They took my baby and paraded her as theirs! And of course," a thin bitter laugh cracked loose. "what could I do? It was the quiet useless stepsister.

"They kept me close so I could nurse her. Alec wouldn't let me go. He'd let himself into my room at night and take what wasn't his. Twice, I got pregnant again, and twice that witch made me lose it."

She stared past me, somewhere years away. Her tone became softer. "Gretchen tried to make Lilith love her, but you know the beautiful thing about a mother and child bond? It was the strongest bond on earth. My little girl was closer to me even if she believed I was only her aunt. She spent most of her time in my room, playing games, telling me all about her day." She smiled. "She was so sweet."

The softness burned off. "Gretchen grew to detest her for choosing me over her. She feared that someday, her husband would choose my daughter and I over her. So, she did what she could." Her gaze speared mine. "She pushed my baby off the damn cliff!"

A hush the size of a canyon opened between us.

Somewhere along her story, my arm had loosened, lowering the gun to my thigh.

"Please, kill me. Punish me. Please." She stayed bowed over her hands, sobbing in little breaks.

My finger itched around the trigger. Every god up there knew I wanted to. Emotions aside, she had a hand in Rali's abduction. She visited her twice, watched her in pain and still abandoned her. She deserved the same fate as Blayne.

But she was the last thread of Rali's blood. I'd be damned if I had anything to do with her death.

"You're a catastrophe of a woman, Vlyrissa. You let your daughter get taken to hell for the death of a man who tried to rape her. Guess it's safe to say you keep attracting the worst kind of men in your life."

She lowered her hands to reveal her eyes to me.

"You want death? Get a knife and slit your wrist. Or throat." I looked at the window. "Or you jump out that window and let your worthless brain splash."

I was out the door before she resumed sobbing, hoping to God she took my advice and ended her pathetic life herself.