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I ain't know why Audriana ass up and left in the middle of this shit, but her phone was vibratin' like crazy so maybe her mama was callin' or somethin'.

Either way, she needa hurry her ass back. I'on got time to be breakin' up no fights.

"I went there that night for so many other reasons. I had no parts in anything that Dayna them had going on, and I put that on everything I love. Right hand on the Bible, cross my heart hope to die, whatever y'all need me to say to believe me. I had no idea."

Melani looked in my direction. "Angel, I want to apologize to you too for not protecting her the way I could have. I could have called the police, I could have warned her not to come, I could have done so much to stop that night from happening the way it did, but I didn't. I'm so sorry for that."

"You good. I 'preciate that."

"I'm sorry that you guys had to go through that, but I was being so selfish that night. My main focus was on one thing and that one thing was meeting my sister. I had been looking forward to that moment for so long that once I finally got it, I didn't think of anything else other than that. And then when I found out that it wasn't going to be happening, I was kind of upset so my attitude was horrible. But, again, that's no reason not to protect someone in a time like that so, for the 1000th time, I'm sorry."

We all nodded a little bit so she continued talkin'. I looked around for Dri, but I didn't see her so her ass must have walked outside.

Lookin' back at Melani, I'on know if it was all in my head, but her and McKenzie kinda did look alike. They had some of the same features.

Maybe I'm trippin'.

"McKenzie, as crazy and as insane as this may sound, I'm your older sister."

McKenzie looked at her like she was crazy as fuck.

As much as I really wanted to stay focused on what was unfoldin' in front of me, my mind kept goin' back to the conversation I had wit' Mrs. Ibanez.

It just kept replayin' over and over in my head, and every time I thought about it, it pissed me off even more. Made my fuckin' skin crawl.

I just hope everybody get what they deserve.

"So, we're all good? Everything's okay?" I asked as our dinner came to an end.

Everyone nodded and exchanged looks to make sure we were all on the same page.

"I'm good. It's gonna take me a minute, but I'll come around eventually." McKenzie admitted to Melani. "I have no negative feelings towards you. You're my older sister and that's just what it is."

Surprisingly, McKenzie took the news really well. Of course she flipped out about it at first. I mean, who wouldn't? Finding out you have a sibling you knew nothing about is pretty fucking crazy.

She understood why we didn't tell her ahead of time, and she understood why everything played out the way it did. The only thing they had left to figure out was why they were kept a secret from each other for so long, and there was only one person they could get that answer from- their mom.

"I'm sorry again for not telling you, Kenz." I apologized for the 100th time once we got in the car.

She laughed. "It's okay, sis. I get it. You wanted me to hear it directly from her, that's understandable. I'm just glad you decided to do it right away rather than waiting days, weeks, or even months."

"I wouldn't have been able to keep it a secret for that long. I'm glad you took to the news well."

"I don't have a choice but to be okay with it. She did nothing to me, our sad excuse of a mom kept us away from each other for whatever reason. Once she figured out who I was, she tried to get to me. Things just didn't work out right away, but I'm a firm believer on everything happens for a reason so..."

Letting the conversation come to an end, I sent Avi a text letting her know that we were on the way home. I hadn't thought much about what was going on with her, but I was going to find out soon.

"Hey, ma!" I yelled once we got to the house to let her know we were home.

"Hey, guys. How did everything go?"

"So everybody knew but me?" McKenzie joked. "No, everything went good. We exchanged numbers and I told her I'd reach out to her when I feel like the time is right. I just need a minute to soak everything in, but we're all okay. I appreciate all of you for being there for me."

Before I could indulge in the conversation that they had started up, there was a knock at the door. I knew it was Avi so I answered it.

She looked frantic.

"Hey." She looked around me to see my mom and everybody else in the living room. "Could we talk out here?"

I stepped outside. "Yea, what's up? Is everything okay?"

"No."

"What's going on?"

"I need you to brace yourself for what I'm about to tell you. I'm even having trouble understanding it."

I nodded. "Okay... what is it?"

"You know my boyfriend Andre, right? He was on the phone earlier and I just so happened to overhear his conversation. I didn't hear as much of it as I wanted to because I didn't tune in until I heard your name, but he was on the phone with his brother who's in jail. I just heard Dre talking about how he wanted no more parts in whatever they were talking about, and that he felt like they should just let it go. I waited until he hung up and asked him about what he was talking about. For a minute he acted like he didn't know what I was talking about, but I finally got it out of him."

I slowly nodded as she continued to talk.

"Do you know somebody name Adrian? Adrian Capone?"

I cocked my head to the side. "Yea... I do."

"How do you know him? Did he do something to you?"

"Yea. He and two people I went to school with drugged me at a hotel party. How you know him?"

"That's my boyfriend's brother. Dri, that's your brother. Andre and Adrian are your brothers."

I couldn't even process what she was saying as my heart started to race. "H-huh?"

"I know, just trust me. I realized that every time Dre got a certain call at a certain time in the day, he steps outside or steps away from me to take the call. I looked through his call log, all those calls are from the jail so he's been talking to his brother for a minute. But that's not all, girl. You know the chick that also got arrested with Adrian?"

"Yea. Dayna. What about her?"

"How do you know her?"

"She's the one that threw the hotel party. She planned all of it with her friend. I guess they all kind of set me up, I don't know. Anyways, what about her?"

"That's your sister, Audri."

I scoffed. "Ha. No way."

"I swear to God. Dre told-"

Before she could say anything else, I felt anger boiling inside of me as I threw the front door open, letting it bang against the wall behind it.

"Why are you opening the door li-"

"You knew?" I interrupted.

My mom scrunched her eyebrows together. "Knew what, Audriana? What's going on? Why are you crying?"

"You knew all about Adrian and Dayna, huh?"

She didn't say anything, but by the look in her eyes, I could tell she knew exactly what I was talking about.

"Wow." I scoffed, tears rolling down my face. "Why didn't you tell me? Why do I have to find out some shit like this fro-"

"Audri, watch your mouth."

"No! Why did I have to find out some shit like this from someone I just met not too long ago. She found out and came straight to me and told me. You've known for what? My whole life? And didn't tell me!"

She stepped closer to me but I backed up. "Audri, I wanted to tell you, but it was never the right time."

"Are they older than me?"

"Andre and Adrian are, yes."

"So throughout my whole 17 years of living, you never could find the right time to tell me?"

"It-"

"Are they your kids? Are they my siblings because of you or what?"

She shook her head.

"So their dad's." I shook my head. "This is bullshit."

"Honey, I was going to tell you soon. I promise I was. I knew it was time to tell you after talking to Angel about it yester-"

My eyes darted to Angel. "Oh you fucking knew too?"

"Baybeh, lis-"

"Who else knew?!"

McKenzie shook her head. "I promise I didn't know, sis. I had no idea about any of this."

"Fuck you." I sneered at Angel. "And I hope you're all happy with yourselves."

Before my brain could catch up with my feet, I was running out of the house. I didn't know where I was going, but I knew I needed to get out of here before I had a fucking anxiety attack.

I can't believe this shit.

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