Chapter 7: Questions Without Answers

POV: Aria

Bullets smash the window above my head.

I drop to the floor as glass rains down around me, my heart hammering so hard I think it might burst. Outside, men are shouting and gunfire echoes through the swamp like dangerous fireworks.

"Stay down!" Kael yells, taking my arm and pulling me toward the corner of the room where we'll be safe from the window.

But I can't move. I'm frozen, looking at the chaos outside. Boats full of armed men are striking the house, and I can see people I don't recognize shooting back from the porch.

"This is because of me," I whisper. "They're fighting because of me."

"No," Kael says strongly. "This war started long before you were born."

Another crash shakes the house as something explodes near the front door. Marcus Ravencrest is screaming orders to his men, but I can barely hear him over the sound of my own blood rushing in my ears.

"The girl who was with you," Kael says suddenly, squatting beside me. "The night you saved me. Who was she?"

I close my eyes and try to remember. The memory is coming back in pieces, like a puzzle with half the parts missing.

"I don't know her name," I say slowly. "But she was older than me. Maybe twenty-five? Dark hair, green eyes. She knew about werewolves before I did."

"How?"

"She said her family had been dealing with strange creatures for generations. She's the one who told me how to stop your bleeding. " I look at him with growing fear. "Kael, what if she's out there with my father's men?"

Before he can answer, the bedroom door bursts inward. But it's not Marcus or his pack this time. It's a woman I don't recognize, tall and beautiful with long dark hair and the coolest green eyes I've ever seen.

She's pointing a gun straight at me.

"Hello, little sister," she says with a smile that doesn't reach her eyes.

My blood turns to ice. "Sister?"

Kael moves to shield me, but the woman shakes her head. "Don't even think about it, wolf boy. One wrong move and I put a bullet in her head."

"Who are you?" I ask, my voice barely a whisper.

"I'm Isabella Castellano," she says. "Vincent's oldest daughter. Your big sister. The one who's been cleaning up your messes your whole life."

Sister. I have a sister. The information hits me like a physical blow.

"I don't remember you," I admit.

Isabella laughs, but it's not a happy sound. "Of course you don't. You never paid attention to anything that didn't revolve around you."

Her words sting, but I can see pain hiding behind her anger. This woman is hurting, and somehow it's linked to me.

"Isabella," Kael says slowly, "put down the gun. She has forgetfulness. She doesn't remember anything from before the accident."

"Convenient," Isabella sneers. "Tell me, dear sister, do you remember why you were driving through the swamp that night? Do you remember what you were running away from?"

Running away? My head starts hurting. "I don't understand."

"You were running away from your wedding," Isabella says coldly. "Your marriage to Antonio Moretti, the union that would have saved our family from bankruptcy. But you decided you were too good for an arranged marriage, so you stole a car and tried to leave."

Wedding. Marriage. The words spark flashes of memory. A white dress hanging in a closet. A man with evil eyes and rough hands. My own voice saying, "I can't do this."

"I was supposed to marry someone?" I ask weakly.

"You were supposed to save us all," Isabella snaps. "The Morettis have money, power, ties. Your marriage would have paid off our debts and protected our land. But instead of doing your job, you ran like a coward."

The gunshots outside is getting closer. I can hear boots on the stairs now, people fighting their way through the house.

"So I caused all of this," I say, the truth falling over me like a heavy blanket. "The war, the attacks, people dying - it's all because I ran away."

"Finally, she gets it." Isabella's finger tightens on the trigger. "Do you know what happened after you disappeared? Antonio broke the engagement. The Morettis pulled their backing. Our enemies started circling like birds."

Kael steps closer to Isabella, his eyes starting to glow gold. "Your family's problems aren't her fault."

"Aren't they?" Isabella laughs. "She's been spoiled her whole life. Protected from the ugly parts of our work. She never had to make hard choices or sacrifice anything for the family."

"Because she was nineteen!" Kael shouts. "She was barely an adult!"

"I was leading missions for our family when I was sixteen," Isabella shoots back. "I've killed people to protect what's ours. I've done things that would give you nightmares. All so little Aria could stay pure and innocent."

Her words hit me like slaps. I can see the anger that's been building in her for years. She's the bigger daughter who did everything right, and I'm the baby who ran away when things got hard.

"I'm sorry," I whisper. "I don't remember making that choice, but I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't bring back the dead," Isabella says. "Sorry doesn't fix the damage you caused."

The door behind her slams open, and Vincent Castellano runs in with two armed men. When he sees Isabella pointing a gun at me, his face goes white.

"Bella, no!" he yells. "Put the weapon down!"

"She needs to die, Papa," Isabella says without taking her eyes off me. "She's the reason we're weak. The reason Emma Ravencrest's death started this whole mess. " Emma. Where have I heard that name before? " Emma Ravencrest," I say slowly. "Kael's sister. She died in the Bayou Massacre five years ago."

Everyone in the room goes deadly still.

"You remember the massacre?" Vincent asks quietly.

I close my eyes and let the memories come. Blood in the water. Screaming. Gunshots echoing through the trees. And in the middle of it all, a young girl with golden eyes, just like Kael's.

"She was there," I whisper. "Emma was in the swamp that night. But she wasn't dead when I found her."

Vincent's gun drops to his side. "What did you say?"

"Emma Ravencrest didn't die in the massacre," I say, the truth coming back to me in terrible clarity. "I saved her too. I saved both of them."

Isabella's face goes white. "That's impossible. Emma Ravencrest has been dead for five years."

"No," I say, looking straight at her. "She hasn't."

I turn to face my sister, and suddenly everything makes perfect sense. The green eyes. The way she moves like an animal. The information about werewolves that she shouldn't have.

"You're not Isabella Castellano," I breathe. "You're Emma Ravencrest. And you've been living with my family for five years, waiting for the right moment to destroy us from the inside."

The woman I thought was my sister smiles, and this time it reaches her eyes.

"Hello, Aria," Emma says sweetly. "Did you miss me?"