Born to Fight

Chapter 12

Celeste

A few days had passed since Billy had first come to Josh’s house.

A few days since Josh had dropped the bombshell that had turned my entire world upside down.

I still wasn’t sure what to make of any of it.

I knew I had a father.

I knew I had a brother.

And now, apparently, I had a sister too.

It was a lot to process.

After finishing my morning routine, I headed downstairs with Loki at my heels, expecting the kitchen to be empty.

It wasn’t.

The moment I stepped through the doorway, I stopped.

Jamie.

Josh.

Billy.

And a girl I’d never seen before.

All four were sitting around the kitchen table, talking quietly.

The conversation died instantly when they saw me.

Loki stopped beside me, his ears pricking forward as he studied the strangers at the table.

I couldn’t blame him.

I was doing the same thing.

The girl was blonde, with pale skin and striking green eyes. She was sitting beside Josh, and the moment our eyes met, she started looking me over.

Not subtly, either.

She studied me from head to toe like I was some fascinating new species she’d never encountered before.

I shifted uncomfortably.

Great.

Just what I needed.

To feel like a bug under a microscope first thing in the morning.

Josh smiled.

“Celeste, I’d like you to meet my younger sister, Lilly.”

I gave the blonde a small nod.

“Hi.”

She smiled brightly.

“It’s really nice to meet you, Celeste. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“I wish I could say the same.”

Her smile faltered.

I immediately realized how that sounded.

“I mean…” I cleared my throat. “I haven’t heard anything about you.”

“Oh.”

Lilly looked awkwardly at Josh.

I glanced toward Jamie.

Surely he was going to rescue me from this disaster.

He didn’t.

He simply sat there watching me.

Apparently, I was on my own.

Fine.

I could handle that.

I’d handled worse.

“Celeste,” Billy said quietly.

I looked at him.

“We need to talk.”

I sighed.

“About what?”

“We’ve taken care of the house for you.”

I frowned.

“I’m sorry?”

“We packed everything up.”

My stomach dropped.

“You did what?”

“The boxes are in the garage,” he explained. “We’ve sold the furniture and put the house on the market. Your mother’s lawyer helped us with the paperwork.”

For a second, I just stared at him.

Then the anger hit.

“You sold my house?”

“We thought—”

“You went through my things?”

My voice rose.

“You went through everything I owned without even asking me?”

“Celeste—” Josh started.

“No!”

I pushed away from the doorway.

“Who the hell gave you the right to do that?”

“We didn’t think you would want to go back there after what happened,” Josh said.

“That wasn’t your decision to make!”

My hands were shaking.

“You had no right to go through my stuff. You had no right to pack up my life into cardboard boxes. And you sure as hell had no right to sell anything!”

Lilly’s expression hardened.

“We were trying to help.”

“I didn’t ask for your help.”

“You could at least be grateful.”

I looked at her.

“Grateful?”

She crossed her arms.

“Yeah. Grateful that your family stepped in when you needed us.”

I laughed bitterly.

“You people aren’t my family.”

Lilly’s eyes narrowed.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

I kept my voice low, but every word was deliberate.

“You’re strangers.”

Her face flushed.

“I’m your sister.”

“No. You’re a girl I’ve known for approximately thirty seconds.”

She opened her mouth.

I cut her off.

“I don’t know you. I don’t know Josh. And I barely know Billy.”

Lilly glared at me.

“Keep acting like this and you’re going to end up completely alone.”

Something inside me snapped.

“Keep pissing me off and you’re going to end up on a freaking milk carton, blondie.”

Josh’s eyes widened.

“Celeste…”

“What?”

Billy looked at me calmly.

“We are your family.”

“No.”

The word came out instantly.

“You’re not.”

I looked directly at him.

“You abandoned my mother when she was pregnant with me. You didn’t come looking for me. You didn’t raise me. You didn’t know me.”

My voice cracked.

“And now you show up after my mother is murdered and suddenly you think you get to make decisions about my life?”

Billy flinched.

But I didn’t stop.

“You are nothing to me.”

Silence.

“I don’t need another problem in my life.”

I turned toward the doorway.

“So do me a favor.”

I looked back at him.

“Stay the hell out of my life.”

I pointed toward the door.

“You managed to do it for seventeen years.”

My voice dropped.

“Go back to doing it.”

Then I walked out.

I didn’t wait for anyone to answer.

Loki followed.

The moment we reached the garage, I stopped.

Boxes.

Dozens of them.

Stacked everywhere.

I stared at them.

My entire life.

Reduced to cardboard.

I walked closer to one of the boxes and ran my fingers over the writing on the side.

My bedroom.

My clothes.

My books.

My photographs.

Everything that had once made that house feel like home was now packed away in boxes because a group of strangers had decided they knew what was best for me.

They had gone through my things.

Touched my belongings.

Opened drawers.

Opened cupboards.

Read things that were never meant for them.

What had they thrown away?

What had they kept?

What had they taken?

What had Billy taken?

The anger came rushing back.

And underneath it was something worse.

Betrayal.

Jamie.

Had he known?

Had he helped them?

Surely he had to understand what this would mean to me.

He knew me.

Or at least I thought he did.

He was supposed to be my friend.

So why hadn’t he stopped them?

Why hadn’t he been on my side?

I looked down at Loki.

He stared back at me, calm and loyal.

At least I could count on him.

I’d barely slept the night before.

I’d spent hours lying awake, replaying everything that had happened since the night my mother died.

And somewhere in those long, sleepless hours, I’d made a decision.

I was done being afraid.

My mother hadn’t raised a helpless girl.

She’d raised a survivor.

A fighter.

A soldier.

And I’d spent the last few days hiding inside someone else’s house, jumping at every noise and wondering when the people who killed my mother were going to come for me.

No more.

If they were coming for me…

I’d be ready.

I looked at Loki.

“You and me, buddy.”

His ears perked.

“We’ve got work to do.”

I wasn’t going to sit around waiting for someone to save me.

I wasn’t going to spend the rest of my life hiding behind Jamie, Josh or anyone else.

My mother had taught me how to fight.

How to shoot.

How to track.

How to survive.

It was time I remembered everything she’d taught me.

I would deal with the boxes later.

Right now, Loki and I had a different kind of unpacking to do.

We were going to unpack every skill my mother had ever taught me.

Because if the people who killed her were coming for me…

they were going to find out that Tina Avery’s daughter was not an easy target.

⸻

Jamie

The moment Celeste disappeared through the doorway, the kitchen fell silent.

Lilly slowly placed both palms flat against the table.

“Well…”

She glanced at Josh.

“That could have gone better.”

Josh sighed.

“Lilly.”

“What?”

She lowered her voice.

“What a spoiled little bitch.”

Billy’s expression hardened.

“Don’t.”

Lilly rolled her eyes.

“You would think she could at least be grateful. We were trying to help her.”

I leaned back in my chair.

“She’s grieving.”

Lilly looked at me.

“So are we.”

“Not the same way.”

She frowned.

“Why not?”

“Because Celeste didn’t just lose her mother.”

I glanced toward the doorway she’d disappeared through.

“She lost the only family she thought she had.”

Billy nodded slowly.

“For seventeen years, Celeste believed her mother was all she had. Now her mother is gone, and suddenly she’s discovered she has a father, a brother and a sister.”

Josh rubbed a hand over his face.

“And she probably thinks we’re trying to replace her mother.”

“She doesn’t know us,” I said.

“Exactly,” Billy replied.

Lilly leaned back.

“So what? We’re just supposed to sit around and let her treat us like dirt?”

“No.”

Billy’s voice remained calm.

“We’re going to give her time.”

Lilly groaned.

“How exactly are we supposed to get to know her if she won’t let us anywhere near her?”

Josh looked at his sister.

“By not pushing.”

“She called me a stranger.”

“You are a stranger.”

Lilly stared at him.

“Whose side are you on?”

“The side of common sense.”

I almost smiled.

Josh continued.

“Put yourself in her shoes for a second.”

Lilly folded her arms.

Josh leaned forward.

“Imagine Mum died. Imagine Dad suddenly showed up with another family you’d never known existed. Then imagine all of us went into your house, packed up everything you owned, sold your furniture and put your home on the market without asking you.”

Lilly’s expression slowly changed.

“How would you feel?”

She didn’t answer.

She didn’t need to.

Josh gave her a pointed look.

“Exactly.”

Lilly looked down.

“I’d be pissed.”

“She’s pissed.”

“Very pissed,” I added.

Lilly sighed.

“So what do we do?”

Billy looked toward the doorway.

“We wait.”

“That sounds painfully boring.”

“We let Celeste come to us when she’s ready,” Billy continued. “We don’t force ourselves into her life. We don’t demand she accept us. We show her we’re here.”

Josh nodded.

“She needs to know she’s not alone.”

“She will,” Billy said.

I looked toward the garage.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that Celeste’s reaction hadn’t been about the house.

Not entirely.

The house was just the thing that had finally broken through the walls she’d built around herself.

She was angry.

She was hurt.

And beneath all of that…

she was scared.

I knew that look.

I’d seen it before.

The difference was that Celeste didn’t want anyone to know she was afraid.

Especially us.

Billy stood.

“Give her time.”

Lilly sighed.

“I’ll try.”

Josh smiled.

“That’s all we can ask.”

I glanced toward the doorway again.

Something about Celeste’s reaction was bothering me.

She hadn’t simply walked away angry.

She’d looked like someone who had just made a decision.

And I had a feeling it wasn’t a decision any of us were going to like.

⸻

Lilly

I sat back in my chair and stared at the doorway.

I hadn’t expected Celeste to be happy to meet us.

I wasn’t stupid.

But I’d hoped she’d at least be curious.

Instead, she’d looked at me like I was an annoying stranger who’d wandered into her house.

And maybe, technically, that’s exactly what I was.

Still, I couldn’t help feeling disappointed.

I’d spent the last few days wondering what my new sister would be like.

I’d imagined us talking.

Getting to know each other.

Maybe eventually becoming close.

I’d even been secretly excited about no longer being the baby of the family.

Now I wasn’t so sure.

I glanced at Josh.

Then Dad.

Both were watching the doorway too.

Neither of them looked angry.

They looked worried.

And suddenly, I realized something.

Celeste wasn’t rejecting us because she didn’t want a family.

She was rejecting us because she was terrified of losing another one.

I let out a slow breath.

Maybe Dad was right.

Maybe patience was exactly what she needed.

I just hoped we’d get the chance to prove to her that we weren’t going anywhere.

Because whether Celeste liked it or not…

she was my sister.

And I had a feeling I was going to fight like hell to make sure she knew she wasn’t alone anymore.