I took her hand and pressed it against my cheek. "Monica, don't disappear," I told her. "I need you. Stay here. You can stay with me. I'll hire 24-hour protection. All my life, I wanted a sister. My mother and father couldn't have children. That's why they adopted me. I always wanted them to adopt a sister for me, but they said I was enough for them. They wanted to lavish all their love on me. You could be my sister."
Tears were running down her cheeks again. "Livingston, there's nothing I'd like better, but I can't."
"Why not?" I asked.
"Don't you see?" she said. "I need my own life, Livingston. I can't be just an extension of yours. I'd see you and Talbot every day. I'd see how happy you were together and my soul would die a little every time I saw that."
"She's right, you know." I t
