approach. “Don’t you miss Kaia? She’s all alone while
we’re here…”
The second her name left my lips, Sylvie snapped. “I knew it. You never saw me as important as Kaia.”
She spun and ran before I could stop her.
Sylvie was spoiled. I’ll admit it. But to say I never saw her as important? That was absurd.
Hadn’t we given her everything? Even Kaia’s room?
1 watched her disappear down the hallway and, for the first time in a long time, thought about Kaia.
In trying so hard to make Sylvie feel included… had I left Kaia out entirely? Did she think we saw Sylvie as more important?
I tried to recall the last meaningful memory I had with Kaia–and came up blank.
There were encounters, sure. Conversations about the lab, Renner logistics. But anything personal? Anything
real?
Nothing.
She’d gotten quieter over the years. After we brought Sylvie home… after her sixteenth birthday…
I remember the resistance at first. Kaia didn’t want Sylvie moving in. She claimed Sylvie wasn’t Ary’s daughter- that she was an imposter.
I scolded her. Hard.
I couldn’t believe it then–my little sister, the girl I’d
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raised practically with my own hands–cold, bitter, lying
out of spite.