Secret Sister Signs

1928: Caged Animal

"Did you know anything about this?" Meril was already awake the next morning, sitting at the kitchen table so she'd be sure to see Thea as she crept downstairs. "This?" She brandished the newspaper, Thea cringed at the front page.

RUBIO MAX - Notorious Leader of the Max Mob -Apprehended Last Night!

"I know you know something!" Meril insisted. "You gotta tell me, Cyn! What the hell has been happening these last few days? Is this why you've been so miserable lately?"

Thea heaved a sigh and slumped in the chair across the table. She was eying Meril's coffee cup longingly. The other girl rolled her eyes and got up for another cup and returned, sliding it to her silently. "Thanks," she didn't drink it though, just tried to hold the warmth between her hands for as long as she could.

"You're gonna have to tell Siretta the truth about Max, she's going to see this, y'know."

"Tell her?" Thea's eyes widened. "Tell her everythin'? Like, from the beginin'?" She threw herself back in her chair with a weary sigh. "There's so much..."

"You can start by telling me something, Cyn," she grabbed her hand. "What did he do to you?" She asked softly, gray eyes round with concern.

"I..." She swallowed the lump in her throat and forced herself to confess. "He just kinda...showed up outta the blue, came here on a job, I guess. He...he came to kill some kinda mobster, but I-I swear I didn't know that when I saw him again!" She groaned and covered her face with her hands as she slumped in her seat. "I feel like such an idiot...such a damn fool, but I couldn't stop him..." She trailed off sadly as she stared out the window a moment later. "Couldn't...stop him."

"From what?" Her brow was furrowed.

"Anythin'," she shook her head. "When he'd touch me, I'd...get so afraid, I froze. I let him do whatever he wanted, I's just thinkin' that if he was happy, ever'one else would live, I guess," she gulped. "But I ain't that important to him, I couldn't stop him from doin' what he wanted to...when he wanted to build a bomb, when he wanted me...when he...when he wanted to murder Ben -"

"Cyn," Meril gasped and shook her head, Thea's eyes gleamed with tears. "It's okay, baby," she quickly got up to wrap her arms around the younger girl. "None of it was your fault, baby," she stroked her head as she held her protectively against her chest.

"But I tried so hard," she explained in a wobbly voice, her words thick with tears. "I did everythin' I-I could think...think of to stop him, but he...he can't be stopped!"

"Shh, shh, it's okay now, baby. He's caught. It's over. It's over, baby," she gently rocked her back and forth.

"It's never over," Thea hoarsely whispered as she thought about the piece of him that was alive inside of her. "Never...over," she squeezed her eyes shut and fiercely clung to Meril.

Siretta trotted down the stairs, humming loudly as she pinned her curly hair back, she froze when she seen the miserable girls and dropped her hands. "Oh shit. What happened?"

Meril pulled away slightly to look at Thea as she replied to Siretta. "Cyn and I have...some things to tell you, sugar. Won't you sit down with a cup of coffee, huh?"

"Better be strong coffee," Siretta muttered as she opened a cabinet above the sink, taking down a bottle of whiskey before she collected her coffee and plopped down on the edge of the table. "Hit me," she frowned when she seen the newspaper. "Good god, look at that..." She mumbled. "Wait. Rubio Max? As in..." She stared at her sister. "Your Rubio from the old days? He leads a fuckin' mob now?"