Emery let tears run down her cheeks for her sister and for the miracle of Rachel. Without her, she would have given up.
“I’m Emily Sanders,” Emery said aloud, breaking the quiet of the SUV.
A ghost of a smile skated across Rachel’s lips.
“I’m eighteen and I’m going to be attending college online,” she recited.
“You’re moving in with my cousin, Noah Reed.” Rachel turned the radio down. “You are also gorgeous and have perfect boobs.”
“Ooh, Emily has perfect boobs? Did Derrick get those for me too?”
“Take a look at your boobs.”
Emery looked at her chest, but didn’t respond.
“You don’t get it because you don’t look at yourself and you try to hide everything,” Rachel pointed out, “but Emily won’t be like that Emery. You need to remember that.”
Emery sighed, but then bubbles of anticipation filled her soul. She could be anyone she wanted to if she didn’t have to be herself. “I need to get my GED first,” Emery planned out loud. She wasn’t finishing high school in a classroom, but she’d already bought books about the test and she thought she could pass the equivalency exam now.
“Yeah, but that shouldn’t be a concern. Once you do that, we’ll get you in to one of those online colleges.”
“Do you think I can just disappear?”
“I think so. Derrick was able to get us everything you need.”
“Did…” Emery started and then looked out the window for a minute, contemplating her words. “Did you tell Derrick…everything?”
Rachel’s raven hair fell across her eye and Emery couldn’t see her expression. “I had to Em, we need him. I need him to help me make all of this happen.”
Emery nodded, understanding. “I sort of feel like I’m in a Lifetime movie or something.” Emery kept fighting the urge to look back to ensure they weren’t being followed. Neither her mother nor her stepfather even knew Rachel, and she’d left her phone in her room. She cleared her throat in an attempt to eradicate all the warring thoughts from her mind. She needed to focus on the here and now, her future. “You know, you need to hang with better people,” Emery commented, smiling weakly as she looked at the ID.
“Well, Derrick is one of my father’s best clients. If he’s good enough for him...” she trailed off with a wicked smirk on her face.
“So, in four hours I’ll be Emily Sanders. No one will find me,” she said, repeating this information again so it sunk in. She looked out the window as the lights of the buildings passed in a blur. “I’ll be safe,” she whispered.
“Yes, you’ll be safe. My cousin is a football player at Vanderbilt and will kick anyone’s ass for you. I’ve told him to.”
“Is this on your mom or dad’s side?”
“Mom’s.” Rachel looked in the rearview mirror to inspect her lipstick, running one finger under her lower lip. “My dad just has the one sister and she only has one daughter. She lives in DC.”
“Are you close?”
“No. No one is close to Stella Murphy.”
“Why?” Emery asked puzzled.
“She’s the Stella Murphy, Em.”
Realization dawned on Emery; she hadn’t connected the two before. “Oh, shit really?”
Stella Murphy had been the only survivor in an attack on some government office building a year or so ago, and then she became a celebrity. Emery remembered watching her interview on TV with her mother.
“Yep. Really.”
“Hmmmm, maybe you can get me to live with her next,” Emery joked. Stella Murphy seemed larger than life, but what Emery remembered from the interview was that she seemed like someone made of steel. Emery could use that kind of role model.
“Nope,” Rachel replied. “She’s a ball buster and pretty fucking focused on herself. She’s a big time attorney up in DC now too. She and my dad talk shop every time they’re together. It’s annoying.”
“You’ll never know how much I appreciate what you’re doing for me, Rachel,” Emery changed the subject. “I don’t know why you’re doing this…I’ll probably never understand why, but I owe you everything.”
Rachel stared out at the blurred lines of the highway for a minute before answering. “Em, remember when we met? I told you I knew that we would be friends, that you were important to me. When we met, we clicked, and you’re broken. Your eyes are broken. Your soul is in pieces and your heart is wrecked. You’re one of my best friends and I do anything I can to help my friends. We may not have known each other for very long, but I’ll stand by you. I’ll do whatever I need to do to make that fucker pay for what he did to you.”